To expand or not to expand? City survey asks about Hamilton’s urban boundary

Hamilton residents can expect surveys in mailboxes next week asking whether the city should hold its urban boundary or break into rural lands.

About 230,000 surveys will be sent to households citywide to gather feedback on the key question that promises to shape Hamilton for decades to come.

City planning staff say the municipality's urban footprint must expand into rural lands to accommodate a projected increase of 236,000 people by 2051.

But a coalition of residents rejects that conclusion, and urges city politicians to hold Hamilton's current rural-urban dividing line to prevent sprawl and protect agricultural land.

We want council to recognize that since our city has declared a climate emergency, this is one of the most important ways that they can act on that declaration," Nancy Hurst, a member of Stop Sprawl HamOnt, said Friday.

But an association that represents the local residential development industry hopes council favours a plan to add 1,340 hectares of rural land to the urban fold.

Hamilton needs room to grow," said Mike Collins-Williams, chief executive officer of the West End Home Builders' Association.

The city's ambitious density" option, which involves an average rate of intensification - housing created in the existing built-up area - of 60 per cent over 30 years is a balanced solution," he said.

The survey asks residents whether they favour that scenario, which would place 28,660 new units in outlying rural areas, or one that freezes the urban boundary.

That no-expansion option calls for an average intensification rate of 81 per cent with 110,180 new units in Hamilton's existing built-up area.

The survey, which also asks for other suggestions" notes 9,256 intensification units" have been built over the past 10 years, making for an intensification rate of 39 per cent.

Earlier this year, Hurst joined others, including members of Environment Hamilton, in urging city staff to consider a frozen urban area in their provincially mandated growth-related studies.

Coun. Brad Clark's motion in March for additional public feedback on the boundary debate through a citywide mail-out survey gained traction, leading to next week's delivery.

The surveys must be returned via their postage-paid forms by July 23. Staff are unsure" photocopied surveys will reach city hall and prefer that additional household responses be emailed to grids2-mcr@hamilton.ca.

The province has predicted Hamilton's population will reach 820,000 by 2051.

Municipalities are expected to formulate policy that directs at least 50 per cent of future housing into built-up areas through intensification and denser housing types like apartments and stacked townhomes by 2051.

The current Progressive Conservative government's direction adds 10 years to the planning horizon and reduces the intensification rate from the 60 per cent set by the previous Liberal government.

City planners - and developers - eye rural parcels in Elfrida and Glanbrook for an expansion predicated on the province's market-based approach to land needs.

Hurst says it's imperative" to save that farmland from development and contends there's enough empty spaces in the current urban area to reach the growth targets through denser forms of housing.

A more compact Hamilton will lead to a walkable, livable, transit-oriented city" that also avoids mounting infrastructure costs that come with sprawl, she added.

But Collins-Williams, whose association represents 300 companies, says the city must expand its boundary to meet market demand for single-family homes in addition to denser housing like apartments.

If Hamilton does not approach this with balanced solutions, people will vote with their feet and they will leave."

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com