A battle is looming over whether to shrink or expand the sprawl-restricting provincial Greenbelt that is now into a mandatory ten-year public review. Citizen groups are pushing for expanded coverage of stream valleys and prime agricultural lands, but city politicians may seek reduced protection as they did when the Greenbelt was established.
The Greenbelt protects from urban development 1.8 million acres of agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands in the golden horseshoe, although it does allow major new infrastructure such as the now dormant mid-peninsula highway. It comprises the Niagara Escarpment Plan area and the Oak Ridges Moraine, plus a million acres of “protected countryside” added in 2005, including 185,000 in rural Hamilton. All three elements, but especially the 2005 addition, take decisions about these lands away from municipal governments.
“Its fertile soil, moderate climate and abundant water resources support agricultural production that cannot be duplicated elsewhere in the province or the country,” notes the provincial review paper that also highlights the importance of the natural areas to “clean our air, provide our drinking water and support recreational activities that benefit our health and quality of life.”
Hamilton city council pushed for multiple modifications to the original plan and fought the province at the Ontario Municipal Board to urbanize some tenderfruit lands below the escarpment in Stoney Creek. The city also unsuccessfully sought exclusion of a large block in upper Stoney Creek and another one south of Mt Hope between White Church Road and Chippewa Road.
Another continuing sore spot has been the Greenbelt arm along the upper reaches of the Welland River that extends into the aerotropolis near the Highway Six extension. Both city politicians and land developers want that reclassified to allow industrial uses.
Former councillor Dave Mitchell denounced this aspect of the Greenbelt in 2010: “We were looking at the economic opportunity for our airport because of [the highway], and then a year later they came back and said, oh, we built the road in the wrong place and it’s now in the middle of an environmentally friendly area and you can’t use it.”
There’s also pressure from some farm owners and developers who believe the value of their lands currently inside the Greenbelt would be greatly increased by making them available for urban expansion.
On the other side, Environment Hamilton with support from the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance is pushing for inclusion of three additional stream valleys – along Spencer, Stoney and Red Hill creeks and their main tributaries. The non-profit group is hosting weekly workshops for nine Tuesdays starting on March 31 to assist residents to file submissions to the provincial review prior to the May 28 deadline.
An expanded Greenbelt seems more in line with what the province is considering given the first three questions posed to the public in the discussion paper:
“How can the plans better support the long-term protection of agricultural lands, water and natural areas?”; “Where are the opportunities to expand the Greenbelt both within urban areas, such as urban river valleys, and in rural areas beyond the Greater Toronto Area?”; and, “What new approaches or tools could be used to protect agricultural land, water and natural areas?”
It goes on to state that “overarching purpose” of its plans are to “identify valuable agricultural lands, water resources and natural areas and systems, and protect them for the long term” but notes that an area larger than the city of Toronto was lost to urbanization in just the first five years of the plan.
The review also includes the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine Plan. There’s a town hall meeting organized by the province on Thursday, April 16 from 6-9 pm in the Hamilton Convention Centre as part of a series across southern Ontario.