Thanks to pressure from Environment Hamilton, urban residents will get a belated chance to counter city plans to shrink the protected agricultural Greenbelt. It’s another advocacy achievement that the non-profit citizens group will be highlighting at its Sweet and Spicy fundraiser next month.
Environment Hamilton demanded a voice for urban residents after the city only organized three rural meetings that were not even accessible by public transit to collect public input on potential deletions or additions to the Greenbelt. The citizen group, which has long championed local food and opposed more sprawl development, was prepared to host an urban meeting itself but the city has now agreed to a session on Monday, September 28 from 5-7 pm on the second floor of City Hall.
It may provide a counterweight to substantial pressures to remove prime farmland from Greenbelt protection and convert it to residential, commercial or industrial uses. The rural open houses encouraged participants to ‘vote’ on potential changes to the ten-year-old Greenbelt.
That includes possible removal of two blocks of tenderfruit lands below the Niagara Escarpment and three larger ones in upper Stoney Creek that city staff have identified. The two in lower Stoney Creek include the former ED Smith lands that used to feature a large cherry orchard.
The blocks in upper Stoney Creek surround and would about double the Elfrida lands where the city is already determined to convert 2800 acres of unprotected agricultural land to residential development. Councillors designated Elfrida as a future expansion area in the city’s official plan but the province removed the references – a response now under appeal at the Ontario Municipal Board by both the city and the developers who own the lands.
The provincial government appears unwilling to carve up the Greenbelt, so in an apparent attempt to make a trade the city is also suggesting some areas that might be added such as already protected urban river valleys. Staff also have identified blocks of unprotected farmland near Book Road in Ancaster and south of Twenty Mile Creek near Nebo Road, but there’s strong opposition from the landowners who see urbanization as much more lucrative than food production.
Environment Hamilton opposes all removals from the Greenbelt and argues instead that the protected countryside should be expanded along with the urban river valleys like those along Red Hill and Spencer Creeks. The group offered numerous workshops earlier this year that helped over 80 residents submit written comments directly to the provincial review.
Protecting foodlands is an ongoing priority of the twelve-year-old citizen group that kick started the local food movement in Hamilton. It runs the Good Food Box program and puts together the Hamilton Eat Local and Farm Map Directory that guides users to farmers’ markets and farmgate stands. It also appealed the aerotropolis urban boundary expansion and fought related city moves to set aside lands for big box developments.
Not surprisingly, locally grown and prepared culinary delights are one of the promises for its Sweet and Spicy October 15 event that will help fund Environment Hamilton’s advocacy work on food, urban sprawl and other local environmental issues. The Thursday evening celebration at the downtown Spice Works includes live music and a cash bar along with updates on the group’s projects.
Environment Hamilton shook up city council last spring with a cheeky campaign to convince councillors to actually ride the HSR for a week before they made any more decisions on Hamilton’s transit system. About a third of councillors took up the challenge to take advantage of resident pledges that generated hundreds of dollars worth of HSR tickets now being distributed to low-income Hamiltonians.
The citizen group also advocates for climate action and funded a bus to last July’s major march in Toronto. Cutting local air pollution has been a prominent focus as well, with a determined campaign resulting in $390,000 in fines for Arcelor Mittal Dofasco that was passed on by the province to the city. Those monies were supposed to provide grants to improve air quality, but 16 months after council approval nothing has emerged from the city bureaucracy.
Environment Hamilton has eliminated membership fees in favour of direct fundraising efforts like the October 15 evening.