GREATER TORONTO AREA EDITION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 Vol. 18 • No. 37 Hamilton Urban Boundary Candidates vie for open seats PARCELS UP BRAMPTON FOR REVIEW BOUNDARY By Geordie Gordon CHANGES Hamilton’s urban boundary could be changing as part of the coordinated Greenbelt Plan review. Th e city is consulting the By Leah Wong public on the specifi c lands that it is considering for removal or addition to the greenbelt. It also wants the ability to make As a result of Brampton’s growing population the city’s federal minor adjustments to the natural heritage system outside of riding boundaries have shift ed since the last election. With fi ve the review process. federal ridings in Brampton, two are open races—Brampton Following in the footsteps of other municipalities which East and Brampton West. have submitted potential greenbelt boundary changes to the Following the October 19 election the city will have fi ve province, Hamilton is currently considering revisions that MPs, at least two of which will be new faces. Th e new riding would impact its urban boundary. Th e city is asking residents of Brampton East—comprising portions of the old Bramalea- for input on the potential addition of three parcels and the Gore-Malton and Brampton-Springdale—does not have an removal of four parcels from the Greenbelt Plan. Currently, 78 incumbent as the respective MPs, Conservatives Bal Gosal per cent of city land lies within the greenbelt. and Parm Gill, are running in other ridings. Th rough the Hamilton policy/information planning and zoning by- rejig Brampton West’s boundaries have also changed and the law reform manager Joanne Hickey-Evans stresses that the riding’s MP Kyle Seeback (Conservative) has chosen to run in process underway in Hamilton is all about getting feedback. the new riding Brampton South. “[Th e areas are] out there for conversation, were there any Running in the open race in Brampton East are former areas that people thought ‘wow, yeah that make a lot of sense’, Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce president Naval Bajaj or were there areas that people said ‘oh, that doesn’t make (Conservative), lawyer Raj Grewal (Liberal), service associate sense’’ that type of thing, that’s why we did it.” Hickey-Evans Kyle Lacroix (Green) and business analyst Harbaljit Kahlon told NRU. CONTINUED PAGE 6 > (NDP). Over in Brampton West CONTINUED PAGE 7 > INSIDE Economics Matters Plans in Pickering Future planning Transportation ■ demographics ■ real estate markets Developer delays Hamilton consults trends ■ construction economics ■ expert testimony adding density on community Technology impacts ■ planning impacts ■ forecasting vision mobility > > 416-641-9500 1-877-953-9948 p 2 > p 3 p 4 [email protected] altusgroup.com 2 GREATER TORONTO AREA EDITION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 UPCOMING Pickering Proposal DATES CITY NOT GETTING SEPTEMBER 23 Durham Region Council, 10:00 a.m. Hamilton Council, 5:00 p.m. THE HEIGHT Georgina Council, 7:00 p.m. By Geordie Gordon Brampton Economic Development Committee, 1:00 p.m. *CANCELLED A development proposal is fi nding favour refl ected in the low FSI,” she told NRU. SEPTEMBER 24 York Region Council, 9:30 a.m. with the City of Pickering for its long-term “Th e spine in this community along rezoning application, but not necessarily Brock Road is not to be an arterial road Markham Development Services Committee (Public Meeting), 7:00 p.m. for what is being proposed to be built with the traditional one-storey plazas, right now. Th e developer plans to start drive-though restaurants... we’re trying to SEPTEMBER 28 Burlington Council, 6:30 p.m. by building lower structures than the city create much more of a main street in the Oshawa Council, 6:30 p.m. would like to see on the site, with higher community.” density residential to come at a later date. Representing Duffi n’s Point, GHD plan- Halton Hills Council, 6:30 p.m. Th e proposal, submitted by Duffi n’s ning manager Bryce Jordan diff ers from Whitby Planning & Development Point, is to develop a 3.2-ha. site at 2460 and Rose in his assessment of Brock Road. Committee, 7:00 p.m. 2470 Brock Road into a retail/commercial “We think [the initial development King Council/Committee of the Whole, complex with a total gross fl oor area is] important in what’s intended to be a 6:00 p.m. of 13,700 sq. m. Th e seven buildings mixed-use neighbourhood, particularly Newmarket Committee of the Whole, proposed would be predominantly one- with the exposure to Brock Road, It’s a type 1:30 p.m. storey structures with two-storey massing. A arterial...its a fairly important mixed-use Ajax Council, 7:00 p.m. Th e building on the corner of Brock and area,” Jordan told NRU. Brock Planning Committee, 10:00 a.m. Valley Farm Road would be three storeys Jordan also highlighted the need to bring Uxbridge Council, 7:00 p.m. with a massing of four, as the corner is commercial and retail services to the area. intended to be the focal point in the Duffi n ‘”We think it’s important to be able to Clarington Council, 7:00 p.m. Heights neighbourhood. bring services and shopping opportunities, Scugog Council, 10:00 a.m. Pickering chief planner Catherine to be able to service that population as well Milton Council and Committee of the Rose is concerned about how the future as to bring in employment, somewhere Whole, 7:00 p.m. of the community is incorporated in the between 100-150 jobs, so that it isn’t just proposal. a single-function residential area, and to “I think in terms of built form, we do that really early on in the development are disappointed that [Duffi n’s Point] process.” GREATER TORONTO AREA EDITION wants to come in and build single-storey, One aspect they do agree on is the long- freestanding retail buildings, which is term outlook for the CONTINUED PAGE 5 > Ian A.R. Graham, Publisher Monica Silberberg SALES/SUBSCRIPTIONS NRU Greater Toronto Area NRU Publishing Inc. Billings Department [email protected] Planning Researcher [email protected] Edition is not to be redis- Editorial Offi ce 34B McMurrich Street [email protected] tributed without the written 26 Soho Street, Suite 330 Toronto, ON M5R 2A2 Lynn Morrow, Editor [email protected] Annual subscription rate is consent of the publisher. Toronto, ON M5T 1Z7 Tel: 416.440.0073 Jeff Payette, Design/Layout $369 +HST (ON). Tel: 416.260.1304 Fax: 416.440.0074 Geordie Gordon [email protected] NRU Greater Toronto Area Fax: 416.979.2707 ISSN 1918-7548 Planning Reporter Complimentary trial Edition is published 50 times [email protected] Irena Kohn subscriptions are available. a year by email by NRU Sales and Circulation Publishing Inc. Leah Wong [email protected] Advertising rates available Municipal Affairs Reporter upon request. [email protected] Twitter @NRUpublishing CITY OF TORONTO GREA TER TORONTO VANCOUVER 3 GREATER TORONTO AREA EDITION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 Envisioning Hamilton’s future SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT By Leah Wong Aft er a summer of rallying public interest, City of Hamilton staff is working with residents to develop a community vision Seven draft directions prosperity and opportunities that will guide decision-making for the next 25 years. guide the visioning .Foster an active and healthy Known as Our Future Hamilton, the initiative seeks to engagement process society update the city’s fi rst community vision called Vision 2020. .Promote connected Created in 1992, Vision 2020 helped to guide the city’s decision .Advance environmental communities and safe making and strategic planning process. responsibility and neighbourhoods “[Vision 2020] is coming to the end of its lifespan and stewardship .Embrace culture and social the city manager’s offi ce recognized we needed to update the .Maintain community assets diversity vision,” neighbourhood and community initiatives director and critical infrastructure .Create a city of engaged and Suzanne Brown told general committee last week. “[In the .Increase economic empowered residents. update] we wanted to be thoughtful about the way that we engaged residents.” To guide the process, council adopted a public engagement charter created with the help of the Hamilton Engagement particularly small businesses, people with disabilities, Committee in March. (See April 1 edition of NRU.) Work on communities outside of the core and youth. Our Future Hamilton will conclude into early spring 2016 Ward 6 councillor Tom Jackson suggested to committee when work on the new strategic plan is scheduled to begin. that there is an opportunity to use this process to engage the Community initiatives manager John Ariyo told committee city’s youth. While the city has a youth advisory committee that staff have constantly been trying to determine how best Jackson said it has struggled to have the necessary membership to engage residents. Th e primary strategy, so far, has been to to hold meetings. target people as they are out and about in the community— with staff frequenting festivals, shopping malls and sports For the first time the City of Hamilton along with key facilities. stakeholders will start to align their priorities and we In the fi rst phase, completed between April and mid- will start to move in the same direction. August, the city engaged almost 24,000 residents on a new • Suzanne Brown vision. Th e goal is to engage 50,000 by the time the initiative ends in spring 2016. Brown said staff has also engaged the city’s key anchor Brown said staff have been working to specifi cally target institutions, which will use the input collected through the youth engagement in its neighbourhood work and have been visioning process to guide their own priorities.