chedoke browlands
Residents gearing up for OMB fight with developers over plans for Niagara Escarpment in Pleasant View
MPP says no retirement home
Residents gearing up for OMB fight with developers over plans for Niagara Escarpment in Pleasant View
BY ERIC MCGUINNESS
Hamilton Spectator
DUNDAS ? Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin says there’s no way a 760-unit retirement community will ever be built in rural Pleasant View neighbourhood at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment.
“That development will not go ahead,” he declared in a telephone interview Friday. “It’s contrary to the Parkway Belt Plan, previous OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) decisions, the city’s official plan, provincial interests and what the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) wants to do.”
McMeekin said he told planner Ed Fothergill, who represents three corporate owners of the 80hectare site: “There’s no friggin’ way it’s going ahead.”
He told The Spectator: “Their chances are up there with the (Toronto Maple) Leafs’ chances of winning four consecutive games in regulation time this season.”
Neither Fothergill nor the owners’ lawyer could be reached for comment.
The statement by McMeekin, Minister of Consumer Services and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, comes as the Ontario legislature considers Bill 212 that would allow cabinet to expand the Niagara Escarpment Planning Area without passing a new law each time.
The NEC, which has asked that Pleasant View be transferred to its jurisdiction from the old Parkway Belt plan, expects cabinet to move quickly once the bill gets royal assent, expected early next year.
“That’s fantastic news,” said Kris Robinson, a member of the Pleasant View Ratepayers Association.
Dundas Councillor Russ Powers said: “The legislation may prohibit any development in that area.”
Until the bill is passed – assuming it does – the association has to gear up to fight the developers, who are appealing sections of Hamilton’s new rural official plan to the Ontario Municipal Board, which will open a preliminary hearing Dec. 1.
Association members are angry they have to go back to the OMB, which ruled in 1995 that new homes in the area require lots of at least 10 hectares.
Ratepayers’ president Don Char-long is urging interested citizens to register to take part in the hearing. His number is 905-308-2684.
McMeekin said Bill 212 will also lead to other former Parkway Belt lands in Hamilton and Halton being added to the escarpment planning area. “This is something I’ve been on for well over a year, working with councillors Powers and Brian McHattie, who spearheaded a request from the city to transfer authority for Pleasant View to the NEC. Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield tells me it can be done just by regulation once the bill passes.”
emcguinness@thespec.com 905-526-4650
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Please forward to Chris Erl
Just came across this website again. I am a little concerned and surprised at the tone of this letter. It appears the student in the video clip is not the letter writer as some of the views are totally opposite i.e. sprawl vs no sprawl for example. The generalization of the poorly researched comments show a total lack of understanding of zoning , development and municipal structure. I work in a city department and live on the west mountain and take issue with the costs and maintainence, etc.
Please get your facts right .The letter is so unclear and disjointed that I find it hard to believe that this was meant to represent any point of view worth pursuing ( or was this just a ramble written on a dare to see if it would be published ?)