Hamiltonians for Progressive Development

Local Foodlands Threatened by Aerotropolis

HPD Administrator — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:41:37 +0000

Later this year, city council will be asked to permanently eliminate 1630 acres of prime Hamilton farmland to create another large zone dedicated to corporate industrial development near the airport. It is very foolish to again reduce our local foodlands and thus make Hamiltonians even more dependent on long-distant sources that are becoming less reliable because of rising fuel prices and climatic changes. It is equally irresponsible to abandon the existing industrial area along the bayfront and replace it with the faint hope that the airport will drive the city’s economic future.

We should oppose the aerotropolis – also called the airport employment growth district – because:

1) The aerotropolis threatens our present and future food security. When oil prices spiked just before the recession, the price of food also jumped – by 77 percent for wheat and over 140 percent for rice. Last year, water shortages in California (where most of our produce comes from) forced half a million acres of farmland out of production, and those shortages are expected to worsen.

2) The aerotropolis lands are not needed for employment. The city already has over 1500 acres of greenfield lands available for industrial use in existing business parks (third highest in Ontario), plus hundreds more acres of under-utilized old industrial properties along the bayfront. The aerotropolis lands are being justified by very inflated growth projections, and by an unbelievable claim that less than two percent of the bayfront industrial area will be available over the next twenty years for redevelopment.

3) Aerotropolis servicing costs are unacceptable. The financial burden on taxpayers to service the 1630-acre aerotropolis has not even been made public. But preliminary estimates of public costs for just the first 385 acres exceed $100 million – some of which the city hopes to get back in development charges – even though this first phase will use existing water and sewer capacity. The post-2021 second phase will require new trunk pipes to connect the aerotropolis to the Woodward Avenue water and sewer treatment plant 25 kilometres away from the airport.

4) It is irresponsible to leave the cleanup of the bayfront to our kids and grandkids. More than anything else, the aerotropolis scheme is about catering to land speculators and corporations who find it more profitable to destroy farmland than to re-develop existing industrial lands. We have a responsibility to clean up our messes, and stop sacrificing more good land.

5) Preserving agricultural land is official city policy. It has been since 1994, but the influence of land developers has kept on converting irreplaceable foodlands into more sprawl. City reports acknowledge agricultural land losses in every year but one up to 2001. In 2002 over 800 acres were converted. Subsequent figures have not been released, but include at least 550 acres consumed in the Stoney Creek urban boundary expansion in 2006.

6) We should stop rewarding speculators. Known land sales in the proposed aerotropolis are exceeding $40,000 an acre – ten times the affordable price for farmland. And the taxpayer subsidy for aerotropolis lands appears certain to exceed a quarter million dollars an acre.

Sign the petition to oppose the aerotropolis/AEGD

HPD Administrator — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:57:40 +0000

To respect your privacy, absolutely none of the information collected will be published nor listed on the website.

I, the undersigned, urge all Hamilton councillors to protect the city’s remaining prime agricultural land and to oppose the use of scarce foodlands for the creation of an aerotropolis (also known as the airport employment growth district). Employment expansion should be focused on the re-use of existing bayfront industrial lands.

HPD to defend smart planning principles

HPD Administrator — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:20:10 +0000

Hamiltonians for Progressive Development (HPD) has announced that it is appealing the decision of Hamilton City Council to convert scarce employment land to another big box power retail centre on Centennial Parkway at the QEW. The appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board will be filed shortly.

HPD believes that the conversion of these employment lands to commercial uses contradicts Ontario’s Smart Growth initiatives, the principles of Vision 2020, and the recently-approved first Official Plan of the City of Hamilton. HPD takes the position that Hamilton cannot afford to lose opportunities for job creation within the urban boundary and argues that the conversion of these lands will create unnecessary pressure to push Hamilton’s urban boundary into prime agricultural land.

For further information please contact HPD Chair Michael Desnoyers at 905-308-4947 or email HPD at
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Aerotropolis – Will It Fly?

HPD Administrator — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:22:14 +0000

Public information meeting with Mike Desnoyers Wed. December 3 @ 6:30 pm Mount Hope Community Hall This is NOT a City of Hamilton public meeting … just straight talk and the facts about the City’s plans to industrialize 3,000 acres of prime agricultural land around
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Tar Sands Mania

HPD Administrator — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:28:12 +0000

Sponsored by Friends of Red Hill Valley, MacGreen, Environment Hamilton, Sierra Youth Coalition, Hamilton/Burlington KAIROS Committee, Hamiltonians for Progressive Development

First Unitarian Church 170 Dundurn Street
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Building a Sustainable Future

HPD Administrator — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:29:39 +0000

Communities around the world are preparing for the transition required by climate change and an energy-constrained future. In response to these challenges, long-time Hamilton residents Jack and Joanna Santa-Barbara are participating in the “transition towns” initiative in Motueka, New Zealand, and helping to build a nearby self reliant village based on permaculture principles. They will each do brief presentations and then respond
. . . → Click to read this entire post: Building a Sustainable Future

Peak oil author speaking in Hamilton

HPD Administrator — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:31:05 +0000

Click here for more information

Read Raise The Hammer’s article on this successful
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Spirit of Red Hill Valley 3rd Annual Lecture

HPD Administrator — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:33:17 +0000

Click here to read an article on Daniel Lerch in the
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Intensification and the City of Hamilton

HPD Administrator — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:35:20 +0000

Below are pictures for the event sponsored by Hamiltonians for Progressive Development and the Hamilton and Burlington Society of Architects:

Provincial Planning Information

HPD Administrator — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 14:37:01 +0000

Provincial Planning

Provincial Places to Grow legislation
The Places to Grow Act 2005, provides a framework to coordinate long-term growth planning with decisions about infrastructure investments. It gives the provincial government the power to designate growth plan areas throughout the province and to develop growth plans in collaboration with local officials and stakeholders. It also supports a coordinated approach to growth-related issues that cross municipal boundaries.
Provincial Policy Statement
The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) provides direction on matters of provincial interest related to land use planning and development, and promotes the provincial “policy-led” planning system. The new Provincial Policy Statement came into effect on March 1, 2005 and it requires that planning decisions by municipal governments “shall be consistent with” the new policies. The PPS recognizes the complex inter-relationships among economic, environmental and social factors in planning and embodies good planning principles. It includes enhanced policies on key issues that affect communities, such as: the efficient use and management of land and infrastructure; protection of the environment and resources; and ensuring appropriate opportunities for employment and residential development, including support for a mix of uses.The provincial government has appealed the city of Hamilton’s aerotropolis boundary expansion on the basis that it is not consistent with the PPS.
The Provincial Greenbelt
The province established a 1.8 million acre Greenbelt in December 2004. It is intended to protect environmentally sensitive and agricultural land in the Golden Horseshoe from major urban development. It extends 325 kilometres from the eastern end of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Rice Lake, to the Niagara River in the west. The greenbelt’s new natural heritage system is about 535,000 acres in land area, and provides full protection for about three-quarters of the lakes, wetlands and forests in the greenbelt.
Provincial warning re Aerotropolis (pdf file). Letter from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. June 14, 2005.
Notice of Appeal to OMB – by province July 27, 2005 (pdf file)