City Council meets today to ratify committee-level decisions made during the past three weeks.
Items of note include a 6–5 vote at Public Works Committee to halt planning reconstruction and instead assess the permanent closure of the road due to flooding, a debate at the Audit, Finance and Administration Committee regarding the City’s lack of financial balance sheets and the decision not to release any data prior to October’s municipal election, development charge indexing relief, and Council will go into closed session to discuss public engagement matters and the controversy involving the City’s General Manager of Planning and Economic Development.
Also on the agenda is a motion by Mayor Andrea Horwath to ask the provincial government to fund a new “Youth Wellness Hub” in Hamilton.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. and will be livestreamed on YouTube. The full agenda is available here.
Safari Road: Flooding and Road Reconstruction
Councillors on the Public Works Committee voted 6–5 to pause a planned multi-million-dollar reconstruction of a submerged, two-and-a-half-kilometre stretch of Safari Road in favour of studying a permanent closure to protect the Sheffield Rockton Wetland Complex.
The amended decision directs staff to weigh the impacts, costs, and benefits of a closure against the City’s existing transportation infrastructure deficit and the Biodiversity Action Plan. Closing the road would likely require the City to purchase private properties that would lose road access.
The estimated capital cost to reconstruct, raise, and widen the submerged section of Safari Road is $8.1 million.
In favour were Maureen Wilson (Ward 1), Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4), Craig Cassar (Ward 12), and Ted McMeekin (Ward 15).
Opposed were Matt Francis (Ward 5), Tom Jackson (Ward 6), Rob Cooper (Ward 8), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10), and Mike Spadafora (Ward 14).
Absent were Esther Pauls (Ward 7), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11), and Alex Wilson (Ward 13).
Brad Clark (Ward 9) and Mayor Andrea Horwath are not members of the committee.
471 Moxley Road
Council is expected to ratify a unanimous 10–0 Planning Committee vote to deny a commercial plaza development application at 471 Moxley Road in Greensville.
The proposal sought to build seven commercial buildings with 289 parking spaces and was recommended for approval by the City’s professional planning staff.
The Planning Committee’s reasons for denial state that “the scale of the commercial development cannot be supported” and that “issues such as storm water management design and hydrogeology have not been satisfactorily addressed to ensure there are no impacts.”
Youth Wellness Hub Motion
Mayor Horwath wants the provincial government to open a Youth Wellness Hub in Hamilton “providing walk-in, low-barrier, youth-friendly spaces where young people aged 12–25 can access a wide range of mental health support, substance-use counselling, primary care, peer support, social services, and skill-building programs.” The Mayor is proposing the initiative in response to recent gun violence in Hamilton, where youth offenders under the age of 18 have been charged in multiple shootings.
City Will Not Provide Financial Statements Before October’s Election
Councillors on the Audit, Finance and Administration Committee approved a staff plan to not release the City’s financial statements for 2025 until at least 2027, making Hamilton the only municipality in Ontario that will not allow voters to see its books before October’s municipal election.
The decision to withhold audited financial statements carries the risk that Hamilton’s credit rating will be further downgraded by bond-rating agencies.
Hamilton’s credit rating was downgraded in October 2025 due to the City’s ongoing failure to restore its financial accounting systems following the February 2024 cybersecurity failure.
The plan was unanimously approved.
Council Expected to Implement DC Charge Waiver While Maintaining Indexing
Councillors on the Audit, Finance and Administration Committee voted 7–2 to implement a four per cent temporary development charge exemption, adding to an existing 20 per cent temporary exemption, bringing the City’s total untargeted temporary development charge exemption to 24 per cent.
The measure enables the City to continue annual inflation-indexing its fees without passing the 2026 inflationary increase to developers. The measure will result in a budget line shortfall of approximately $5.52 million. A motion is expected at Council to address this shortfall without increasing the tax levy.
Council to Debate Public Participation Concerns in Closed Session
Councillor Nrinder Nann is accusing an unnamed planning applicant of interfering with the public’s ability to participate in planning processes. She has moved a motion requesting City staff to provide an overview report regarding the public’s right to participate in planning processes.
Council will address this matter, along with the General Manager controversy detailed below, in closed session.
GM Controversy
General Manager of Planning and Economic Development Arvin Prasad has been placed on administrative leave following a Toronto Star report that he “invoiced more than $140,000 for consulting work to Grit Developments between December 2023 and March 2025.” During that same period, TheStar reports “Prasad endorsed a zoning request to allow the same developer to build an industrial complex on agricultural land that includes a historic farmhouse designated as a heritage building.”
I will be live-posting during the meeting on Bluesky.
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Published: May 13, 2026
Last updated: May 13, 2026
Author: Joey Coleman
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