‘This is what democracy looks like’: Huge crowd overwhelms public meeting on Greenbelt in Ancaster

There wasn’t enough room to fit everyone who wanted to vent about development in Hamilton’s former Greenbelt at a city meeting Wednesday
Thestar.com
Sept. 8, 2023
Matthew Van Dongen

The Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre was not big enough to hold a raucous crowd of hundreds intent on venting about Ontario’s contentious removal of 2,000 acres from Hamilton’s Greenbelt.

The centre’s main theatre, which seats about 470 people, reached standing-room only by the start of Wednesday’s public meeting -- leaving dozens of people outside because of fire-code limits.

Shouts of “let them in!” and “no development in the Greenbelt!” rang out until the city’s top planner, Steve Robichaud, pledged to hold next week’s public planning meeting at a yet-to-be-chosen venue that can fit all comers.

The feisty crowd booed when Premier Doug Ford’s name was mentioned and cheered when city planners said council has formally called for all affected lands, including parcels in Ancaster, Winona and Mount Hope, to be returned to the Greenbelt.

The meeting was technically scheduled to seek public feedback on what kind of “community benefits” the city should try to negotiate with a provincial facilitator and would-be developers planning to build in the former Greenbelt lands.

If those talks go ahead, they need to happen fast given a provincial deadline to have shovels in the ground by 2025.

But many residents -- dozens wielding signs condemning the Progressive Conservative government or calling to protect the Greenbelt -- showed up urging council to abandon any negotiations related to potential development.

Michelle Silverton earned applause from the feisty crowd in urging the city to pay attention to “people power” on display Wednesday and refuse to participate in any development talks. “This is what democracy looks like,” she said.

Waiting to get into the meeting, Therese Taylor said she appreciated the city allowing people to speak up -- but bristled at the idea of being asked to talk about “so-called” benefits from development. “We need to take a stand. No development in the (former) Greenbelt and no pretending as though we will take part in any way.”

Not every person who spoke opposed the development plan.

One man, who identified himself as a landowner in the now-former Greenbelt along Garner Road, echoed provincial government arguments that an influx of immigrants to Ontario need fast-tracked housing. “Where are they going to put all those people?” he asked.

The city’s top planner, Robichaud, acknowledge resident frustration and reiterated council had instructed staff to talk to developers and a provincial facilitator “under protest.”

But he emphasized the province has said it does not need municipal participation to open the land to development, adding he expects a controversial “minister’s zoning order” (MZO) to be used to trump local planning rules.

That would include allowing housing in lands normally off-limits to development because of proximity to the loud Hamilton airport -- a ban that would otherwise cover the majority of 1,800 acres in Ancaster taken out of the Greenbelt.

Not participating in talks, he said, means the land could be developed anyway -- but without the city being able to negotiate agreements for more affordable housing or new parkland.

The province “is holding all the cards,” he said. “There is no rulebook ... to follow on this.”

Several individuals questioned why the city was still planning to participating in planned talks given the fallout from recent reports from the auditor general and ethics watchdog that criticized the province for a “flawed” and biased process to pull lands from the Greenbelt.

The reports have so far spurred the resignation of former housing minister Steve Clark -- and a vow by Ford to review the choices of land removed from the Greenbelt “from top to bottom.”

Despite those changes, the city has been told the provincial facilitator is continuing to negotiate with developers, said Robichaud.

The public will get another chance to delegate to councillors at a planning meeting scheduled for Sept. 14.