Hamilton development plan directing stormwater into Red Hill Creek surprises Indigenous advocates who say they weren't consulted

Thestar.com
March 9, 2021

A development institute that looks out for the rights of the Haudenosaunee says the city has breached a stewardship pact by approving an east-end redevelopment that directs stormwater into the Red Hill Creek without their consent.

“I was dumbfounded that they thought they could have done this,” Aaron Detlor, a representative of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, said Monday after issuing a news release that accuses the city of “deep betrayal.”

The Haudenosaunee and the hereditary Six Nations chiefs that represent them weren’t consulted on the stormwater plan for the Roxborough Park subdivision despite agreements the city signed in the early 2000s that led to a joint stewardship board to protect the Red Hill Valley, Detlor noted.

“We’re going to wait to hear back from the City of Hamilton and see how they want to propose to resolve the issue. And if they ignore it, the project goes by the wayside.”

But Coun. Chad Collins argues the city hasn’t broken any agreements as the redevelopment north of Queenston Road and just west of the Red Hill Valley Parkway moves forward.

“They’re at the stage right now where they reach out to stakeholders.”

That includes feedback from the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, said Collins, who’s also president of CityHousing Hamilton.

The municipal social housing provider struck a partnership with a private consortium of builders to demolish 107 aging CityHousing units on Reid Avenue, Lang Street and Hayes Avenue and create a $400-million, mixed-income community.

Carriage Gate Homes, UrbanCore Developments and Effort Group, the partners in Roxborough Park Inc., plan to construct roughly 600 market units. A 10-storey CityHousing building is planned for the south end of the site.

The Red Hill agreements have their origin in talks starting in 2002 that coincided with protests mounted by Haudenosaunee and allies over the construction of the parkway.

The parkway, which hinges on the consent of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, could also be “shut down,” depending on how the city chooses to respond, Detlor said.

The city should apologize, renew its commitment to the agreements and “address how we can find a solution that benefits the Haudenosaunee out of this process,” he added.

Detlor said he only learned of the Roxborough Park Inc. plan after receiving an information package about the development in mid-February.

Collins noted the issue was discussed during a joint stewardship board meeting last week.

The CityHousing building that’s under construction as part of the redevelopment will direct stormwater onto Reid Avenue, not the creek, he said.

But the private consortium’s plan to discharge stormwater into the creek from its residences is still subject to consultation, Collins said. “I’m sure there are other options.”

In an email, the city noted the project has presented an opportunity to renew infrastructure and address flooding in the area.

The proposal is to separate the existing combined sewer system, which will have the “benefit of reducing, if not eliminating, flooding and potential combined sewer overflows in the area.”

But before “final approval” of this servicing strategy, the joint stewardship board must be consulted. The applicant has provided the details to the board and the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, the city said.

A plan must be presented in reports to the city, but “it doesn’t mean it’s approved,” said LeAnn Seely, a landscape architect working on the project.

The applicant has made a “genuine effort” to gather feedback on the proposed stormwater plan that will benefit not only the Roxborough redevelopment, but the entire McQuesten neighbourhood, Seely said.

“We’re actually trying to do the right thing by separating the two systems and just putting water that falls from the sky into the creek.”