The city will ask Queen’s Park to remove at least three blocks of agricultural land from the protected Greenbelt, but the request is being opposed by the mayor and four of his council colleagues. And more questions about the fairness of the process emerged at both the planning committee meeting and during the multiple last-minute amendments made by city council.
The recommended removals include 104 hectares of tenderfruit land in lower Stoney Creek plus 28 hectares on the north edge of Waterdown. In addition, one of the last-minute council amendments, moved by Doug Conley, opens the door to also cutting out about 140 hectares in upper Stoney Creek.
The latter area, described by Conley as “a relatively small piece of land,” lies along the east side of Upper Centennial from the escarpment to Mud Street and back as far as First Road East. It was part of a larger block put forward during a public consultation process in September, but not ultimately recommended for removal after planning staff belatedly discovered that the conservation authority is acquiring lands there for an east escarpment park that would restore wetlands and manage flooding threats from two major creeks.
That error likely increased land prices faced by the Conservation Authority and was among several cited by opponents of Greenbelt cuts in the run-up to the December 3 planning committee meeting. Another was the surprise proposal to remove the Waterdown lands which had not been mentioned by staff during the public consultation in September.
Several more have now emerged including the failure to notify owners of properties being considered for removal from the Greenbelt, and the absence from the December 3 meeting of Dillon Consulting, the company who carried out the public review and on whose report the staff recommendations were based. Over 200 pages of Dillon material were presented to the planning committee but councillors had no opportunity to ask the consultant any questions.
Both problems were raised by Brenda Johnson whose rural ward is most affected by the proposals. She also pointed out the proposals were not backed up with soil quality surveys and she challenged the failure of proposed boundaries to follow fixed features like roads rather than easily moveable small streams.
Johnson was one of the four councillors who joined Mayor Eisenberger in voting against the removals section of the staff recommendations. The others were Aidan Johnson, Matthew Green and Arlene Vanderbeek. However, Johnson had earlier supported two of the three parcels being removed, objecting only to the ED Smith lands in east Stoney Creek.
Councillors unanimously approved expansion of the Greenbelt by 430 hectares south of Twenty Mile Creek, nearly doubling the area proposed by staff. Council’s agricultural and rural affairs sub-committee had recommended that 450 hectares near Book Road in Ancaster be added as well, but that wasn’t included in the final council decision.
The addition of urban stream valleys to the Greenbelt has been encouraged by the province, but staff did not endorse such changes in their report. However, at the city council meeting, Aidan Johnson successfully won inclusion of Coldwater Creek also known as Ancaster Creek, a tributary of Spencer Creek that marks the boundary between west Hamilton and Dundas.
All changes must be approved by the province which has generally focused on expanding the Greenbelt rather than taking lands out of it. That was echoed in a report released last week by a blue-ribbon commission created by Queen’s Park to provide advice on the Greenbelt and other land use plans.
“The Greenbelt protects important ecological and hydrological systems, as well as an agricultural system composed of prime agricultural lands, rural areas and specialty crop areas,” observed the commission headed by former Toronto mayor David Crombie. “In addition, the three Greenbelt plans are an essential component of the provincial strategy to contain urban sprawl. There is evidence to show that they are important tools to contribute to protection of natural and agricultural assets, and control of urban expansion. However, they need to be strengthened to fully reach their objectives.”
It also argued the province should “step up our efforts to curb sprawl, build complete communities, grow the Greenbelt, support agriculture and address traffic congestion in order to provide a high quality of life and sustainable environment and economy to future generations.