Forced Urban Boundary Expansion onto White Belt farmland
November 2021 16,636 Hamiltonians respond to a city-wide survey in favour of “No Urban Boundary Expansion”. Council votes to hold Hamilton’s urban boundary firm and not expand onto precious White Belt farmland which means that not only is our Greenbelt safe, but 5436 acres of prime White Belt farmland sandwiched between the Greenbelt and the built-up city boundary is also safe from development.
November 2022 the Province overrules Hamilton’s decision and forces the full expansion of our urban boundary onto every acre of White Belt land, while at the same time removing 1964 acres of Hamilton farmland from the Greenbelt, all on the same day.
September - December 2023 the Province does a massive flip-flop, reversing its decisions and restoring Hamilton’s firm urban boundary and our Greenbelt lands. But the win is short lived.
April 2024 the Province introduces Bill 185, Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, 2024, undermining Hamilton’s “no expansion” policy and opening the door for new privately initiated urban boundary expansion applications to be submitted at any time, for anywhere and permitting developers to appeal the City’s refusal to the Ontario Land Tribunal, none of which was possible previously.
October 2024 now that the new provincial policies are in effect, land speculator-driven urban boundary expansion applications are flooding in and the City is now asking for public feedback on how best to assess the applications, as it is not possible to refuse them.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Plan to attend an upcoming webinar from our friends at Hamilton 350 to learn what you can do to help keep Hamilton’s urban boundary firm!
Visit the City’s Engage Hamilton website, RSVP to a City meeting (there are both in-person and online options), and add your comments to the Draft Framework for Processing and Evaluating Urban Boundary Expansion Applications.
Become a participant at any and all Ontario Land Tribunal hearings forced by land speculators in Hamilton.