New Group Offers Alternative to 'Desperation Planning'
August 25, 2005

The Ancaster couple challenging the city's aerotropolis plan are now part of new organization dedicated to supporting the principles of Vision 2020. Michael and Carol Desnoyers introduced Hamiltonians for Progressive Development (HPD) at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Mr. Desnoyers and Jack Santa-Barbara, a retired business executive, are the spokesmen for the new organization which released a detailed position paper and an open letter to the mayor and city council. Desnoyers is president and CEO of Etratech, a high tech company located in Burlington. Santa-Barbara formerly headed Action 2020, a group set up to help implement Vision 2020. It was initially funded by the city, but that ended after the group appealed an earlier urban boundary expansion.

Desnoyers told the press conference that HPD shares "a common belief in Vision 2020, the principles of GRIDS, and the underlying need to treat equally the economic, social and environmental aspects of all development decisions." He also stressed "the absolute need to engage the community in a comprehensive and extensive fashion" in city decision-making.

The position paper calls on the city to "stop desperation planning" and instead follow the principles of Vision 2020 approved by council more than a decade ago, but largely ignored. HPD argues that other cities have done a much better job of implementing these principles and says "it is time to bring the Vision home".

"Hamiltonians for Progressive Development believes that economic prosperity is possible only when social and environmental objectives are actually implemented with each and every major development decision." The group also argues that "true community prosperity can only occur with broad community engagement in major municipal decisions."

HPD says it will hold a series of events to elaborate its views and to "actively oppose major municipal decisions that ignore the vision, that do not enhance quality of life in Hamilton, or that only serve narrow interests." Their open letter to councillors focuses on the aerotropolis plans and the city's recent decision to urbanize 3100 acres of prime farmland to accommodate hoped for industrial and commercial growth around the airport. Along with HPD, this decision has also been appealed by the provincial government.

In the letter, HPD argues that the city "ignored its own rules and principles in approving the expansion" and also disregarded citizen concerns about the aerotropolis scheme and other aspects of its long-term plan for Hamilton. The letter also summarizes specific concerns about the airport development including the loss of agricultural land, more sprawl development, an increase in air and noise pollution, the risks arising from rising fuel prices and peak oil, and the large but still uncalculated costs of providing water, sewers and other urban services to the expansion area.

It concludes with the statement: "Hamiltonians for Progressive Development calls upon the City of Hamilton to reverse its decision to expand the urban boundary, and to establish a genuine community engagement process to plan for the city's long term prosperity."

The full position paper and open letter are posted on the CATCH website at http://hamiltoncatch.org/pdfs/HPD-Statement-OpenLetter.pdf.

HPD can be contacted at progressivedevelopment@gmail.com.