The City of Hamilton must disclose detailed, proprietary airport noise modelling data to the Upper West Side Landowners Group (UWSLG) following an OLT order dated September 26.
The UWSLG is pursuing a private appeal to expand Hamilton’s urban boundary into their approximately 700 acres of lands, primarily along Twenty Road West, north of the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.
The UWSLG sought an order from the Ontario Land Tribunal requiring the City of Hamilton to provide its experts with “the fully populated Transport Canada Noise Exposure Forecast Computer Program used to delineate the Noise Exposure Forecast and Noise Exposure Projection contour lines for the Airport identified in the 2023-2043 Airport Master Plan” and the City’s hydraulic model for water and wastewater.
The City agreed to release the hydraulic models, but the two sides could not agree on terms and conditions regarding the use of the airport noise data, specifically the legal undertaking to be signed by the UWSLG’s experts regarding use and confidentiality of the models.
In the September 26 order, OLT Member Carolyn Molinari directed the City to disclose all requested information within its possession. Additionally, the City “must disclose to UWSLG the Airport Information, or any portion of it, that is made available to it, or is known by the Avia witnesses due to Avia’s prior work for TradePort and is to be relied on at the merit hearing.” This ruling breaks a deadlock between the experts of the City of Hamilton and the Landowners Group regarding complicated modelling data essential to the expansion application.
Avia NG Airport Consultants completed the noise studies for TradePort, which operates Hamilton’s airport under lease from the City.
Elfrida Group Denied Access to Data
Two non-conventional motions were heard in this matter, including a request by the Elfrida Community Builders Group Incorporated to receive any hydraulic models given to the UWSLG.
The Elfrida Group has a competing urban boundary expansion appeal underway covering lands in Upper Stoney Creek which will need servicing capacity in the City’s recently constructed Upper Centennial trunk sewer.
Both groups are competing to secure the finite capacity in this trunk sewer.
The Elfrida Community Builders Group is not a party in this matter, having been denied party status by the Tribunal and only granted participant status. Elfrida unsuccessfully appealed the ruling to the Tribunal’s Chair.
Regarding Elfrida’s request for data, OLT Member Carolyn Molinari noted they were seeking the information for their own separate urban boundary appeal, and that it was not related to this case. Molinari did not permit Elfrida to formally make submissions.
UWSLG Seeks Costs
The UWSLG sought a rare costs award in its motion, claiming the City’s refusal to disclose the information led to the unnecessary motion.
“Regarding the request for costs by UWSLG, the Tribunal advised that a cost award would need to be pursued through a separate motion request made within 30 days of the issuance of this Decision, in compliance with Rule 23 of the Rules. The Tribunal further advised that the standard for a cost award against a party is limited to conduct during the proceedings as per Rule 23.9,” Molinari wrote.
The eight-week OLT hearing on UWSLG’s boundary expansion application will begin on April 13, 2026.
Background: UWSLG Decade-Long Lobbying Efforts
The UWSLG, which includes Spallacci and Sons Limited, Oxford Road Developments, the Parente Group, and Liv Communities among its membership, has been lobbying for decades to have the lands placed within the urban boundary.
In November 2021, the previous term’s City Council voted to freeze Hamilton’s urban boundary. Flamborough-Glanbrook Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament Donna Skelly opposed the boundary freeze, calling the decision “anti-housing.”
In November 2022, then-Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark overturned Hamilton’s urban boundary freeze, granting the UWSLG’s request to permit new residential development on the Twenty Road West lands.
A year later, in October 2023, Minister Paul Calandra reversed the Hamilton urban boundary expansions, passing legislation stating that it was as if the decision had never occurred. The reversal followed Premier Doug Ford being engulfed in the Greenbelt scandal, which led to Mr. Clark’s resignation.
The UWSLG’s OLT appeal was filed in December 2023.
Separately, the UWSLG applied in December 2024 to Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs Paul Calandra for a Minister’s Zoning Order. Mayor Andrea Horwath opposes the application, and the City of Hamilton is asking the Minister to deny the application. No decision has been made on the MZO.
UWSLG is hoping the Minister will intervene before its OLT appeal reaches the final hearing stage.
OLT Case Number: OLT-24-000748
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Published: October 4, 2025
Last updated: October 4, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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