The lands will be used for new residential development as part of the government’s effort to get 1.5 million housing units built in Ontario over the next decade. The move comes in addition to a separate decision by the province to expand Hamilton’s urban boundary by 2,200 hectares. Photo credit: Greenbelt Foundation
On Friday, November 4, the Ontario government announced that it plans to open 15 separate areas of Ontario’s Greenbelt to allow for more residential construction in a move that is meant to combat sky-high housing prices. If the proposal goes through as-is, 7,400 acres will be removed from the Greenbelt’s current boundaries, but another 9,400 acres will be added elsewhere in what’s being called a Greenbelt “land swap”, ultimately resulting in a net gain of green space.
The move comes in addition to another decision that was made on the same day to expand Hamilton’s urban boundary by 2,200 hectares. The urban boundary expansion decision involves “whitebelt” lands that are undeveloped but that were not environmentally protected. Conversely, this new Greenbelt shuffle proposal involves lands that have been environmentally protected since the creation of the Greenbelt in 2005.
The province is seeking comments over the next 30 days regarding the Greenbelt proposal. This differs from the urban boundary decision, which cannot be appealed.
The province’s goal is to build at least 50,000 homes on the former Greenbelt lands. The province would also require the developers who own the land to show progress on approvals by the end of 2023 and for housing construction to begin no later than 2025 or the land will be returned to the Greenbelt. The ultimate goal is to “enable housing in the near-term”.
The province also says that these areas will be built at much higher densities than the typical GTA neighbourhood as they will include stacked townhouses and small-scale apartment buildings, thus maximizing land usage.
All lands considered for removal from the Greenbelt are also “adjacent to existing settlement areas and can be serviced in the near-term with local infrastructure upgrades entirely funded by proponents,” says the province.
Some have contended that Greenbelt lands are never supposed to be swapped, however, the Greenbelt Act (2005) simply states that the total amount of land within the Greenbelt Area shall never be reduced and any changes must involve consultation with “affected public bodies”. By adding other parcels of land to the Greenbelt and undergoing the current consultation period, the province is fulfilling both requirements.
Some Ontarians still say that they feel deceived by the province since Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Municipal Affairs Steve Clark had both previously promised to “not touch the Greenbelt”. The province now says that housing in the Greater Golden Horseshoe has become so unaffordable that they are being forced to act.
Among the parcels of Greenbelt that are set to be open for development are three areas in the Hamilton region.
The first parcel of land is located south of Ancaster. It runs north-south from just south of Garner Road West to just south of Book Road East and east-west from Fiddlers Green to Shaver Road.
The second parcel is in Glanbrook. It includes land just south of White Church Road and runs east-west from Highway 6 to Ferris Road.
The third parcel of Greenbelt land to be opened is in Winona. It includes a small plot directly east of St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School just west of Fifty Road.
Other parcels of land are in Ajax, Clarington, Grimsby, King, Markham, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
The land that will be added to the Greenbelt includes the Paris Galt Moraine and thirteen urban river valleys in the Golden Horseshoe. Opponents of the Greenbelt shuffling contend that parts of the land that will be added to the Greenbelt are already protected from development through other means, making the swap somewhat unequal.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on social media. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton Neighbourhood Watch crime updates and no-nonsense news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston and formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. He is currently employed as an Office Administrator at RE/MAX Escarpment. His journalistic work is independent of his other positions.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
