The provincial Greenbelt intended to protect agricultural land doesn't include a vast rural area in Glanbrook which instead is intended to accommodate future urban growth. The Pleasantview rural area of Dundas is also left unprotected by the Greenbelt plan.
Both areas are currently outside the city's urban boundary. The Glanbrook block is designated as prime agricultural land in the official plan. It runs south from Rymal Road as far as Whitechurch Road, west almost to the 403, and east to Second Road East in upper Stoney Creek. Pleasantview is part of the Parkway West special policy area. A detailed map can be viewed below.
These purpose of these areas is not explained in the provincial documents, but Hamilton's director of long-range planning, Paul Mason, told the planning committee this week that "it is obviously the area that we have available to us . for urban boundary expansion." The Greenbelt plan also doesn't explain why land on one side of its boundary is to be protected for agriculture while land on the other side of the road can be sold at vastly increased prices for urban development.
If this area is developed, it would add about 40 percent to Hamilton's current urban area, and would appear to accommodate many more years of urban sprawl. It would also move the geographic centre of Hamilton to somewhere near Limeridge Mall, leaving downtown more than a dozen kilometres from the southern edge of the city.
Mason warned councillors that the Greenbelt is only part of the picture and the exact future of these lands will not be clear until the province releases its final Places to Grow documents. The latter are expected to set out the provincial rules for urban growth, including how much of it has to take place inside existing urban boundaries.
Mason also pointed out that close to half expansion area south of Rymal lies within the flight paths of jets using the Hamilton airport. As a result, federal law prevents those lands from being used for residential development, although commercial and industrial uses could be permitted.
Most of the council questions and discussion at the committee meeting focused on the designation of various parts of Stoney Creek as protected fruit and grape lands (also shown on the CATCH map). Murray Ferguson and Dave Mitchell argued that these areas had poor soil and should not be protected. Mason noted that the city had been considering urban expansion into most of these lands both above and below the escarpment.
Citizen groups successfully blocked urbanization of the Pleasantview lands in the early 1990s. They raised thousands of dollars and convinced the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) that Dundas should retain its last rural area as farmland. The Greenbelt plans suggest that decision may be reversed by the province.
The loss of Glanbrook agricultural lands to urban development has also generated considerable opposition including an unsuccessful citizen appeal to the OMB in 2001.
The provincial government is moving quickly to finalize the Greenbelt Plan and has set a December 12 deadline for comments. These can be made on-line at http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_16289_1.html where the full documents can also be examined.
There are also two public meetings being held in the Hamilton area - one in Burlington on November 16 at the main buildings of the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the other on November 18 in Winona at LIUNA Gardens ( 526 Winona Road North). Neither location is serviced by the HSR. Both meetings run from 7 to 10 pm and individuals who get there can ask questions and make brief presentations.
