McKinnon Park is a large-scale redevelopment of the land once home to the St. Catharines General Motors factory. The site is in a fantastic location, featuring fantastic local schools, a 15-minute walk to the downtown core, and numerous retail outlets in close proximity.
The owner approached Better Neighbourhoods to design the site’s master plan and act as an ongoing project manager throughout the development process.
Featured above is Phase 1 of the McKinnon Park project, located on the grounds of the employee parking lot across from Alex McKenzie Park. On this 3-acre parcel of land, the design dictates a 37-unit development of detached, semi-detached and townhouse dwellings and a 6-unit apartment building. This site utilizes a rear lane, decentralizing large garages from the house design. It also dramatically increases the area’s walkability, allowing the Thomas Street sidewalk to be unobstructed from vehicle traffic.
The neighbourhood is designed to be diverse, walkable, and cohesive with existing homes on Thomas Street and the surrounding Haig neighbourhood.
The Master Plan for McKinnon Park features a diversity of housing types, including single-detached homes, row townhouses, high-density apartments, mixed-use commercial, and adaptive reuse of historically significant site features. Traditional Neighbourhood Development and New Urbanist principles were at the forefront of conversation throughout the design process.
Dan Romanko is a consulting Professional Planner practicing urban design, and neighbourhood development in Ontario with over 25 years’ experience.
Growing up in Mississauga in the ’80s, his childhood years were spent in a categorically suburban environment. This experience sparked an interest in land-use patterns and ultimately the Urban Planning profession. Dan began his academic career at Sheridan College, graduating as a Civil Engineering Technician in 1992; he then went on to complete the Honours Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1997. Years later, his interest in community scale sustainability found him continuing his education and he received a Master of Engineering Design in Sustainable Infrastructure from McMaster University in 2012.
Dan has worked as a planner in a consulting role since 1998. From 2000-2009, Dan worked with Barr Associates in St. Catharines as urban designer. After a five-year stint at another multi-disciplinary firm downtown St. Catharines, Dan returned to Barr Associates in 2015 as partner and the company changed its name to Better Neighbourhoods Inc.
In addition to his managing partner role, Dan is a full member in the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and been qualified as an expert witness at the Ontario Land Tribunal. He has been an accredited member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU-A) since 2009 and has attended annual Congresses since 2006. Dan lives downtown St. Catharines with his family and is fortunate to have a seven minute walk to work.
