Doug Ford’s Tories pull Hamilton farmland out of Greenbelt despite growing protests

Despite growing protests, the Tory government has pulled about 1,900 acres of rural Hamilton land out of the protected Greenbelt.

But that doesn't mean the battle to save those local farms and wetlands is over, said Stop Sprawl HamOnt organizer Nancy Hurst. We'll keep pushing and pushing. Something has to give - and it won't be the Greenbelt."

The province sparked outrage in November with a proposal to remove development protection from 7,400 acres of the Golden Horseshoe-hugging Greenbelt to allow for fast-tracked homebuilding.

In Hamilton, the proposal allows development on 1,800 acres of formerly protected farmland in Ancaster, 160 acres near Mount Hope and a tiny parcel near Winona.

The public was given a month to comment on the proposal, which sparked massive protests in Hamilton and elsewhere, condemnation from First Nations, environmental and labour groups, and calls for an investigation into Greenbelt land deals.

Despite the blowback, the province filed amended Greenbelt regulations Dec. 14. All of the proposed land removals, including in Hamilton, are going ahead, confirmed Victoria Podbielski, press secretary for Housing Minister Steve Clark.

In a statement on behalf of the minister, Podbielski said Greenbelt developments will help build 50,000 new homes, with at least 10 per cent expected to be attainable (and) affordable." Would-be developers must start construction by 2025. If we are not satisfied with the plans brought forward, the province is prepared to return the properties back to the Greenbelt," she said.

But the move spurred particular outrage because the Progressive Conservative government vowed repeatedly to leave the Greenbelt untouched ahead of the last election.

Some critics have also demanded an investigation into whether developers were wrongly tipped off in advance to the Greenbelt plan - an allegation the government has denied.

A Toronto Star/Narwhal story showed some homebuilders bought wide swaths of land in the Greenbelt ahead of the controversial carveout announcement. In Hamilton, some developers already own Greenbelt land, but in most cases those purchases happened years ago.

Homebuilder Dave Eccles earlier told The Spectator he bought 50 acres on Book Road in 2005 - before it was added to the Greenbelt. He argued taking that land out of the protected zone is righting a mistake."

Similarly, Hamilton Tory MPP Donna Skelly previously told The Spec the local Greenbelt removals represent a chance to fix past inclusions that did not make sense."

Regardless, opponents are mobilizing" to fight the plan, said Phil Pothen, an environmental planning lawyer with Environmental Defence.

We will be ... supporting the public using every legal avenue to keep bulldozers at bay," he said in an interview, adding affected cities should make clear to developers not one cent" will be spent to help service planned Greenbelt developments.

The city was still waiting for formal notification of the changes late Friday.

But planning staff earlier sent a letter to the province opposing the 1,900-acre Greenbelt carveout - which comes on top of an equally contentious urban boundary expansion forced on Hamilton in November.

Altogether, the changes suddenly add 7,300 acres of new developable greenfield land in the city. It is not yet clear if the province will use a minister's zoning order (MZO) to quickly add the former Greenbelt areas within Hamilton's urban boundary, a requirement for development.

The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation also came out publicly against both the Greenbelt plan and other recent provincial planning changes. In a statement, the First Nations group argued the changes will have adverse impacts" on treaty rights, land claims and environmental protection broadly.

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