Democracy or not
Despite unprecedented public involvement and an overwhelming result, the no-boundary expansion decision of city council may get overturned. But its citizen supporters aren’t sitting back and leaving things in the hands of the current politicians.
Provincial legislation finalized April 14 includes a new rule allowing the provincial cabinet to ask the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) to review municipal official plans such as the Hamilton one being finalized next month by city council. This extraordinary step presumably will occur sometime this summer if the Ford government is re-elected on June 2.
Consequently there’s an accelerating campaign aimed at defeating MPP Donna Skelly, the only local member of the current provincial government. Skelly is an outspoken opponent of Hamilton’s decision to stop expanding the city’s urban area to facilitate more residential sprawl.
Stop Sprawl Hamilton has held three rallies in the few days and is distributing a striking short video on the city council’s response to the provincial legislation. The video is titled “More problems for everyone”, a not so subtle poke at the “More homes for everyone” moniker the Ford government has attached to its recent provincial legislation.
In just eight minutes the video summarizes a three-hour city council meeting. It is mainly composed of comments from key planning staff as well as a majority of councillors. All appear to be opposed to the provincial legislation even two who voted to expand the boundary last November.
The clips bolster the main conclusions of the video that the provincial bill means higher property taxes for Hamiltonians, more power for developers, and putting public safety at risk. It also contends the new legislation kneecaps local decision-making and won’t even succeed in building more houses.
If the provincial government does ask the OLT to review Hamilton’s new official plan, it would likely be a start-from-scratch re-opening of the boundary expansion question. It would allow registered “parties” to present evidence and make arguments for their positions. The OLT is usually a very expensive process requiring lawyers and relying on “expert” witnesses.
It is the place developers frequently go to overturn council decisions. The tribunal was established by the Ford government to replace the Ontario Municipal Board and other quasi-judicial decision boards. In the process, critics charge, the OLT was further weighted to support developers by eliminating tribunal officers seen as pro-environment.
Hamilton residents were surveyed last summer by the city on whether or not to expand the boundary. Over 18,000 people completed the short survey and more than 90 percent supported the no boundary expansion option. Subsequently city councillors took the same position in a 13-3 decision in November.
Since that time, planning staff have drafted a new official plan as required by the province. It details how the city expects to accommodate the provincially forecast population growth over the next three decades without encroaching of any more of the rural landscape and farmland.
In February, chief planner Steve Robichaud announced that Hamilton achieved a record 67 percent intensification rate last year – far higher than staff and consultant predictions that had been used to argue for adding 3000 acres of farmland to the current urban area.
Stop Sprawl Hamilton and its allies held a pop-up rally in Waterdown on April 12, and a second one of about 75 people on April 23 outside Donna Skelly’s constituency office. They also co-sponsored a Farm Fest with the National Farmers Union the following day at Manorun Organic Farm in Lynden, that over 200 registered to attend.
