City to lead ‘comprehensive’ approach to Hamilton’s expansion lands
Developers should let process play out, chief planner says
Thestar.com
March 22, 2023
Teviah Moro
The city aims to lead a “comprehensive” approach to land-use policy for Hamilton’s newly expanded urban area and advises builders to hold fire on private blueprints.
“I think there’s no question that’s the only way forward here,” Coun. John-Paul Danko told the city’s planning committee Tuesday.
But developers hoping to be “first at the trough” to build on the provincially mandated expansion lands may not wait for the city process to play out, Danko said.
In any case, before shovels hit the ground, secondary plans -- which use technical studies to map out a range of community needs, including schools, stormwater ponds, roads and parks -- must be drafted.
Those mandatory documents, which private developers can prepare on their own and submit, are enshrined through changes to the city’s overarching official plan.
Under recent provincial changes, the city must now deal with such proposals within 120 days or refund fees to applicants.
Staff would likely deem privately drafted secondary plans that aspire to supercede the city’s “holistically” considered approach to be “premature” or “bad planning,” planning director Steve Robichaud said.
The city will accept studies that go into those plans, Robichaud noted.
“But my advice to the applicants would be let us complete the process before you complete your applications because otherwise, we could be into an adversarial situation.”
Rejected applications can lead to appeals before the Ontario Land Tribunal.
On Tuesday, the committee voted 12-0 to have staff lead the development of “comprehensive” secondary plans, a process that’s to include public consultation.
The city’s approach will ensure that less desirable community elements, such as stormwater ponds, are “shared equitably” among various landowners looking to develop areas, Robichaud said.
“As opposed to somebody looking to get all the meat and other people forced to get the gristle.”
So far, the city’s efforts to plan for long-term growth have been at odds with the Progressive Conservative government.
The past council directed staff to create an official plan predicated on a frozen urban boundary with Hamilton’s populated forecast to reach 820,000 by 2051.
But in November, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark instead imposed a roughly 2,000-hectare urban expansion, arguing new greenfield areas are necessary to accommodate that growth.
City officials and community advocates, however, have characterized the expansion into rural Elfrida and Glanbrook as an unnecessary move that undermines efforts to create housing density and avoid costly sprawl.
Recently, the city received two requests for formal consultation on proposals for thousands of new homes in the White Church Road East and Twenty Road West areas.
John Corbett, a planning consultant for developers hoping to build homes for 5,750 residents on the Twenty Road land between Upper James Street and Glancaster Road, said the group wants its own secondary plan.
“It fits with the provincial priority of expedient housing approvals,” Corbett told The Spectator.
A city-led process could take longer, he suggested, noting financial and staff resources have to be lined up. “Which would delay the housing opportunity.”
Rather than sprawl, Corbett says his clients plan to build mostly townhouses and less so single-family homes, on land that’s bounded by urban uses close to the airport.
“We’re filling in the hole in the doughnut.”
Privately drafted secondary plans also come with a cost, a city report noted, predicting “substantial staff time to process and review applications will be needed.”
In April, staff are to report back on a potential hike in fees and other details, including the proposed sequencing of city-led secondary plans.
But the city doesn’t expect residents to move into new homes in the expansion lands for years to come.
Apart from the secondary plans, time and money are needed to ensure servicing is in place for those future communities, Robichaud said.
“But the idea is that we’re looking for people pulling building permits, building the houses and moving in roughly starting either in 2040 or 2041.”
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