OLT Denies Developer Near Hamilton Airport – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 8, 2022
A developer lost at the Ontario Land Tribunal.
The owners of 8475 English Church Road East in Glanbrook appealed City Council’s October 2020 denial of their application to convert some of the lands to residential lots under the present Rural Hamilton Official Plan.
City of Hamilton professional planning staff recommended Council deny the application because the conversion is contrary to the Rural Hamilton Official Plan and residential uses are incompatible in the noise corridor along the runway approach to Hamilton’s airport.
Hamilton’s Airport formally opposed the proposal.
Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), the province’s overriding planning law, states in section 1.6.9 that “Airports shall be protected from incompatible land uses and development by prohibiting new residential development and other sensitive land uses in areas near airports above 30 NEF/NEP [Noise Exposure Forecast].”
OLT Vice-Chair Steven Cooke opined that while the proposal had some merit, “from an agricultural stance, the consolidation of Lots 1, 2 & 3 with CLI Class 1 soil in exchange for two smaller Lots 5 & 6 with poor soil conditions located on a smaller rural road makes sense,” ultimately, the PPS’s rules regarding noise meant the Tribunal must deny the application.
“The Tribunal finds that the employment and economic importance of the John C. Munroe International Airport and the related Airport Employment Growth District lands is in the greater public interest than allowance of the proposed applications.  For these reasons, the appeals are dismissed.”