Two Hamilton developers who successfully influenced the Ford government to remove their land from the Greenbelt simultaneously benefited from a provincial order to expand the city's urban boundary.
The same day in 2022 the province announced its plans to remove three Hamilton sites from the Greenbelt, it also opened up an additional 2,200 hectares of local countryside for development.
The move came one year after Hamilton council voted not to expand its boundary and has since prompted one councillor to say Premier Doug Ford is allowing a "tsunami" of development on rural land, instead of the "small" waves the city once envisioned.
The provincially ordered urban boundary expansion does align with for the most part with what Hamilton's own planning staff had once pitched to accommodate expected population growth.
The province also ordered urban expansions in other municipalities including Belleville and Ottawa, which a local councillor has requested the auditor general look into.
When Hamilton's council rejected staff's plan to expand its urban boundary in 2021, it chose to instead increase density within the city to meet its housing targets.
The original article contains 703 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!