‘Overwhelming’ survey response to freeze Hamilton’s urban boundary
A whopping 90 per cent of survey respondents have told the city not to expand Hamilton's urban boundary into farmland.
The lopsided results favouring the existing urban footprint come as the city plans for a projected influx of 236,000 people over the next 30 years.
The public has spoken. It's an overwhelming response," Zoe Green, a member of Stop Sprawl HamOnt, said Friday.
The coalition mounted a campaign against the redrawing of Hamilton's rural-urban dividing line and asked residents to support its stance through the city survey in a bid to save farmland and curb emissions amid the climate crisis.
The results set a pretty overwhelming mandate," Coun. John-Paul Danko said. If you put out a survey of what colour the sky is, I don't think you would get 90 per cent agreement."
The West End Home Builders Association, meanwhile, has urged council to back an urban-boundary expansion of roughly 3,300 acres it says is needed to meet the 2051 targets and dovetail with provincial policy.
We need to build up. We need to build in our existing communities and we do need to build out in terms of a small boundary expansion," Mike Collins-Williams, CEO of the association, said in response to the survey results.
The city received 18,387 survey responses via regular mail and email between June 22 and the July 23 cut-off date. Of those, 16,636 - 90.4 per cent - opposed a boundary expansion.
That's compared to 1,088 responses - 5.9 per cent - in favour of city planning staff's recommended ambitious density" scenario, which would require an expansion of roughly 3,330 acres into rural Glanbrook and Elfrida.
Another 663 responses - 3.6 per cent - provided other suggestions."
In March, Coun. Brad Clark suggested a citywide mail-out survey to weigh public support for a no-expansion scenario, which staff hadn't included in their analysis.
Of 215,822 surveys delivered to homes, 8,233 were mailed back to the city, while 10,154 responses were received via email - a local response rate the upper Stoney Creek councillor called unprecedented."
Clark, who represents the fast-growing Elfrida area, said city residents seemed seized" with the boundary debate, especially during a season of wild storms and forest fires.
I think it gives me pretty clear direction as to where the residents are leaning."
But Clark called it premature" to say exactly which option he'd support come October without seeing staff's latest reports on growth options.
Coun. Brenda Johnson said she's all for no boundary expansion," but to protect farmland, the Glanbrook councillor added, residents should expect denser and taller housing.
The Ontario government has told municipalities to direct at least 50 per cent of future housing into built-up areas through intensification and denser housing types over the next 30 years.
Hamilton's official plan must reflect the province's prediction that the city's population will reach 820,000 by 2051 and accord with a market-based approach to land needs.
The ambitious density" scenario would involve an average rate of intensification - housing created in the existing built-up area - of 60 per cent over 30 years.
Holding the boundary would require 81 per cent. In the past 10 years, the city's average intensification rate was 39 per cent.
Collins-Williams said the density required for a frozen boundary is completely unrealistic" and emphasized council must be guided by staff reports and provincial policy, not just the survey results.
Opponents of the boundary expansion, however, contend the goal is achievable and necessary amid the climate crisis. Hamiltonians know what's at risk," Green said.
Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com