Attached, please find City…

Attached, please find City of Hamilton Comments regarding ERO 019-6813 in response to your office’s posting proposed policies adapted from A Place to Grow and Provincial Policy Statement to form a new provincial planning policy instrument – the Provincial Planning Statement. The comments attached which were included as Appendix “D” to Staff Report PED23145 were endorsed by City Council on June 21, 2023.

While the City of Hamilton supports the increase in housing supply as a measure to address the current housing crisis, overall the Provincial Planning Statement is contrary to balanced decision making, protection of the natural environment, employment lands and agricultural lands, diminish the role of local participation in land use planning and represent a significant shift away from the policy led planning system in Ontario.

As discussed in detail in the attachment, the City of Hamilton has have several areas of concern with the new PPS which are intended to provide for increased flexibility but will have the unintended consequence of creating more uncertainty. These include: 

- Reducing the required justification and direction for settlement area expansion; 
- Reducing emphasis on residential intensification and development in locations that support transit; 
- Increasing opportunities for rural residential lot creation in rural and agricultural areas;
- Weakening restrictions on conversion of Employment Lands and making it more challenging to designate Employment Lands; 
- Reducing land use compatibility criteria for sensitive land uses near Major Facilities; 
- Weakening Climate Change policies; 
- Allowing Minister Zoning Orders to exempt Provincial plans and policies.