The Ancaster Village Heritage Community wrote Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week asking him to quash two recent Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) decisions in Ancaster, which cited provincially imposed changes to the Urban Hamilton Official Plan (UHOP).
On October 23, Premier Ford reserved the urban boundary expansion his government imposed on Hamilton and announced a new review of provincial changes to UHOP.
Council’s approved version of UHOP, submitted to the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in 2022, carved out an exception for Ancaster’s Wilson Street from the City’s intensification policies.
This was overruled, and Ancaster’s Wilson Street was included in the City’s intensification corridors.
Additionally, Ford’s government granted – word for word – official plan changes submitted by developers of Ancaster’s 392-412 Wilson Street East & 15 Lorne Avenue.
In September, the City of Hamilton settled with the developer at the Ontario Land Tribunal, conceding the provincial changes meant the developer could build as they wanted.
AVHC Vice President Jim MacLeod writes the Province should reverse the “backroom deals” imposed on citizens of Hamilton.
“AVHC recognizes there is no easy path back to honest, open, transparent development decisions as a twisted mess of this magnitude is unprecedented, but we believe citizens deserve your leadership with a quick and simple move on your part,” MacLeod writes.
The AVHC is also asking for the ruling involving Ancaster’s 442, 450, 454, and 462 Wilson Street East be vacated as well.
As noted in TPR’s blog on October 23, the provincial review of Hamilton’s UHOP includes the application of the city-wide arterial zoning permissions along Wilson Street.
The provincial change removed a lower density target of 50 persons and jobs per hectare, and imposed density permissions above 150 units per hectare and up to eight stories.
The province will conduct a 45-day public comment period during its UHOP review.
Council can weigh in regarding Ancaster zoning during Wednesday’s Council meeting.
UPDATE #1, November 7: The developer has filed a new Site Plan appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Production Details v. 1.0.0 Published: November 6, 2023 Last edited: November 6, 2023 Author: Joey Coleman Edit Record v. 1.0.0 original version