Bay Area Restoration Council Conference
From Watershed to Waterfront - Exploring the Relationship between City and
Harbour Health
March 6/04 Report

Full house, had to add chairs. 

Keynote address: Shelley Petrie , Executive Director, Toronto Environment Alliance

Presentation: "controlled" development focus...based on Suzuki publication 'Stopping Sprawl In Your Community' ...smart growth and community building. 

Why do we have sprawl and what's wrong with it? 

- Demand... cheaper to build and buy

-Residents not engaged in community planning hence don't choose the whole package (strip malls, no sidewalks etc)         

- Numbers not crunched re costs, lacking the tools  in the past to do this effectively, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has great software to do this

-Isolation, in suburbs people not connected or organized to respond to planning issues

-Transience - moving up or down means leaving your neighbourhood (causing isolation)

-Sprawl costs: something about a 16% increase in capital infrastructure costs...$5,300/unit in '95 dollars.

Costs=pressure for municipalities to move to more privatization of services  

- Municipalities ignoring existing policies...stop mid peninsula highway

Good stuff:  Protecting open space, revitalizing existing infrastructure. Portland good example...and has free transit!  Seattle ripping up concreted space and putting in green space - very cutting edge.  ).   Sustainable Development Pays for Itself!!

Oakville green plan development:  sounds good, but outside urban boundary. 30 more Wal-Mart's coming, 10 Sams superstores.  Could pressure to build big box developments differently - storm water runoff measures can end up costing less. 

Advocate Alternative Development Standards (" "): eg reinvesting along existing road corridors, choosing minimum density 50units/hectare standard average (go to Suzuki site for more creative ideas: buying up development rights on farms without buying the farm)

Community Building: Get contact info, go where the people are and talk to the people about these issues (open houses in new subdivisions)  Be creative:  example CBC contest - what is the ugliest area in Canada?  motivated people to think

Panel:

Larry DiIanni, Hamilton Mayor

John Hall, Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan

Adi Irani, engineer, Hamilton Halton Homebuilders' Association

Rob MacIsaac, Burlington Mayor

Ted McMeekin, MPP - Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot

Q.  What are the factors driving outward expansion?

John Hall : (actually before the question was posed he made these comments, I guess in response to Shelley's presentation) Re: watershed runoff - Cootes Paradise drains 50% of area (or 50% of area drains into Cootes).of the area surround 20% is urbanized. Cootes is in recovery, but is still considered hypernutrophic (too nutrient rich=too much growth). We now have the tools to measure the impact of amounts of urban and rural uses in a watershed.

DiIanni : Agreed with most of Shelley's analysis.  Governance structure in the past in Hamilton the problem...regional gov't was to bring everyone together to work together, but in reality each area protected their own interests = warfare, things not planned as well.  Now with amalgamation...(better, unified?) plan...and structure = each speaking for unified area.

Irani :  Liked Shelley's presentation.  1. More people.  (but) density has increased past 2 decades...Burlington's (new) density is about at the medium level compared across the GTA.  2. People's attitudes - example of listening to people's remarks on airport shuttle to Calgary airport: they don't understand or like the look of density, like big lots.

MacIsaac : We're miles ahead of most sprawl in the States (ours is more dense)...sited example of bad urban expansion in Portland (!)...we're doing well...need to do better.  Problem:  Upper level decision makers need to get involved...at present Province is involved...need Greater Toronto Board (?)

McMeekin :  Re: farmland loss...OMB.  Structural problems. There is a need for public education ... eg.   A well- respected Hamilton Planner said in his presence  (in the context of  - lobbying about? - the green belt moratorium and the large institution - church? -that wants to be exempt to build outside urban boundary) that he thinks the new Mid Peninsula Highway should be the new urban boundary.   And: McMeekin: "As long as cities have to rely on residential taxes that will create dumb growth in itself"

Q.  Do we have the correct policies and frameworks in place?

McMeekin : No. Does the shoe fit.ask the wearer. Moratorium necessary.

MacIsaac : Re: Liberal gov't willing to take on meaningful issues: 1) Greenbelt Task Force - important legislation 2) Transportation Master Plan for Golden Horseshoe.new.decades since (?).

­Irani : Caution: If you restrict growth to narrow urban growth = pressure on land prices which reduces the amount of affordable housing that is built (I gather he means houses at $150,000 rather than more). Re: CMHC - wonderful research papers to be found at their site re planning.

DiIanni : Praised MacIsaac. Caution: re upper level processes.has seen years of gov't initiatives.seen at least 3 launched.but no arrival. He hastens to add, that he believes that the current Provincial gov't will be successful in their initiatives. Municipal: "take control and manage ourselves". eg. West GTA transportation conference on transportation issues he attended recently. Other area such as Brant, Guelph, Cambridge also doing this now.because 'they have transportation problems too". Hamilton is also getting together with Niagara on waste issues. Locally we have ' GRIDS' (which he said was an 'anachronism' instead of an 'acronym'.and explained it as Growth Related Infrastructure, rather than Integrated, Development Strategy ). (?).

Q. What can we do to encourage compact urban growth?

­DiIanni : Hamilton especially need to look at re-urbanization of its core.have plans etc.balanced - Vision 2020 addresses this need for balance.triple bottom line - great document. Was told about great organization ICLEA (?) - Australia, where they use triple bottom line planning. Also, something about Waterdown following Binbrook's example re a more compact community.

Irani: There was a proposed development for Plains Rd. in Burlington - a high rise - big uproar from the community and a compromise had to be found. Another example where a 6 story was planned in a Hamilton greenfield - again public upset and it had to be reduced to 3 stories.

DiIanni : Public education.

MacIsaac : Development along transportation corridors - example subway routes in Toronto. Gov't has to lead in this.

McMeekin : Municipalities relying on property taxes driving dumb growth. Who's heard of the 'new deal'? (only Lynda and I put our hands up!!) This will target infrastructure funding. Different ideas.proposal to make Cootes a National Park (!)

MacIsaac : Founding member of a broad-based coalition (?)

Irani : Public Education. His company created and distributed to new subdivision owners re the environmental 'treasures' in their area and how to be responsible stewards (I have copy).

John Hall : When the carrying capacity of the Harbour is exceeded we are all disadvantaged. There is now new science to define the impact of different types of development. Tools: use them. Emphasis should be on defining natural heritage system (in rural area.being done in urban).

DiIanni : Forums such as this. Public (us in the room)- find ways you can help: he told us to "participate, advocate, co-operate, (something else), but don't litigate! (I had to hold Lynda down!).

McMeekin : (coming to Lynda's rescue) Sometimes litigation is necessary. : Encouraged involvement in new community councils in Hamilton (sited as an initiative of the DiIanni gov't) and 1000 friends (?).

Small Group Discussions :

Tables were set up, each with a different topic to address:

1. Watershed - natural area priorities

2. Sustaining local agriculture

3. The Niagara Escarpment

4. Harbour shoreline activities

5. Sprawl's effect of Hamilton Harbour

6.Hamilton Harbour and downtown connections

7. How urban sprawl affects me

8. Transportation throughout the watershed

9. Common issues between Burlington and Hamilton

10. Sustainable cities through urban design

Two other tables with no specific topic assigned (mine was one of these).

McMeekin, DiIanni, MacIsaac, and Marsales left before these small group discussions.

Our discussion was re personal experiences, where we lived, what our affiliations were. Engineer said that in Hamilton, unlike Burlington, developers are required to put down a hard, impermeable surface on driveways. BARC said that they're looking at forming a Planning group and invited interested people to contact them.