Joey’s Notepad: Hamilton’s New Official Plan is More than Just a Boundary Freeze – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 23, 2023
This morning, the Ontario government reversing Hamilton’s forced urban boundary expansion surprised everyone at City Hall.
Mayor Andrea Horwath was in a Council meeting and quickly rushed to meet with her key advisors to digest the news.
The news story about the announcement, and Mayor Horwath’s response is on TPR here: Ontario Government Reverses Hamilton Urban Boundary Expansion.
The forced expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary was only one change among many to the Urban Hamilton Official Plan.
In planning-speak, the changes are known as Official Plan Amendment No. 167, OPA 167 for short.
OPA 167 was submitted to Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
In a 17-page decision, the Ministry imposed changes to UHOP beyond the urban boundary expansion, which include:
-removing “neighbourhood plans” from the City’s planning considerations, only permitting official Secondary Plans to be cited for neighbourhood-level planning.
– requiring the City to “encourage higher density development on all frequent transit corridors”;
– removing a lower-density target for Ancaster’s arterial roads. The City sought to impose “in the range of 50 persons and jobs per hectare.” The Province imposed the city-wide arterial policy in Ancaster, allowing density above 150 units per hectare and up to eight stories;
– removing adding a lower city-wide maximum height limit of the height of the Niagara Escarpment;
– adding detached secondary dwelling units as-of-right on single, semi-detached, and townhouse lots. [Where they meet criteria]
– removing a City created minimum density of 60 people and jobs per hectare for greenfield developments [within the existing urban boundary]
The province is reviewing all changes it made, which is why the 45-day public comment period is important.
TPR will post and update when the public comment notice is posted to the Government of Ontario’s website.