OMB Urban Boundary Expansion Appeal

The following two articles, written by Conserver Society Chair Alison Healing, provide an overview of our participation in the Urban Boundary Expansion hearings before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Both articles were written for the Environmental Advocate, the Conserver Society newsletter.

June, 2001

Phase One of the Ontario Municipal Board Hearing of the Urban Boundary expansion appeal (ROPA-9) began on June 5, 2001 at the Old Court House, 50 Main St. East, Hamilton. On June 26, after twelve days of hearings, it was adjourned. The Hearing Officer was Don Grainger, former mayor of Flamborough, who also presided over the Pre-Hearing.

There are two appellants: our group—known as "The Conserver Group" (Action 2020, Citizens for a Sustainable Community and the Conserver Society of Hamilton & District)—and the Glanbrook Industrial Park group. The three respondants are the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth (now The City of Hamilton), 100 Main Street East Ltd. and Multi-Area Developments Inc.

The last day of the hearing was devoted to Final Statements by the lawyers. We were ably represented by Bill Dermody. He reminded the Board of the policies within the Official Plan supporting the need to maintain a firm urban boundary, in order to develop a compact urban form, and the clear direction in the OP for a 10-year supply of residential land. He stated that the new projections presented in the hearing which pointed to a residential land deficit in 20 years (if they were borne out) could be met within the existing 10-year planning frame and that it is the purpose of the annual monitoring of land supply to allow for forecasting future needs. The current vacancy rate of residential land has not been recently updated. Decisions of future need would best be left until information is available from the 2001 census and other inventories (usually part of a five-year review) are available.

We now await the OMB decision. Phase one was focused on the question of "Need" with all other issues to be held over to a second phase to take place in September. Need was to be looked at within the meaning and context of the current planning policies. If the question of need has not been proved, there will be no second phase to the Hearing.

Thanks to all those who attended and took notes at the hearings so that a record was available for our lawyer Bill Dermody and planning expert, Mark Dorfman.

October, 2001 Update

In a decision handed down on July 6, 2001, Don Granger, Hearing Officer for the OMB, found in favour of the Developers and the City of Hamilton. After much consideration, the Steering Committee felt that it would not be viable, both financially and in the present political climate, to pursue an appeal process on the decision or to participate in Phase Two of the Hearing. This has disappointed the Appeal Steering Committee and all who supported and assisted in the Appeal.

Granger rejected the assumption that Hamilton should establish a Firm Urban Boundary using a 10-year supply of vacant residential land as an adequate planning time frame before it considered expanding the boundary. He found that Hamilton must use a 20-year planning framework. He agreed that there was 16.5 years currently available within the existing boundary, but that to delay expanding the boundary for another 5 years (the time of the next Official Plan review) would increase the costs for the City and that Hamilton should get in line with what other municipalities are doing.

The Decision has also introduced a new element into the expansion of urban boundaries, stating that municipalities must now consider market demands for various housing types and not just look at the supply of land to accommodate the future growth. They cannot simply draw a permanent boundary line and force citizens into "unwanted" housing types. The evidence presented showed that the majority of home buyers in Hamilton want to own single-detached homes. The City's own Housing Policy states that 52.5% of the units to be supplied should be single-detached. Therefore, Granger found that based upon the evidence presented, there were grounds to expand the urban boundary in other areas, beyond those covered by ROPA-9, since there will be a shortage of 405 hectares (1000 acres) by the year 2021. Although the City had not done a recent housing needs study, Granger accepted the evidence that the Developers and the City's experts presented, supporting market demand as one criterion to justify the boundary expansion and the 20-year planning time frame.

Current Actions

The Conserver Society, Action 2020 and Citizens for a Sustainable Community entered into negotiating sessions with the Developers as an alternative to participating in Phase Two. Minutes of Settlement were signed by all the parties. Included in the Minutes were agreements to attempt to come to consensus regarding the secondary plan. The Plan is to reflect the Regional Official Plan policies which encourage sustainable development and a compact urban form. Having regard to the availability of vacant residential lands within the urban boundary, there will be a provision for phasing-in of the residential development.

As well, a committee will be formed to investigate opportunities for, and obstacles to, development or redevelopment in the downtown and surrounding urban core areas. This Committee will attempt to present its conclusions in the form of an action plan for public consideration. An additional clause provides for the Developers, with our group, to investigate opportunities for "sustainable building principles and techniques". The objective will be for each of the developers to build (if financially viable) a home using these principles. We are hoping that these will be used as "model" homes and be the start of developments which employ sustainable practices in all new houses.

Protection of the karst features in the area is also on our agenda. We are waiting to review reports from the Developers' experts regarding their findings on the karst drainage systems.

We are currently in a series of meetings with Aldo deSantis (Multi-Area Developments) and Al Frisina (100 Main Street East) to negotiate these agenda items and are hopeful that they will come away with a better understanding of our concerns.

Anyone wishing to read the full OMB Decision can download it using the Ontario Municipal Board E-Decision Search Form (the file numbers are PL991222, PL000782, PL001258) or contact Alison Healing at 905-648-6964.