Hamilton’s first boundary-busting housing development pitched on edge of Greenbelt

The first development pitches in Hamilton's expanded urban area include a massive proposal for 6,137 homes, townhouses and condo units east of Mount Hope - and right across the road from the newly opened Greenbelt.

The city recently received a request for formal consultation on the proposal for thousands of new homes, parkland, commercial areas and potential school sites in a 768-acre swath of rural land bounded by Upper James Street, Miles Road, Airport Road and White Church Road.

Those lands - a mix of farms, forest, rural homes and a golf course - only became legal to develop last November after Ontario's Tory government controversially ordered a 5,000-acre expansion of Hamilton's urban footprint over the objections of anti-sprawl advocates and city council, which had pitched an urban boundary freeze.

This is exactly the problem we were trying to avoid ... We can't afford this sprawl," said Lilly Noble, an organizer with grassroots coalition Stop Sprawl HamOnt, who argued such rural developments will be car-dependent," costly to service and eat into scarce farmland.

Environment Hamilton's Ian Borsuk called the proposal the first big test" for the new city council on how to handle an expected influx of requests to build on newly opened whitebelt" lands - a term referencing lands that are between the Greenbelt and developed areas - in Glanbrook and Elfrida.

I'm hoping they can show some leadership ... and prioritize alternate solutions," he said, pointing to infill development and strategic growth along transit corridors in the existing urban area.

The White Church proposal comes from a partnership of companies led by well-known real estate developers Paul Paletta and Frank Spallacci.

The Paletta family also owns property on the other side of White Church Road that was recently pulled out of the Greenbelt for potential fast-tracked housing, but those formerly protected lands are not referenced in the current development pitch and their future use remains unclear.

The developers did not respond to Spectator requests to talk about their plans this week.

It's important to note the development proposal is in its infancy. Formal consultation with city planners is the first step in what could be a years-long process - and the White Church applicants own only a fraction of all the properties eyed for eventual redevelopment.

But the conceptual drawings forecast a dramatic change in the rural landscape of farmland dotted with a few homes.

Think more than 2,500 new single-family and semi-detached homes, but also thousands of units in denser condo blocks. Room for commercial buildings, schools and a community centre. A high-density aging in place" block with buildings up to nine storeys in height is also pencilled in.

The first step, though, is consultation on the developers' proposal to expand the existing Mount Hope secondary plan to encompass the expansion lands east of that community and the nearby Hamilton airport, rather than reinventing the wheel," said city planning director Steve Robichaud.

A secondary plan is a mandatory community development blueprint that's based on a number of studies, including natural heritage, stormwater management, traffic, sewers and schools.

But it's up to council to decide whether developers or city staff create those secondary plans for recently added urban areas, which also include rural Elfrida in Stoney Creek and land along Twenty Road West, Robichaud said.

Staff expect to present a report next week to spell out the city's options given all of the changes laid out in the Progressive Conservative government's overhaul of the city's official plan.

The province rejected the city's own proposal - an urban boundary freeze - late last year, arguing expanding into new greenfield areas is necessary to accommodate the forecasted growth to 820,000 total more residents by 2051.

Municipalities must not only grow out by expanding their settlement boundaries, but they must also grow up and embrace increased density," said a spokesperson for Housing Minister Steve Clark in an earlier explanation to The Spectator about the reasons by the urban boundary expansion.

Both must happen to address the housing crisis."

An array of related - if contentious - provincial planning changes in the More Homes Built Faster Act was also introduced to fast-track development and meet Ontario's goal of 1.5 million new homes in the next decade, including 47,000 in Hamilton.

The White Church proposal is expected to be the first of many pitches to build in rural Hamilton. Just this week, the city also received an early pitch from developers hoping to build homes for 5,750 residents between Twenty Road West, Dickenson Road, Upper James Street and Glancaster Road.

Industry groups like the West End Home Builders' Association have argued such projects are necessary to help tackle Hamilton's significant housing shortage." In a statement praising the urban boundary expansion last year, the group argued that without extra room to build, Hamilton will continue to see major displacement of our residents to neighbouring communities."

Coun. John-Paul Danko argues there's no need to build homes on the expansion lands to meet provincial targets - but he wants the city in the driver's seat when it comes to secondary planning, regardless.

I think, from the city's perspective, the last thing that we want to do is let the development industry lead us by the nose," said Danko, who is frustrated by the slew of imposed provincial changes on how the city will grow.

This is basically the development industry getting what it wants from the provincial government to do what they've always done, which is to build very large, expensive single-family homes on farm fields and we know that from just a tax perspective, that is not in the best interest of the City of Hamilton."

But a planning consultant representing the Twenty Road West developers say their 2,500-unit plan is mostly focused on townhouses and much less so on single-family homes.

Moreover, John Corbett said, the proposal will provide housing for workers in the airport employment district. I mean it's a no-brainer."

Corbett also said the plan is filling the hole in the doughnut" with its roughly 300 acres bounded by the urban area, including existing residential.

The developers hope to draft their own secondary plan, rather than have city staff do it, which is in spirit" with the province's push for faster housing approvals, he said.

Any secondary plan pitched for the newly imposed expansion lands will undergo rigorous" study, said Robichaud. We'd be asking for a significant number of studies and reports in order to make an informed decision."

A key consideration in the White Church development is servicing - particularly since the city has earmarked most water and sewer capacity in the area for development of the airport employment growth district, Robichaud noted.

We would want the industrial to have first priority and then the residential would have to develop their own servicing solution for any expansion areas."

Traffic capacity on major roads like Rymal or Upper Centennial is another big consideration, Robichaud said.

Also worth remembering: while the developers are pitching possible plans for a wide geographical area, they only own about 217 acres out of the 768-acre area envisioned for eventual redevelopment.

So while an applicant can initiate a secondary plan for parcels without actually owning them, it's up to individual property owners to decide whether they ever sell. Robichaud said he expects the project proponents to reach out to area landowners soon to explain their plans.

Several residents in the area of the White Church proposal told The Spectator this week they were not aware of the proposal. Opinions on the plan differed.

As far as more residential in the area is concerned, I'm for it," said Jeff Goulet, 35, who has owned his small house on Airport Road just west of White Church since 2016. I mean, I'll move if they develop all around it. If they don't, they don't. I think a lot of people are up in arms over losing farmland, but it's the housing that we need."

Meanwhile, he said, the 230-acre farm that his two-acre property borders grows sod, not crops. It's just grass. They don't produce any food in this area."

Vanderwoude Sod, which is closed for the season, didn't immediately respond to Spectator requests for comment.

But in December, Trevor Vanderwoude said he'd been approached informally about selling. We're kind of undecided at this point," said Vanderwoude, whose family bought the land in 1985.

Andrew Neely lives on Miles Road on land that the would-be developers suggest could someday be used for nine-storey buildings aimed at seniors.

I haven't heard anything about it ... But can I say I'm surprised? No," said Neely, who has no desire to move but has watched closely as the land around him was brought into the urban boundary.

Ivo Fiscaletti, meanwhile, said he hasn't received any offers to sell his half-acre property around the corner on White Church. Fiscaletti, who at 71 is retired from the masonry business, said he and his wife plan to stay put in the home they built 37 years ago.

When I built it, it cost me $150,000," he said, but now he hears of land deals of $1 million to 2 million in the area.

They're going to expand anyways, sooner or later. It will probably be a while before it happens, but I don't think it's going to affect me anything."

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

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com