New threat to Garner Marsh
Hearings of the Ontario Land Tribunal on the fate of the Garner Road marsh will start in October of next year. But changes to provincial legislation on Conservation Authorities announced last week may automatically allow the developers to proceed with multiple warehouses on the property owned by the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
A procedural meeting last week of the Ontario Land Tribunal set aside 13 days for a combined hearing on two appeals by AIMCo’s agent. One seeks to overturn a permit denial by the Hamilton Conservation Authority to destroy the Garner Marsh and create a replacement; the other would go on to approve the construction of five large warehouses, over two hundred truck bays, and at least 1000 surface parking spaces on the 140 Garner Road East property that is at the headwaters of Ancaster Creek.
The sweeping Ford government changes to CAs, planning and housing policies were unveiled the day before the OLT meeting and were cited by the developers’ lawyer. They would prevent CAs from considering pollution and land conservation in their permit decisions, and in some situations entirely eliminate the permit requirement. They would also bar residents and environmental groups from even appealing to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
The new rules would eliminate the long-standing role of the CAs as reviewers of development proposals and advising cities of their ecological impacts. And the draft legislation may force CAs to sell off some of their protected lands where these are determined to be developable.
Conservation Ontario, the representative of the province’s 36 CAs is challenging the proposed changes. In a media release, the organization noted CAs own 147,000 hectares “which are made up on important natural systems and biodiversity such as wetlands, forests, moraines, and ecologically sensitive lands”, which reduce flooding and protect important sources of drinking water. “They also contribute to climate change adaptation measures by capturing emissions, cooling temperatures, and protecting water quality,” said the release.
The HCA, the city of Hamilton and Environmental Defence are opposing the developers’ plans for the Garner marsh property. They were unable to get the OLT to order two separate hearings, but contention remains about whether the Marsh removal permit will be examined separately to minimize the legal costs of the HCA and Environmental Defence who can only bring evidence on permit denial.
Last week’s meeting confirmed 24 citizen participants will be allowed to submit written comments. And an issues list – not revealed to the public – has also been agreed on, with five relating to the Marsh removal permit, and 32 additional ones focused on the development proposals.
The developers’ lawyer pushed for the hearings to start in May but the OLT ruled for an October 2 start. However, at the end of last week’s OLT meeting he suggested that the changes to provincial rules released the day before may change things.
Phil Pothen, the lawyer representing Environmental Defence at the OLT hearings, is highly critical of the provincial changes which he says “gut the function of conservation authorities to determine where sprawl can go,” and means developers “will be allowed to destroy vast swaths of wetlands.”
