White Church urban boundary expansion OLT appeal

Located far from the urban core of Hamilton, White Church lands are the true definition of suburban sprawl. Click image above to see maps.

Please request Participant Status and send your comment submission to the OLT by Friday September 26, 2025 (instructions below) AND plan to attend the virtual Case Management Conference at 10:00am on September 29, 2025. If you don’t attend that first meeting, you will likely be refused Participant Status and your submission will be ignored. Due to Doug Ford’s Bill 23, ‘Build More Homes Faster Act’, citizens can no longer apply for “Party Status” and be an active part of the hearing. Now, citizens are limited to “Participants” and can only submit comments. 

 Link to meeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/719383509   

Access Code to join the online meeting: 719-383-509

Instructions to send a message to the OLT against forced urban boundary expansion on White Church lands:

The deadline to request Participant Status is Friday September 26, 2025 and your comments can only be submitted via the Participant Request and Statement form HERE

• Tribunal Case number: OLT-25-000613

• Date of first Case Management Conference: October 7, 2025

• Fill in your name and email

• Representative: ignore, only relevant for lawyers

• Write your statement in the box on the form. Be sure to say you are AGAINST this proposal and use the talking points below in your own words.

• Save your completed participant request by using the ‘save’ button at the bottom right of the form. It will save to your downloads file. 

• Write an email asking to be granted Participant Status for this case and put the OLT case number in the subject line. If you receive a reply from a lawyer challenging your request please 'reply all' that as a citizen and taxpayer of Hamilton you have a right to participate in growth decisions that will affect property taxes, farming and housing, city-wide.

• Attach your completed Participant Request Form to your email

• Send your email and the attached form to the following three contacts:

Pharrington@airdberlis.com
Ryan.Co@ontario.ca
Patrick.MacDonald@hamilton.ca

Information on the White Church expansion is on the City website HERE and at item 8.1 of the Staff report and appendices from June 25 Planning Committee HERE.

Start by saying you have an interest in the case because you are a resident and taxpayer of Hamilton - or a neighbour if you are.

State your position that you are against the expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary into White Church for the following reasons:

Please use your own words - do not copy/paste or your letter will be disregarded. Choose a few of the topics below if you wish and expand on them in your own words. Even a short submission is fine. Sources are provided.

Staff and peer reviewing consultants have confirmed that urban expansion in the White Church lands would be financially detrimental to the City. “Watson and Associates’ Peer Review of the Fiscal Impact Analysis identified several gaps in the infrastructure cost modelling, noting that the proponent’s conclusion of a positive net 2051 operating position of $5.4M does not include annual lifecycle replacement costs of $31.84 M, effectively meaning that the proposed development would result in a net fiscal deficit. Based on the above, it is Staff’s opinion the applications do not provide for phased progression of urban development..”  Staff report page 17/34: https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=457508

“The Financial Impact Assessment. does not include the full capital costs related to developing and servicing the area. Further, Urban Metrics’ analysis does not adequately consider costs related to lifecycle replacement, which often has a significant impact on the net financial analysis and is inconsistent with the Peer Reviewer, Watson’s, approach.” Peer Review of Fiscal Impact Assessment, page 3/17 https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=457518

On June 25, 2025, Staff recommended that Rural Hamilton Official Plan Amendment Application RHOPA-25-005 by Urban Solutions Planning & Land Development Consultants Inc., on behalf of the White Church Landowners Group Inc. to remove the White Church lands from the applicable mapping and policies of the Rural Hamilton Official Plan, BE DENIED for several reasons outlined in the Staff report. Council voted unanimously in favour of the Staff recommendation for denial. Staff report page 1/34

https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=457508

The expansion would result in the permanent loss of approximately 746 acres of Agricultural Land—87.4% of which is prime Class 1–3 soil. It would also fail to comply with the minimum distance separation formulae. In effect, the existence of a healthy, sustainable food system will be undermined. Page 1/16 of the Consultation Summary. https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=457514

The applications do not demonstrate that there is sufficient existing or planned capacity relative to infrastructure and public service facilities to service the subject lands. Staff report page 2/34 https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=457508

Through zoning changes that now allow many more types of housing beyond single family homes, staff have confirmed that Hamilton can meet its housing targets by adding much more densification within the current urban boundary, eliminating the need for more land. https://www.hamilton.ca/build-invest-grow/planning-development/zoning/residential-zones-project

The City of Hamilton exceeded its 80% Residential Intensification Target in 2023 with an intensification rate of 90%. Hamiltonians embrace a growth strategy of infill housing and densification within existing neighbourhoods, near transit, jobs and amenities. Page 6/9: https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=425614

Based on current data and approved levels of service, the City of Hamilton faces a 10- year Infrastructure Funding Gap of $5.2 billion. Adding more sprawl infrastructure on distant farm fields away from transit, jobs and amenities will only worsen that burden. Page 5/9: https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=455835

 A mail-out survey was distributed to households in Hamilton in late June/early July 2021 to ask for opinions about how the City of Hamilton should grow to the year 2051. An absolutely unprecedented total of 18,387 survey responses were submitted to the City through mail and email up to the survey deadline of July 23, 2021.  Option 2 “No Urban Boundary Expansion” was the clear choice of Hamiltonians with 16,636 or 90.4% or responses. https://www.hamilton.ca/build-invest-grow/planning-development/growth-planning-grids/grids-2mcr-urban-growth-survey

Urban expansion would destroy thousands of acres of class one farmland and be detrimental to our food security, climate change reduction and mitigation goals, urban forest strategy, wetland protection goals, affordable housing strategy, and jeopardize Light Rail Transit success by directing growth far away from the proposed LRT line.