Doug Ford government pitches housing on 1,900 acres of Greenbelt in Hamilton

Ontario's plan to build homes in the Greenbelt - which the Tory government vowed last year it would not do - includes 1,900 acres of protected farm and natural lands in Hamilton.

If the contentious development proposal goes ahead, those lands would swell a separate government-ordered, 5,400-acre expansion of Hamilton's urban boundary by nearly a third.

Environmentalists, along with past and incoming city politicians, are already lining up to oppose the provincial proposal - which is still subject to public consultation until Dec. 4 - to allow new development in the protected band of farms, wetlands and green space that hugs the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

It's not about the housing crisis. It's just a massive, cocky-as-all-heck land grab on behalf of developers," said Environment Hamilton head Lynda Lukasik.

She said local advocacy groups are working together to help residents submit comments on the Greenbelt proposal - as well as complain to MPPs about the flood of pro-sprawl" decisions, including last week's urban boundary order. (You can submit comments to the province at ero.ontario.ca.)

So many people are rallying to oppose this ... I think you're only going to see the response get bigger."

Tory housing minister Steve Clark announced Friday Ontario is considering a land swap that would add new territory to the Greenbelt - but also open up 7,400 acres of protected countryside in the GTHA for fast-tracked new housing.

Clark has conceded that is a flip-flop from the government's vow last year to not open the Greenbelt to development or land swaps. It also runs counter to Premier Doug Ford's earlier election promise to not touch the Greenbelt."

Clark argued Ontario's housing crisis requires a new approach and he has said lands will only be removed from the Greenbelt if new housing can be built there quickly, with construction starting by 2025 at the latest.

In Hamilton, three properties totalling 1,900 acres - or about 950 CFL football fields - are proposed to be pulled from the Greenbelt, with the largest a 1,100-acre swath south of Ancaster bordered by Garner Road, Fiddler's Green Road and Shaver Road.

That area was actually added to the Greenbelt at the request of city council in 2017. Councillors past and present have now come out publicly against the pitched Greenbelt incursion.

Councillor-elect for Ancaster Craig Cassar weighed in online soon after the province announced both the Greenbelt land proposal in his ward as well as the order to expand Hamilton's urban boundary over the objections of council.

This provincial government cannot be allowed to override local planning decisions and disregard democracy," he tweeted. Working in tandem, the new council will use every means available to fight this."

His predecessor, outgoing councillor Lloyd Ferguson, said he suggested adding the Garner Road-area farmlands to the Greenbelt to former municipal affairs minister Ted McMeekin six years ago. It is good farmland ... That's why we put it in, because it deserved to be protected," said Ferguson.

Consultant John Corbett, on the other hand, called the Greenbelt lands a logical urban boundary expansion, if they decide to go that route."

Corbett represented area landowners in 2015 when the city studied potential Greenbelt changes. He argued the Garner Road lands are extremely well served by highway infrastructure" and across the road" from existing services.

The city's own 2015 study noted the agricultural area contained natural heritage features that would limit development and was a natural extension" of the existing Greenbelt. But it also pointed to contiguity with a growing urban area and a potential important transit corridor.

Another Greenbelt area proposed for housing is bordered by White Church Road and Highway 6, kitty-corner to Mount Hope.

The proposal makes zero sense," said outgoing ward councillor Brenda Johnson, who suggested extending servicing to what she called a leapfrogging" rural development will cost all of us (taxpayers) huge."

Two small Greenbelt properties on Fifty Road near the border with Niagara are also being considered for housing.

City planning staff are preparing a report on the Greenbelt changes for councillors to consider at the end of November.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com