Urban boundary decision looms for Hamilton as province overhauls housing targets

Ontario has set a higher housing target for Hamilton ahead of it looming decision on whether to allow the city's planned urban boundary freeze.

The Tory government introduced sweeping new legislation the day after municipal elections designed to speed up home construction amid a provincewide affordable-housing crisis.

The many-tentacled changes include default permission for gentle density" secondary suites, slashed development fees for rental projects and what critics call a gutting" of the role of conservation authorities.

Ontario is also setting higher housing targets for cities, with Hamilton now expected to build 47,000 new units by 2031.

That's an increase of 16,000 units over the number Hamilton used to plan a community-backed proposal to grow long-term within existing urban boundaries, rather than expand into rural farmland.

A provincial ruling on the boundary freeze pitch contained within the city's submitted official plan amendment is expected soon," said city planning head Jason Thorne.

Thorne said in an interview he does not know what the housing ministry will decide - but added provincial bureaucrats have been asking the city the kinds of questions that would be consistent with the province contemplating ordering an expansion of the urban boundary."

Those questions include queries about potential developability" of greenfield areas and the city's current restrictions around residential housing near the airport, for example.

Council rejected a staff recommendation to expand the urban boundary in late 2021 in response to a grassroots citizen campaign that called on the city to protect farmland, mitigate the climate crisis and avoid the infrastructure costs of sprawl."

Provincial Housing Minister Steve Clark and local Tory MPP Donna Skelly have since publicly criticized the city's commitment to maintaining its existing urban boundary. Local builders have also warned the city's plan won't keep up with demand for badly needed housing.

On Thursday, Skelly said the city's plan - which she has previously characterized as fuelled by anti-housing and anti-growth ideology" - is still under provincial review.

She said the province's new housing-related legislation, meanwhile, will help Hamilton grow with a mix of ownership and rental housing types that meet the needs of all Hamiltonians."

Stop Sprawl HamOnt co-founder Nancy Hurst said she is apprehensive" about the pending decision.

Every indication we've seen so far points to the (Doug) Ford government's determination to pave over farmlands and wetlands," she said in an interview Thursday.

We absolutely need more housing, no question. But that's the point; we need to build more housing - affordable housing - close to transit and jobs ... (and) we can do that within the existing urban boundary."

In April, the minister suggested he might ask the Ontario Land Tribunal to review Hamilton's growth plan.

But Ontario's newly introduced housing legislation appears to make it easier for the minister to impose expansion directly" on municipalities, said Phil Pothen, an expert planning lawyer for Environmental Defence.

Pothen said city politicians and conservation authorities are now struggling to understand the implications of the varied and concerning" planning changes.

It does seem like they are using a fire-hose approach to just slam a lot of things on municipalities right after the municipal election before anyone can get organized or engaged on this issue."

The looming boundary decision and fast-changing planning landscape both come during the transition between the outgoing lame-duck council and a newly elected body with 10 new faces.

The influx of important changes comes at an awkward time" for council, said re-elected councillor Brad Clark, who represents the Stony Creek Mountain near Elfrida, the largely rural area eyed by developers as the next major building frontier outside the current urban boundary.

Clark, a board member of the Hamilton Conservation Authority, said he's also worried about the possible gutting" of the regulatory role of the watershed protection agencies under Ontario's new legislation. The Spectator will look at those proposed changes in an upcoming story.

The next council or planning meeting to discuss such changes is not expected before late November.

Clark said the provincial housing minister can rewrite" the city's official plan amendment and growth plan if he sees fit, with or without the support of Hamilton council.

But the councillor suggested Hamilton can still meet the new, more ambitious provincial housing targets without expanding in farm country. I think it's still possible within the confines of our no urban boundary expansion' approach," he said.

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