Relocating wetlands and forests to accommodate land development has been overwhelmingly rejected by hundreds of residents who responded to a draft offsetting policy proposed by the Hamilton Conservation Authority board. It’s a sharp rebuke to HCA chair Lloyd Ferguson and the majority of his board that pushed for such a policy in response to developer proposals to relocate a wetland in the headwaters of Ancaster Creek.

The Fridays for Future student climate strike on October 22 included some civil disobedience and saw about fifty people rally outside city hall in the first of several local actions this week. Students will occupy a campus building to push for McMaster divestment, followed by a seniors group demanding big banks stop funding fossil fuels.

The city has an opportunity to slash the growth subsidies it gives to developers that have exceeded $200 million over the last eight years. This week councillors agreed to start work “at an appropriate time” on a new development charges bylaw and specified the hiring of the consultant who has done the background studies since 2004.

Over the last eight years, growth projects in Hamilton have received over $200 million in exemptions for development charges according to a summary released this week by the city. The handouts to residential, commercial and industrial developers are accelerating with over $40 million granted in each of the last two years. The ongoing massive subsidy is particularly instructive in the context of the current debate about expanding the urban boundary to accommodate more development on farmland.

A crucial council meeting on whether to expand the urban area onto farmland is set for Monday October 25. Multiple items on the boundary expansion issue that normally would be examined in separate meetings have been piled onto the agenda as planning staff respond to tight timelines set by the province.

The city has released the results of the July survey on growth options. It drew over 18,000 responses with more than 90 percent voting for the “no boundary expansion”. That is a stunning repudiation of the so-called “ambitious density” strategy recommended by planning staff that got less than six percent support. Nearly 4 percent of respondents chose to write in their own ideas.

The LRT is approved but actually increasing transit ridership doesn’t seem to be on council’s radar in the just approved long-term parking plans. For the foreseeable future, parking your car downtown will be much cheaper than going there by HSR.

A Hamilton candidate is among a handful being hailed as a climate justice champion by two national citizen organizations. That comes as multiple local organizations are rallying on Wednesday September 8 at Hamilton city hall to push that the climate emergency be front and centre in the federal election campaign.

More major changes are being imposed by the provincial government. Newly released rules threaten public hiking trails, tree planting, recreational and educational services, dam maintenance, and the protection of streams and aquifers from contamination.

The public is being asked to comment on a draft “offsetting” policy that would allow relocation of wetlands and other natural heritage features to make way for development. This may revive the dispute over the proposal to relocate a wetland and stream segment in the headwaters of Ancaster Creek that was rejected earlier this month by the HCA Board.

A mail-in survey heading out to all residents is asking whether thousands of acres of prime agricultural land should be converted to residential subdivisions or there should be ‘no boundary expansion’.

Climate and community groups are celebrating a stunning environmental victory on Garner Road, but thanks to the Doug Ford government the fate of an Ancaster wetland and headwaters stream remains in jeopardy. The Hamilton Conservation Authority board has turned down a developer request to relocate these aquatic features to make way for construction of five warehouses.

The push to relocate a wetland and stream in the Ancaster Creek headwaters heads back to the Hamilton Conservation Authority board on Thursday after being deferred in the face of opposition that continues to grow.

More than two years after declaring a climate emergency, the first new initiative moved a little closer yesterday with council approval to seek a grant for the design of a Home Energy Retrofit Opportunity program for Hamilton.

Trudeau’s promise to sharply cut Canadian carbon emissions over the next decade has major implications for Hamilton. The challenge locally is increased by the continuing failure of the city to put its own action plan into place more than two years after it declared a climate emergency.

Developers are pushing ahead this week with relocation of a wetland and part of the headwaters of Ancaster Creek to make way for five proposed warehouses on Garner Road at Highway 6. That will force the Hamilton Conservation Authority to make a decision at its meeting on Thursday May 6.

Should developers be allowed to relocate wetlands and other natural features to advance their building plans? That question is now squarely before a sharply divided Hamilton Conservation Authority with a draft “offsetting” study that is heading out for feedback from the public, the home builders association, the city and other stakeholders.

Questions are being raised about the fairness of an extraordinary mail-out survey on the city’s approach to predicted population growth. They are being raised by councillors both for and against the staff recommendation to turn thousands of acres of farmland into new residential subdivisions.

A virtual consultation that convinced 150 people to complete a survey is being offered as justification for the city to absorb another 3300 acres of farmland to accommodate residential expansion.