7.1 2003 Annual Economic Review (ECO04005) http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/Clerk/
agendas-minutes-reports/Planning-Economic-
Development/2004/May18/ECO04005.pdf

Kelly: "I'm glad that Mayor DiIanni could be here today because obviously we've talked an awful lot about economic development and how important our commitment is to economic development is to our long term growth in this community. And members of committee, as I've stated publicly many times, we don't do a very good job of saying about the great things that are going on and some of the successes and victories that we have. So item 7.1 is our annual economic review and the brains trust are all here. Dorothy is here, Luc is here and the head of the department Neil Everson to make a presentation. ."

Everson distributes copies of the 24-page glossy 2003 Hamilton Economic Development Review. Earlier annual reports are available on the City website at
http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/business/development/
public-reports/default.asp. Provides powerpoint presentation "... I appreciate the opportunity to update the committee on some of the City's economic development successes in 2003." All departments help in economic development, not just his department. "This graph illustrates the positive trend of building permits in Hamilton and specific details are in the report on page 5 and actually 2003 just beat 2002 and 2002 was a very good year for us. Last year we had a record $87 million in industrial building permits and that only includes phase one of the Dofasco expansion so that number should be hopefully close to that this year. Last year we had 2 million feet of industrial development in the city, and we have about another half a million already in the pipeline. . In 2003 we saw a very nice diversifcation of industrial expansions. Our Ancaster industrial park sold out with the highlight being Stackpole Automotive's auto parts two plants . 250,000 square feet and 350 jobs." Thanks planning department for assistance. "I also want to thank Council for accelerating two capital projects - Cormorant Drive and Tradewind Extension. This really made a big difference in this development. . Silbertech down in Stoney Creek, a real success story, another 35,000 square feet and employs over 100 engineers. Integra Environmental moved from Burlington and consolidated their environmental manufacturing divisions into a 25,000 square foot operation in Ancaster industrial park. Russell Metals, 170,000 square feet. Taylor Steel 74,000 square feet. This type of development we're seeing large sizes. It's precisely why we're trying to open up more land and property in the Stoney Creek area with that QEW access." Mentions Stackpole and invites councillors to drive by it "to see just how big it is. Incidentially, Hamilton has seen over 1 million square feet of auto parts manufacturing in the last three years. .

The airport is an emerging cluster for us and our efforts now have to be redoubled on getting large parcels of serviced land. We are all working on that especially through our GRIDS process, especially with Highway 6 opening up in November. Westjet broke a million passengers as we know last year, and this year even with the reduction should be close to half a million dollars. It invested in a 50,000 square foot hanger facilitated by the City's one million dollar contribution to the reservoir and airport lands. Of course this is a 2004 highlight but I had to mention it. We lost the Montreal and Ottawa routes but on April 17 came Canjet picking up those two routes and also adding a north-south link. I think this is significant for a couple of reasons. One, it shows the potential of that airport showing how fast that Canjet came in; and also the diversification of carriers. I mean just as we try to diversify our economy the more carriers we have at the airport the better it is in terms of long term sustainability. Cargo - 93,000 metric tonnes moved through Hamilton International in 2003 and that is without a direct road link. With #6 completed in November, that total has to increase. One of the issues that this community and this council is going to be confronted with is some type of flight path protection. The growth is occurring at that airport for a number of reasons but the 24/7 designation is absolutely critical. We have to ensure that that is maintained for long term growth in that airport. Early in January we lost FedEx which wasn't as big a news story as it was made out to be. It was just about 2 flights a day and almost 1% of total cargo out of the airport. But CargoJet from Mississauga's come in and they are easily picking up that load and gaining ground, actually taking more cargo out of Hamilton.

Just to remind us of the importance of agriculture, one billion dollar industry annually, $250 million in gross farm receipts in Hamilton and $8.6 million in taxes to this municipality with very few services drawn. The trend, and councillor Mitchell and Ferguson will both agree to this one, is for larger factory farms. We're seeing the disappearance of smaller farms and that is a concern. The growth however in agriculture in this area seems to be in high end, high value type of products - poultry and eggs, you can see some greenhouses and you can see some of those reflected in building permits, dairy and vegetables. Canamera is putting a $60 million expansion to its edible oils facility across the street on Burlington, and that processes all soy beans from Hamilton and southern Ontario. It's also these type of industries that are big port users and gives us that nice integration of clusters that we like to see. Food processing is . an area where we can really see the value added in terms of assessment growth. And what I failed to include in here was Stoney Creek's meat factory 5000 square foot expansion.

In terms of film in 2002 we had a record $16 million in production and 834 shoot days. Then as of January last year along came SARS and there was absolutely zero film production in Ontario and Canada right up until the end of June. That being said, from July to the end of December . we had 45 productions and 600 shoot days and just in those six months that was $8 million generated into the economy. Our film office is still very busy and we may require an additional FTE for next year but that will be addressed in my 2005 budget submission.

The port really has started to develop in terms of a cluster and we've had two pages in our economic review (on pages 8 and 9) dedicated solely to the port. Intermodal communications will be even more important. I think you saw the news item where they're looking at shipping product from Hamilton to Oswego, New York on the far side of Lake Ontario. That's even going to increase, and Lee Ann [Coveyduck] were just at a smart growth meeting yesterday morning and that topic came up - the importance of intermodal capabilities, especially delays in border crossing and energy prices. We think the port has a great future there. Some examples of developments at the port - the James Richardson International head office relocated from Guelph to Hamilton; Toronto Tank Lines facility, 35,000 square feet; and SteelCare's 80,000 square feet . state of the art steel warehouseing operation on Eastport Drive; Montreal-based Bitumar is a 25,000 square feet asphalt processing operation, again on Eastport.

And I'd be very remiss if I didn't mention two significant tourism developments - the 18,000 square foot Canada Marine Discovery Centre and the HMSC Haida located at Pier 9.

Biotechnology. Three years ago Hamilton was not even on the radar screen in this province but we are now part of Ontario's biotechnology corridor. Last year the department formed a golden horseshoe biotechnology consortium. We exhibited with McMaster at Bio2003. We developed the Canadian award-winning Hamilton biotechnology profile and we held the first annual biotechnology conference with McMaster in Hamilton . We just received confirmation earlier this year of $200,000 in funding from the province's biotechnology cluster innovation program. We were the first municipality in the province to apply and get accepted for that. This will be used to develop a detailed strategy for biotechnology which will be coming back to this council for review in the fall. . and we'll have another report going in camera today dealing with a similar issue.

Commercial developments: . again you can see significant square footage. Finally downtown . and I would direct you to the centrespread of the economic review just to give you some indication of exactly what type of developments occurred in downtown. It really seems, as I think Urban Strategies said, development downtown is going to occur from the outside and work it's way in. . you can really see that this council's directions and efforts in downtown over the last three years have really started to show some significant promise for the community.

Our economic development strategy - as I said we had the first version approved by council three years ago. A lot has changed. We said it wouldn't be a static document, we would revise it. We have completed the revisions. We are just doing the fine tuning now and that is anticipated to be mailed out to all our stakeholders in the community as well as all council members for their input. You can see we've made some changes. We've elevated the port and port-related industries to a cluster, and we've reduced the information technology cluster just to reflect what's happening in that industry. We recognize the quality of life as being a strong component with a two way relationship to all the clusters, and per this committee's direction we've added tourism, arts and culture as a cluster as well as downtown. . of significance is our efforts in the introduction of new business retention program.

So Mr Chairman, even though we've had some discourging news this year in regards to the direction for our local economy, I really believe that we're on course."

Kelly: Congratulates Everson and staff. "We look at some of the concerns and some of the problems that we have in this community and those of us who've spent our lives here, it didn't happen overnight. We didn't wake up one day and say 'oh my gosh, look what's going on'. It took a long time for some bad decisions. and it's not going to turn around overnight, but clearly, read this report, read last year's report, and you can see. Some people have gone so far in this community to actually suggest that we're going through some sort of a renaissance, and that may in fact have some legitimacy based on some of the success stories. And I would encourage everybody to please read this report."

Mitchell: Congratulations "This is an absolutely excellent story to be told that needs to be sent everywhere. I'd like to get copies to be sent to my office for public meetings next month in Mount Hope and Binbrook. It's fabulous, and every cluster and sector is represented here. In the past, agriculture wasn't, but it's being highlighted and promoted up there. And you see right in here, JRI and their investment and working with Neil on that. It's the first time in 90 years that Hamilton's had an exporting agricultural sector again - exporting all over the world, soybeans and corn, wheat and so on. It is a Hamilton recovery story and I'm pleased to see that because 65% of this city is rural. And some of that's recovery because the belief that the infrastructure that we're putting in place to be able to move product to get Hamilton back on their feet is going forward.."

Ferguson: "Just waiting for Neil to say 'but I've got no product'. [Laughter]." Congratulations. "The key component of being able to react to applications for commercial-industrial industries moving in is the staff. We're short planning staff. Is that being addressed?" Kelly: "Lee Ann did you find anybody since we started at 9:30." Coveyduck: "Actually, unfortunately in the last several weeks we've continued to lose very good quality experienced planning staff to other municipalities. We have been putting our jobs through the job evaluation process which we think will help. But unfortunately, there's opportunities coming up all over the province in terms of higher level positions, manager level positions that staff are applying for. So, we're doing our best. We are having difficulty recruiting. And all we can do is to continue to do our best and try to get our jobs classed appropriately." Ferguson: "Indirectly that's a compliment to Hamilton when other jurisdictions are after our planners. We still have to fill those voids in order to keep this ball rolling."

Kelly: "It is an ongoing problem. Neil, if I could just quickly, how many requests on average would you get a week? I know it varies." Everson: "It's been really busy the last few weeks. I'd say we average 6 to 7 and most of them are from GTA industrial-commercial realtors, at least 6-7 a week." Kelly: "Sunday morning, I'm working with a proponent for a possible deal, on the phone to Neil, and he's got staff working at it already. It's a 24/7 situation. People want to come to this area now. It's incredible to see the interest in this community all of a sudden."

Ferguson: "Just one final point, is BTR an issue?" Everson: "Absolutely. It's kind of a coincidence, especially since the budget was passed just recently, that enquires have even jumped more. When you see what's happening in development charges in other communities, the fact that our land prices are fairly reasonable, and the direction that the BTR is heading, we are more than on the radar screen for development." Kelly: "I can tell you anecdotally the proponent I was talking to on Sunday morning specifically mentioned business tax reduction. They were looking at Brantford. They read the debate in fact about BTR in the Hamilton media and they decided to give us a shot. So it is on people's radar."

Whitehead: "Well I think congratulations should go to the former councillors who helped develop the regional policy that's starting to bear fruit because everyone knows that these things don't happen overnight. And in fact this happens over time and policies that we incorporate now, we will reap the benefits in a few years from now. So hats off to the councils and councillors who were part of this process and certainly to the staff that implemented it. This is a great great start. I want to put the emphasis on start. The question I have. What are the measurements with respect to employment. And we talked about square footage to square footage. I'd like to know how many jobs, or if we have those stats, per acre that's been created in the period of this report covers." Everson: "We don't have that statistic. One of the summer students we have is going to start doing that on the industrial park basis. They're actually going to go in there and measure it, because often we deal with a company and they say they're going to create 200 jobs and when they actually get up and running it's 150 or it's 100. So we think it's better to calculate that once they're actually there. So we have a summer student dedicated to that this summer."

Whitehead: "I think the emphasis I'm trying to bear . is we need to expand our tax base and I this is moving in that direction with regards to the types of investment being made in this community. But the other side of that is jobs, jobs, and we need to not lose sight of the fact that we need to continue creating employment in this community, employment opportunities. And sometimes when you put an 80,000 square foot building, you have 10 employees. You're not creating a lot of jobs. So I think we need to understand what kind of employment opportunities we're creating through this process as well. And I'm not saying that as a negative. Just let's not just focus on expanding the tax base, although that is a priority absolutely, but let's make sure that we be cognizant of the fact that we need to continue moving down the road that people want to come here, work here, and that there are work opportunities. And I'm really impressed to hear Neil talk on the film side. The film is certainly one of my pet projects going back from the days when I worked in the mayor's office [Whitehead was Mayor Morrow's executive assistant] and I'm hearing that Neil will be coming forward next year with a potential FTE. Neil, can you just indicate the types of dollars, and I know it's in the report but I like to hear it because it just rings in my ears, the type of dollars that are created through the film industry in this community, for the period of this report, and I understand that SARS was, maybe you can go into the previous year if you have those figures. So there's an understanding of the benefits to this community in regards to the revenue that's generated." Everson: "I'm afraid I don't have that number available, but basically it would be double the $8 million that we had because we know some of those productions that we had in 2002 were here for quite a while. As you are aware councillor, the longer they stay the more money they spend. So that's why we don't want them here for 3 days of 5 days. We want them here for three months. And that's where we really get a lot of return for the community."

Whitehead: "And the last piece, we've heard it at the Power conference, we've heard it at - well I guess we might be discussing some of that in camera - but the reality is that it's not a shortage of enquires, it's just a shortage of product. Councillor Ferguson touched on that. We don't have large parcels of land serviced. It's going to take significant dollars to put the processes in the ground so that those lands are serviced. And that is my real concern. Where and how do we do that, and where do we get the assistance. Because once we have the services, I am quite confident that we'll see a lot more fruit beared, certainly on the industrial side and perhaps on the commercial and manufacturing." Kelly: "I know it's an ongoing problem. I know Mayor DiIanni and myself met with Minister Volpe a couple of months ago and addressed that very issue. And, we'll he didn't say no, I rest my case. "

McHattie: "Once again kudos to Neil. Very small budget in the economic development department, one of the smallest of any department across the city, and the outcome from that department is incredible, when we look at the investment in the actual office. That's great. . I had a question about the economic development strategy review. I want to get a sense of the public consultation that's being planned for that. You used the term stakeholders, maybe the more traditional groups that would usually comment on this kind of a strategy. My sense is, and we had a Ward 1 community meeting that focused just on economic development, that you spoke at. My sense is that a lot of other people are interested in commenting on this as well. I'd like to ask what our strategy for public consultation is. Is it even just a question of giving me a whole pile and I can certainly mail it out targetted to residents, constitutents I know in Ward 1 who would be interested and would like to comment?" Everson : "The last process we undertook in terms of public consultation, I think we mailed it out to about 42 different groups. We had 138 changes came back. Some didn't come back without changes, but a lot did. Of course, once the document was approved, everybody asked could we be put on the next list. Anybody that wants a copy, we're happy to give it to them. If it takes an extra month to get to council, well so be it. I intend to circulate copies obviously to all those people that expressed interest last time, as well as all the council members get it and any council member that has a group or an organization that wants a copy, by all means we'll send it out. We very much welcome their input, because as I said, this is a community based strategy, not just something formulated by the department. And that's why we have sector taskforces on each one of the clusters."

McHattie: "Can we actually put an ad in the paper in the At Your Service section, as an example, and/or an article. Encourage the Hamilton Spectator and I guess maybe on this report, because this going out to the media, to talk about the strategy itself, and the fact that we're developing, or examining it again, and trying to attract attention through the article as well? Both those venues?" Everson: "I think that's a great idea. We can certainly do that and then of course anybody will have it in PDF form as well so anybody that doesn't want a hard copy, they can go on line and access it. And we'll extend the cutoff date a little longer to absorb all the comments. We were trying to shoot for an early July, but if it means August or September, I think what's important is the community input. So I think that's a great idea."

McHattie: "That's great to hear, Mr. Chair. It is good news stuff, we're being successful, so communicate that. It's both ways. It's education at the same time as it's asking for comments back. Getting it into the hands of people so that they read it. You and I have talked about this that people just aren't getting the story. All they get is the bad news stuff and they don't necessarily get all the positive stuff. one other comment . the last paragraph on page 4 it talks about the globalization of production and that's a phenomena that's there and something that we have to try to deal with. That brought up in my mind this idea of risk and how we manage the risk of the investments and the direction that we're going in. And I think we're going in the right direction for the most part. But I'm thinking about the scenarios where fossil fuel production perhaps peaks in the next couple of years, the next 10 years, whatever the number is . and the price of fossil fuels we see already going up and may continue exponentially perhaps if the peak actually occurs and that may have effect on different forms of transportation in the business parks, the airport and that sort of thing. And I'm also wondering about the possible climate change effects and the effects of changes going on that are related to the globalization of production. An article today in the Spectator about Ford of Oakville and what might be going on there, and how much money the federal and provincial governments have to throw in to keep them in Oakville. If they were to move I'm wondering what that does to Stackpole and that sort of thing. I know part of the answer is to diversify your economic profile, and we're doing that through the economic clusters. We're not putting all our eggs in one basket but we are looking to make a significant investment into the business parks lands, including the airport. So I'm just wondering how you deal with the risk factor. It's difficult to do and maybe I can just ask for a specific comment on the climate change one because I understand through our planning department - it was Brent Bullough, I don't know whether Brent is still working on this - he was actually doing a sort of risk analysis with climate change in mind. Whether that will come to you and you'll do some thinking on the economic development side as well." Everson: "I'm not sure I'm informed enough to comment on the climate side of it, but what I can say is what we're really trying to do in terms of moving this economy is we want to see a nice mix. Brownfield development makes all sorts of sense in the world for specific industries, especially with this whole intermodal capability. And I was making a presentation a few weeks ago to the industrial-commercial realtors and we had to do a SWOT analysis. So one of our strengths is our intermodal capability. I'm sure that not all the public is aware, but a lot of the steel that's coming from Nanticoke to Hamilton is now moved by rail, where it used to be moved by truck. The fact that a lot of steel service companies, I know, looking at shipping steel from the port of Hamilton over to Oshwego, New York and then on into the eastern seaboard. We may even be replacing rails trails with rail if this trend continues in terms of energy prices. I make humour of that. For any of our friends up there, we're not going to replace the rail trails." Kelly: "Glad you were sitting down, Brian." [laughter]. Everson: "But I think it's a valid point. You're right. Are we going to be able to continue moving goods and people the way we are now as energy prices continue? Absolutely not and I think that's where Hamilton is absolutely poised to capture a lot of growth and a lot of industry. Because how many other cities in the Great Lakes, have road, rail, air and have a port? I mean those with other ports are being redeveloped for residential. We still have key zoned land which is absolutly hot for industry wanting to be near water, so from that perspective, I think it bodes very well for us. But we also have to have some greenfield development on major 400-series highways or Ontario roads. But the mix we have between brownfield and greenfield here, I think is pretty good to be able to adjust to the shocks that may come down in the next few years." McHattie: to Coveyduck ".am I correct that we're doing some sort of a risk aspect to the climate change analysis and possible effects. shared with other departments." Coveyduck: "Yes we are doing that. Unfortunately Brent has left us and gone to Toronto so there will be a delay until we're able to recruit additional staff resources in that area, but that is the plan."

Pearson: Congratulations to Everson and staff. "I know they do a tremendous tremendous job. I concur with Councillor McHattie on how we can publicize this more in the media. I think it's really good news that the public should be aware of and also its interesting seeing the jobs and the businesses that are coming back are coming into this area. For a number of years in Stoney Creek we've known of many people that work in Toronto, prefer to reside in the Hamilton area, and it's nice to see that jobs are coming back so we can get our own little niche back in full force in Hamilton and area. Again kudos to staff. They do a tremendous tremendous job."

Braden: Congratulations. "It's a really positive report. In fact, what I like about it best, and I'm not a golfer, is the last line and the image [there's a photo of the Canadian open in Ancaster on page 22 of the report]. I think it's classic. Again, that's coming from somebody who really makes obscene comments about golf. But it creates a real pleasurable green message and the lingo is positive. So maybe we should think about having a jingle. I think it's outstanding. . In the jobs that we're creating, that we're really pleased with, do we have a sense within our municipality, not including the CMA, but within THIS municipality whether or not the number of jobs is actually going up? Do we have some confidence to know that actually our job numbers are going up?" Kelly: "Good question. There are some conflicting reports." Everson : "I would say up until some of the disappointing news we received earlier this year, we were probably holding our own, but just losing a little bit. But there's been some shocks in the manufacturing sector. You know what I'm not sure if we're going to be even this year or be a little down, but I mean what we're trying to do is bring in growth WITH jobs, but I mean, Stackpole's a great example, 350 jobs. You know, is it going to replace everything that we've lost, no, but we're trying for those numbers."

Braden: ".it might be irrelevant. We want to do the best that we can. That's what's important. But we also not want to kid ourselves. We want to know if it's sustainable or if its balanced. And I don't want to pay a whole lot of money for that answer, but we look to you in the coming months and years to say 'look, here's where we really are.' So I'll leave that topic for now or I'll almost leave it. I guess what I'd like to know is if we every get good collecting that data it would be nice to know what kinds of jobs we're creating and which kinds we're losing. Frankly, we know the names of those leaving. We know what kind of jobs and what they pay. We want to know what the new ones are paying. Just to give us a sense of confidence that they can really sustain themselves and buy a house and contribute and all that stuff. I appreciate councillor McHattie's questions about the energy, because I hope that through your leadership we can face what we know is going to come. That through your leadership accommodate those costs and maybe get some sort of competitive advantage out of it, whether it's because of our preferred location, in terms of where we physically are especially with regards to marine or rail travel. So I hope you can play a role in leading us, rather than us just responding to every week the gas price going up. Our economy can't handle that, operating the same way that we are. I understand that maybe we're going into camera, because I wanted to say that 'look, we're doing well now because of efforts of people before us with some good management and maybe some good luck'. If we're at the point of, outside of Stoney Creek, that we have no product to sell, we can't hold him [Everson] responsible for the fact that we're not going to get growth for awhile outside of the Stoney Creek thing, if we don't take action immediately. We're already late. So I want to make it clear. We can't just have a little bit of good news and then go to sleep. We need to keep that momentum blossoming and getting better. I want to say I went to the auto parts conference, for personal business reasons, but I did do a fair amount of PR for the City. There's two things that come out of that when you talk to those people. One is, just to be fair, we need better quality hotel rooms. You got to hear it from those guys, that's what we need. And the second thing is we need better signage. When people are coming into a conference from out of town, and their coming right down here, they can figure out which building they're going to and how to get around the corners. So we need better signage, even if it's those ugly yellow signs. The people need to know how to get there. And I talked to at least to 40 people in booths. That's a pretty big sample. I don't know how many there were. Maybe there were 60 , maybe there were 100, but I spoke to 40 personally and took the time. And those things were key. The two things that I want to mention in terms of ideas. We did it quite well in Flamborough. One of the few things we really did quite well was that we realized there was a tremendous number of very small businesses that we're probably operating a little bit illegally. Right? And we took that problem [off mic comment that drew laughter] - and not grow-houses either - and we took that problem and we figured out a way to sort of regularize them, get them out of the closet, and then they blossomed. And I think spending hardly any money, and going through the proper process, we legitimized 350 jobs. That's as big as Stackpole. Huge. We did that just by responding to what became a problem, and turning it into an asset. So I don't want anybody to forget, because I believe, because that's the part of business that I'm usually in, that . when a two person company becomes four people we just double our employment. I don't hear anything, that's not to say Neil isn't doing it, in our part of the world where people are going to get forced out of farming, just forced right out, especially at the small end and the medium end, we need opportunity, meaning my constituency needs it. The last thing I want to tell you is that we've got a member of the family wants to put a business on highway six. Highway 6 has all of the credentials that we want - four lane road, well-connected - and he can't get land on that road to get going our business started. Like you know we don't want to sit around and wait for zoning. We want to go. So people can't find land locally, they leave. So this is going to cost money. It's going to cost our planning department some money to do the planning. We need to get going. So that's the push. ." Everson: "Just to let councillor Braden know, McMaster and our department will be co-exhibiting in the auto parts show next year."

Kelly : "Mr. Mayor, glad you could be with us this morning."

DiIanni. "Thank you, can I say a few words? It's pretty well all been said. I'm very pleased to hear the discussion this morning essentially focusing on the economic development and the well-being of this community, the jobs and the healthy businesses and the healthy community that that implies, if it works properly. And the praise that's been given to a very small but quite fruitful department, very productive department I guess. Neil, we were in Sault Ste. Marie recently, a city of half our size? [Everson off-mic] oh 75,000, much smaller. How many employees in their ecdev department did they have?" Everson : Like our department they have tourism and business development and they have 28 staff." DiIanni: "Compared to?" Everson: "21".

DiIanni : "For a city 75 versus half a million. So that gives you a bit of a perspective. Having said that, what I really like about where we are right now is the diversification of the economy. And when I speak to groups out there, employers and business groups, I talk about how diverse the economy is. And even people who should know perhaps, aren't aware, for example, that agriculture is a $1 billion business; aren't aware that our port does to a $100 million of business for in our city; aren't aware of the possibilities and connectedness of the airport and our plans, our hopefully doable plans for the airport lands around the airport and all the businesses that implies. They are not aware that in our downtown, and Cathy is here, we're seeing what I've called the seeds of a renaissance. It's not a renaissance by any stretch, but certainly I do the positive movement, the momentum there. And we need to keep that going. We also need to keep the good story going. The fact these are good stories as so many of you have said this morning. I know we have lots of sad stories to tell as a community as well and we shouldn't hide from those and we should do something about those absolutely, but we don't want to paint a picture of doom and gloom because we're far from that as a community. And what you've been talking about this morning is just evidence of that. The film industry that's been referenced as well, it's subject to so many other outside influences, not the least of which is what's happening in California right now around some regulation that may come. But we doing well with that particular industry and the fact that professional staff is dedicating time to nurture those contacts is the secret to getting more business. The fact that we have one of our staff members dedicated [end of tape] . to make this community hum, and I feel good that we're in the process of doing that. We're not there. We've got lots of challenges and we could spend the whole day talking about those as well, but I think we're headed in the right direction and we just have to keep that momentum going."

Ferguson: "I see Luc sitting here and I wonder if he could give us a quick verbal update on brownfields." Luc Piccioni: "Since inception late 2001, early 2002, the ERASE program has received five completed applications. That's resulted in 27 acres of land being remediated and redeveloped, approximately 330,000 square feet of new construction or refurbished industrial-commercial space. There's also a pilot project down on Beach Boulevard which is just now undergoing remediation which will result in 93 new residential units. In terms of jobs, we are tracking that and we have about 100 full-time permanent jobs associated with those half a dozen brownfield redevelopments.And we have a long-term increase in assessed value of over $10 million, and long-term increase in tax revenues, overall municipal and education, of approximately $1 million. So the program is definitely starting to bear fruit. We are just finalizing the plan now which will expand the program to the whole city. We will be circulating that actually later this week to internal departments, Ministry of Municipal Affairs, and external agencies for comment. So we are quite pleased with the progress that we've seen to this point in time."

Ferguson: "Is that spinned-off to other possible developments as well - the ones that have already happened?" Luc Piccioni: "Well we're going to see more developments coming down the pipe, once we expand the ERASE program. We have two developments that are waiting right now, and a third that just came to my attention, that are outside the current area, but will apply once the program's expanded. So certainly there will be those spinoff benefits. And also in terms of the economic spinoffs, certainly with the jobs, most of these jobs are actually very good paying jobs. I'll give you an example . on Parkdale Avenue which makes automotive fasteners did a 40,000 square foot expansion to their existing plant. And they hired 40 people. They also brought their innovations centre up from a plant that they had closed in the United States, and relocated it to Parkdale Avenue. So there are definitely spinoffs and most of the jobs created on these properties are good paying industrial jobs."

Ferguson: "In your opinion, would these have happened without ERASE?" Luc Piccioni: "Predominantly the answer to that question is no - either would not have happened or if they had happened, expansions would not have been as large. They would not have hired as many people. Because what ERASE does is it frees up money for them to do the cleanup, and that money can then be used elsewhere in the operation. One of the other things I forgot to mention is we have passed the taxpayers cancellation policy which is now also starting to bear fruit. We are seeing for a long time we did not put properties up for tax sale because of the fact if the tax sale failed, the city would automatically end up owning the property and the liability that goes with it. We are now able to put those properties up for tax sale, without automatically owning that liability, and we're seeing a lot more people coming in and paying off their taxes, as the finance department can attest to. We've had several million dollars paid up because of this policy, and the fact that we've been aggressive. And we're one of the first municipalities to pass such a policy and become aggressive and pursue many tax arrears. And that's bearing fruit too, so there's several angles to this that we're pursuing."

Ferguson: "In the evolution of our brownfield redevelopment, do you see anything else on the horizon?" Luc Piccioni: "A couple of things. One is that we're trying to establish an association - Ontario Brownfield Association, the mayor's aware of this - that would predominantly function as a lobby effort with the provincial government to get them to go back and look at their legislation again to improve the liability protections there, but also to provide more direct financial assistance to municipalities. The second thing that I see on the horizon is now the federal government has put aside a lot of money for federally-owned and controlled brownfield sites. We're hoping to see a shift of some of those funds over to private sites, and sites in urban areas. Right now they've set aside $5 billion over 10 years, $4.5 billion of which is going to federally-owned sites. Most of those are mines, Department of National Defence. They're not in urban areas so there won't be a lot of economic spinoff, if it's from cleaning up those sites. And again, I think one of the things we need to do is pursue with the federal government to put that money into urban areas where it will have a much greater economic impact."

Merulla : Just with respect to the assessment base increase for commercial, industrial and multi-res[idential], over the last three years, how much has that assessment base actually increased?" Everson: "I don't have that information but I can get it from Mr. Rinaldo [City Treasurer] and supply it back to committee." Merulla: "Why is Mr. Rinaldo not here?" Kelly: "Well it was an economic development report, Mr Rinaldo probably figured it was not directly related to him. That would be my assumption anyway." Merulla: "Well my understanding based on the information we obtained from him previously, I think the assessment base increase was about two or three million dollars, which he answered at Council one time. Now I believe that didn't include multi-res. That's the only outstanding amount. And I've just realized that with respect to commercial, industrial and multi-res, we've actually taken $64.2 million from the residential tax base and given it to those three categories. And the last number I received was two or three million dollars assessment base increase, over that same period of time - three years. So our $65 million investment has actually led to a $3 million assessment base increase, not actual dollars yet. And I just need a clarification on those issues." Kelly: "Well, what I'll try to do is get Mr. Rinaldo to touch base with you because obviously I think it's beyond the realm of Mr. Everson's report." Merulla: "If you can direct him to give a breakdown on that. I think at this point since residents taxes are, as Mayor DiIanni's mentioned, they are at a breaking point for taxes, maybe we should be looking at an RTR or Residential Tax Reduction program to try to balance off. One investment that I think we could have seen come to fruition even a savings account." [Mayor DiIanni left the meeting during this exchange.]

Whitehead: "We talked about diversity of our economy, which is great and the direction we're moving in. I don't want to forget the resolution that's been passed by this council, and maybe Neil can give us an update, but it's my understanding there was a steel committee that was supposed to be struck with members of the council sitting on it, to work with the steel industry, whether its Dofasco or Stelco. Certainly, the rationale behind it was obviously the state that Stelco's in, but I think a broader work that can be done by that committee. I just want to know what's the status of that committee is." Kelly: "Neil are you aware of that?" Everson : "Yes, I've been in discussions with councillor Whitehead. That's on the top of my pile. We had to get a few things done first, and as you know we've also been involved with Slater recently on some of their issues that have been reported in the paper. I kinda hope to get that done within the next month or so."

Whitehead: "Great. I'd like to see that move sooner than later. I just wanted to bring that back to the forefront. . The other question I have is with respect to the west harbour potential and development. There's been a lot of discussions. I know that we had Setting Sail. I don't know if it incorporated the rail lands down there but maybe Neil can just give us a quick update on where that's at." Everson : ". We had a meeting at the port last Thursday on some of the developments at the west Harbour. Lee Ann [Coveyduck] maybe you can help me out with some of that." Coveyduck: "The next phase of the public input is nearing completion. I believe Mary Lou Tanner from Public Works will be reporting through their committee towards the end of June. And if I recall, it does include the rail lands."

Whitehead: "Great, because I certainly see some potential for development in that area. The other thing I want to mention, and I've mentioned this in the past, and I'll continue hammering that, is that I believe that the federal government needs to be a partner in development. A question I should be asking to Neil: Do you have any idea or handle on how much of the business in the community is export oriented?" Everson: "I don't have a statistic but I can tell you that it's significant being a manufacturing based economy. A lot of our product moves, actually both directions, south and west. But fairly significant compared to most other communities in the GTA."

Whitehead: "One of the issues that I've raised in the past in respect to the federal government, they have the EDC - Export Development Corporation. . From my experience working at the federal government, there's a lot of programs that we're missing out on and certainly I would advocate that perhaps at some point a resolution by this committee or council to request the federal government to set up a directorship office here in Hamilton, with respect to those kinds of activities, to assist the further development of export in our community. It's one thing to grow new businesses, but we want to ensure that the one's that are here will stay and be viable. And I believe that we're missing the boat. Excuse the pun but we're missing an opportunity and I don't think we get the attention that this community deserves as the ninth largest community in the country, with respect to having an office from the federal government located here in Hamilton." He will put forward such a motion to MPs. Also picks up on DiIanni's point about size of Hamilton's economic development office "working on a shoestring budget" . "never thought that the budget was large enough for the tasks we have to do". .. would like to see "more aggressive marketing of the opportunities that we have here in Hamilton". Asks "do we have a road map, any idea on when we can move into that phase of aggressively marketing this community." Everson: "Part of the business retention program that we're bringing in is going to include an export component. We're going to need a body for that. What we intend to do with this economic development strategy, the revised version that's going to come to council eventually, is we're going to put not only the existing complement in each one of the clusters but what we need to deliver the strategy fully. So we'll be coming back. After four years of holding the line, we're finally going to come back and ask for some more bodies to deliver the entire program. And at that point, part of that whole component, that whole business retention area, will be certainly some more profile and communications in terms of the department." Whitehead: "Maybe the question is relative to the current businesses and export activity that's taking place in the community, have we set up some kind of consultation with those businesses - what their needs are and how we can further assist their current operations?" Everson: "No we haven't although I work very closely with Mr. Green at the province. He primarily focuses on the export side, but that's something certainly we're going to address and hopefully get his comments back when the strategy is circulated."

Kelly: "Here's our situation members of committee. I know that a couple of you have a previous commitment in the next little while. I have a meeting in Toronto to attend to this afternoon as well. We still have a number of items to go so I'm going to see if we can get through these items as quickly as we can. ."

McHattie: "A quick comment. Earlier on I forgot to mention the arts and culture and tourism cluster as a new cluster. That's fantastic stuff, and that really gets at that earlier comment I made out the external versus internal and putting all your eggs in one basket kinda stuff. The diversity of that is tremendous. And I'm on the Hamilton and Region Arts Council, so I know the Arts Council will want to be a big part of that. . I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the BIAs in Hamilton as a key economic driver as well, perhaps at a different scale than some of the things that we've been talking about here, but also very important. I'm wondering if there's a way, Neil, perhaps for next year's report another way of doing it, of identifying their contribution in a report such as this." Everson: "With the new economic development strategy we've included not only tourism, arts and culture but also downtown. So we'll ask Ron Marini's group when they report . to include the BIAs. Mr. Chairman, our in camera report should not take very long."

Motion to receive Carried. Kelly asks to change the agenda so that the in camera item (12.1) can be dealt with immediately. Moved by Mitchell, seconded by Pearson. Carried. "In which case I need a motion to go into camera to deal with real estate and I believe a legal issue. Moved by Whitehead, seconded by Mitchell. All in favour. Motion is carried."

12. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

12.1 Redevelopment of Lands at Wellington Street North & Ferguson Avenue North (ECO03006d/FCS03076b) The report of the committee to City Council provides the following information about the decision on this item. These minutes also record that Councillor McHattie declared a conflict of interest "as he is employed by one of the proponents, and left the chamber for the duration of the item."

Redevelopment of Lands at Wellington Street North & Ferguson Avenue North (ECO03006d/FCS03076b) (Item 12.1) a) That staff be directed to execute the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, in a form satisfactory to Corporate counsel, for the 8 acre parcel of land known municipally as 344 Ferguson Avenue North, 350 Ferguson Avenue North, 325 Wellington Street North, the former CN rail spur adjacent to these lands, and Part 1 on Plan 62R-12423. b) That a maximum of $100,000 (including applicable taxes), be allocated from the Brownfield Pilot Project Fund for the City's contribution to the insurance premium for Pollution Limitation Liability insurance on the subject lands. c) That contingent on a failed tax sale in 2005, 325 Wellington Street North and 350 Ferguson Avenue North, be vested. d) That contingent on vesting, 325 Wellington Street North, 350 Ferguson Avenue north, and the lands immediately to the north and east of 350 Ferguson Avenue North, identified as Part 1 on Reference lan 62R-12423, save and except that portion required for the Ferguson Bridge construction, be declared surplus to the requirements of the City of Hamilton in accordance with the City of Hamilton Real Property Sales Procedural By-law 95-049.

8.1 Application of Parkland Dedication Policy for Residential Developments in the Hamilton Downtown (PD04135) (Ward 2) http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/Clerk/
agendas-minutes-reports/Planning-Economic-
Development/2004/May18/PD04135.pdf
Exemption from extra parkland dedication for high density developments in downtown. This was adopted. Tape was not working for this section of the meeting.

8.2 Exemptions to the Minister's Zoning Order (Ontario Regulation 432/03) Associated with the Greenbelt Protection Act (Bill 27) (PD04146) (City Wide). This was an addition to the agenda. It was moved by Mitchell, seconded by Whitehead and adopted without discussion. Kelly commented: "And good luck with that motion as well."

OTHER BUSINESS

Kelly notes that the earlier discussion had provided staff direction on information about swales, but he has since been informed that a motion is needed from the committee for this. Kelly: "that staff report back to committee on the process of taking storm drainage works back into city ownership, specifically on communicating with the affected residents on how well the drainage is working before the city takes on ownership. Moved by Mitchell, seconded by Pearson."

Tim McCabe : "Under unfinished business, item M. We understand that that has to do with the same issue. It's not that clear in here but maybe we can just make sure that item M which staff was directed to report back on the way to ensure that systems shown on plans are actually functional." Kelly agrees to accept motion and reference it to M so they can be dealt with. Motion carried

Councillor Ferguson moves to finalize appointments to the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee. The following persons are identified: Doug Cranston, Carl Loewith, Catherine McMaster, and Melvin Switzer. Moved by Ferguson, seconded by Mitchell. Whitehead: "Has this been vetted to the urban councillors? [pause] Just kidding." [Laughter]. Ferguson: "That's what we're doing right now." Motion was carried.

Resignation of Councillor Margaret McCarthy from Waterdown BIA
Kelly: . now in discussing this with staff . the bylaw suggests that there needs to be a council representative on those BIAs. It does not in fact have to be a councillor. So the suggestion here is to direct staff to advertise for a new member of the Waterdown BIA."

Whitehead: Okay with that, but "we also have vacancies as a result of Andrea [Horwath] departing on the Downtown and International Village BIAs, so I'm prepared to put my name forward for one or both of those particular BIAs. I know it's sort of a side issue but we have an opening in three BIAs currently." Kelly . that's a good point and since the mayor wanted to discuss how we are going to deal with councillor Horwath's 'ascension' to the legislature. You're going to be at the meeting tomorrow, right?..." Whitehead notes that she also sat on housing and other committees. "I'm certainly prepared from my past experience to work with the downtown." Motion to direct staff to advertise for McCarthy position moved and seconded.

Ferguson: "When it comes to naming new streets in subdivisions, what's the practice? Do we accept the names that developers put forward? Historically we've had an inventory of names that had been supplied by the historical society. Is that still in effect?" McCabe: "We do have a reserve list of historical names related to the history of this city. They are typically chosen by staff for major roads and reserved for that purpose. The balance of the local streets is suggested by the developers, and it all has to do with their marketing and that type of reasons, so we only use the reserve,the important names, for the major roads. We are bringing a new street naming policy to the committee probably in the early fall just to clarify some of the prefixes and suffixes" to make it easier for emergency crews to find the right street. "We can discuss the other reserve list with you at that time." Ferguson: "I guess my point is that there a lot of people who've given a lot to their communities . it would be nice to have some of these peoples names on streets." McCabe says they can take requests from individual councillors to pass it on to the developers. "The developers, sometimes, this is a real pain for them to come up with street names. I mean it's not the best and most fun thing they have to do sometimes unless they have a marketing theme."

Mitchell: ".shouldn't all be left up to the developers" Notes some examples of streets named in Binbrook for former mayor, prominent individuals.

Whitehead: "I want to make sure that we're sensitive to the diversity of this community and we don't get overly anglicizing of names of streets, cause I've had that one brush already in respect to an Italian name that sounded too much like something else. The reality is that we need to be sensitive to the people that live here in regards to the naming of the street." Also raises question of who's responsible for towing away vehicles left long times on streets. Getting innundated with calls - "one that's been on my street since last September. After I got elected I reported it, reported it several times since then, and it's still sitting there, and I'm wondering what is a reasonable time frame to remove these derelict vehicles sitting on the street?" Kelly notes he just reported one yesterday. No one there from staff to answer the question. McCabe says he can pass it on to "Marty". Whitehead notes that Marty is aware of it, just using this as an example. "I've been given all kinds of rationales why it's not happening, but at some point I have to bring it to a higher level and say look there's something wrong with the process if in fact a vehicle sits in front of someone's home since last September." McCabe notes that derelict vehicles could be property standards issues but will raise matter at management team.

Motion to adjourn. Carried.

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