Welcome! Save our Streams Hamilton is a coalition of citizens advocating for the preservation of wetlands, streams, habitat, forests, and biodiversity. Scroll down for a quick overview of our campaigns and to join our newsletter
AEGD Natural Heritage update
Save the Garner Marsh
Scroll down to donate and receive a signed copy of our Garner Marsh fundraiser
Development charges and warehouses on wetlands
Highway 6 widening in Hamilton
December 2024 Garner Marsh Update
Owner AIMCo and developer ONEProperties (who goes by “Ontari Holdings Inc (sic) have withdrawn their application to the HCA for a permit to "move" the marsh to make way for a 1.5 million square foot warehouse complex. But we are not celebrating because they promptly submitted a new application to the HCA on November 6, 2024. We do not know the specifics and such applications are not public, so Save our Streams Hamilton has filed an Freedom of Information (FOI) request with the HCA to be permitted to view the submitted application and supporting materials and studies. We should have these documents by the end of December so stay tuned.
As you likely already know, the Province recently amended the Conservation Authorities Act through Bill 23 which weakens the role of conservation authorities and their ability to protect our natural heritage and keep us safe from flooding. The new application will now be reviewed by HCA staff in the context of the updated weakened legislation.
HCA Staff have delegated authority to approve or deny any permit application. If this new application is denied by Staff , the applicants are entitled to a Section 28 (appeal) hearing before the HCA Board of Directors which will be scheduled for a later date. Section 28 hearings are held quarterly in a closed session, so are not visible to the public. If and when it comes to this, SOSH will let you know when letters to the HCA Board in support of denying the new application should be sent.
If the HCA Board denies the application, the proponents will then be free to appeal once again to the Ontario Land Tribunal or to ask the Minister to intervene directly, a new avenue provided to developers by the Provincial Conservatives to make paving our wetlands that much easier.
The HCA's Board meetings are livestreamed on their YouTube Channel for all to watch and the next one is December 5, 2024
Please consider donating to the Hamilton Conservation Authority!
In case you missed our November 20, 2024 webinar, “Defending Hamilton’s Firm Urban Boundary”, here’s the recording!
If you missed our webinar with Phil Pothen, land-use lawyer for Environmental Defence, and Ward 12 Councillor Craig Cassar on why we should and how we can defend Hamilton's firm urban boundary against speculator expansion click the image above for the recording!
Hosted by Hamilton 350, Environment Hamilton, Stop Sprawl HamOnt, and Save Our Streams Hamilton.
The Ontario government has gone through the back door to allow sprawl to destroy our unprotected farmland and wetlands.
Bill 185 now allows land speculators to apply for urban boundary expansions at any time, anywhere and the final decision on approval or denial no longer lies with the Municipal Council, it now lies with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) which we know rules in favour of developers almost every time.
Learn more about where the at-risk White Belt lands are and watch a quick video at Stop Sprawl HamOnt and at the City of Hamilton’s explainer webpage
August 2024, Airport Employment Growth District (AEGD) Natural Heritage Mapping update
CLICK HERE to send a message to the City!
The City of Hamilton is currently consulting with the public about its proposed update to the Natural Heritage System map of the AEGD. The ‘updated’ map can be found on the city’s Engage Hamilton website and it’s clear from all the errors that it is based on aerial photos from the early 2000s! (the image to the left)
The ‘updated’ map recommends adding areas for protection that have been removed from the landscape years or even decades ago and on the other hand, hedgerows, linkages, wetlands and woodlots are missing despite being present on the landscape. Also absent are creeks and habitat for rare or threatened species.
Please write to the project team to urge that this mapping update include recent field work and utilize the very latest studies, maps and ecological land classification data available
History of the AEGD
Despite massive pushback from citizens twenty years ago, the Airport Employment Growth district rezoning was approved by council in 2010 and finalized in 2015 after a decision by the Ontario Municipal Board. The OMB decision resulted in the expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary onto 1300 acres of wetlands, prime agricultural land, headwaters and wildlife habitat surrounding the Hamilton Airport. Land use in the AEGD then changed from agriculture to “employment” allowing for massive industrial warehouse sprawl.
The AEGD is the highest point of land between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and so forms the headwaters of many of Hamilton’s plentiful and beloved creeks and streams. These headwaters, wetlands, springs and groundwater recharge areas are all in line for destruction at the hands of industrial sprawl in the AEGD. All due to a 2010 decision which flies in the face of our knowledge of the catastrophic effects of climate change, wetland loss, and biodiversity decline.
Click to images to read the news items below and learn about the history of the creation of the AEGD HERE
February 2024 Conservation Authority update: Doug Ford’s Conservative Government is coming for our Conservation Authorities. On April 1, 2024 new regulations that gut the Conservation Authority Act will come into effect. Read about them in the news by clicking on the images to the right ->>
Here are the most serious changes Ford is imposing:
New legislation gives Graydon Smith, the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, the unprecedented power to override the Conservation Authorities. The Minister's decision is FINAL. This is an outrageous abuse of power.
Elimination of consideration of "natural heritage" in the HCA's permitting decisions
Reduction of the development buffer around a provincially significant wetland from 120m to only 30m
Pollution can no longer be considered
The definition of a watercourse will be changed from: an identifiable depression in the ground, to: a defined channel having a bed and banks or sides leaving our headwaters open for development.
TAKE ACTION BELOW
Send an email to your representative to let them know that you believe we should be expanding, not reducing, the powers of Conservation Authorities and the protections for wetlands.
Consider writing a few sentences in your own words as an introduction and adding the bullet points above to impress upon decision makers that you care about Conservation Authorities and demand that regulatory changes that restrict them should be reversed.
You can easily copy/paste THIS LIST of email contacts into your “To” box to quickly send your email. The list includes municipal, provincial as well as HCA Board members.
Do you still have a Greenbelt or No Urban Expansion yard sign at home? These creative re-dos have started popping up in Hamilton! Why not make one of your own? If you don't have a sign then just ink one onto a piece of paper with this message to the Province:
Hands off Conservation Authorities!
Take a photo of your sign and post it on X (formerly twitter), Facebook (Stop Sprawl Ontario), or on Instagram with the hashtag #HandsOffConservationAuthorities. Let's get this message trending around Ontario!
March 8, 2024 Hamilton Conservation Authority Board Meeting
A huge thank you to everyone who took a moment to write a quick note to the HCA Board members to urge them to vote NO to Ford's latest wetland destroying moves! Forty-one of you sent an email which was noted and appreciated by the Board. Here’s how it unfolded.
Before simply signing off on the Province’s new decree, Board Members voted unanimously for Staff to report back to them next month with a clear outline of the devastating consequences that would arise from the April 1 changes and give detailed examples of exactly what those consequences will look like in real scenarios.
Additionally, Board members voted to seek legal advice on potential implications to the HCA, including liability if the Board was to endorse the Provincially mandated changes, which may be contradictory to their roles as watershed stewards.
The Board also made it clear that the HCA will be widely sharing this information with the public so everyone is made aware of the damage the new regulations will do to our watershed. There will be opportunities coming up for public participation and your voice will be needed so stay tuned!
Much appreciation to HCA Staff who, for so long, have advocated relentlessly for our watershed by submitting comments to the Environmental Registry, letters to the Standing Committee and even an Op-Ed in the Hamilton Spectator in November 2022.
But Mr. Ford isn't listening to the experts. He's doubling down.
Watch the HCA meeting clip by clicking the image above to see the excellent Staff presentation and hear some bombshell comments by Board members.
February 22, 2024 City of Hamilton Audit Finance and Administration Meeting
Industrial warehouse developers were out in force for the City of Hamilton Audit, Finance and Administration committee meeting on Development Charges on February 22..
Thank you once again to the 40 of you who took a moment to write to the
Committee! Most Councillors seemed to understand that any continued discounts given to industrial developers to plaster our wetlands with warehouses will be transferred to taxpayers. However, Councillor Mike Spadafora of Ward 14 stated at the meeting that he would work with staff to craft a motion to continue offering a discount to industrial developers in the Airport area. You can watch the clip HERE
If that motion is successful, the download from developers to tax payers would not be small change when coupled with the DC discounts already granted to developers by the Ford government. According to delegate Karl Andrus of the Hamilton Community Benefits Network, the last budget cycle included $59 Million in unfunded DC liabilities that had to be tacked on to the capital budget and covered by taxpayers.
Why should Hamilton give a discount to Broccolini and their billion dollar industrial buddies to demolish our wetlands? A brief online search lists Broccolini as the ninth largest construction company in Canada, pulling in a whopping $1.2 billion in 2021.
The final vote on DCs will be in late April or early May. Stay tuned.
Book now available!
Get your own beautifully illustrated copy of At the Edge of the Marsh by donating and filling out THIS order form.
Copies are $25 each which includes delivery.
Copies are also available for purchase for $20 cash at:
Dundas: the Printed Word, the Carnegie Gallery, and the Dundas Museum.
West Hamilton: King West Books (formerly Bryan Prince)
At the Edge of the Marsh is an uplifting children’s book about the fight to save the Garner Marsh, a real wetland in Ancaster, Ontario that is on the brink of being destroyed for a warehouse development. Written by Save our Streams member Marie Covert and illustrated by Summer Thomas, this whimsical story will sweep you away to a magical land where the creatures of the wetland band together in a bid to save their home.
All contributions received from book sales will go directly to helping preserve Hamilton Wetlands.
June 2023 City Planning Committee meeting
WE DID IT! Dickenson Road wetland protections added! Click for news ->
Thanks to dozens of emails and even some delegates to Planning Committee about the warehouse proposal at 9236 Dickenson Rd, our pressure resulted in the transfer to city ownership of the Provincially Significant Wetland, the habitat restoration area and a portion of the woodlot on the property. Our pressure changed the trajectory of this warehouse development and has set a precedent going forward for the environmental standards the public expects for the AEGD - Airport Employment Growth District - and all industrial zones in Hamilton going forward. Sign up to our newsletter above to get the full story!
1. Three natural heritage features on the property (wetland, woodlot, restoration area) transferred at no cost to the city
2. A redo of the developer's initial, very vague, Energy and Environmental Assessment Report to outline very specifically exactly which Green Standards they will implement in the design of the building.
3. An increase in the monitoring period for transplanted species and invasive species removal from two years to five years with compensation due for every tree that does not survive 5 years.
4. An increase in the monitoring period for Low Impact Development (LID) practices from 2 years to 5.
Follow the Flow of Ancaster Creek
Join Ancaster / Flamborough Ward 12 Councillor Craig Cassar as he traces the path of Ancaster Creek from its origin in the Garner Marsh all the way to Cootes Paradise. This short video has been viewed over 3000 times and is a fun and interactive look at the Garner Marsh and the rare cold water habitat it supports.
February 2021- The Garner Marsh at risk of destruction
In early 2021, Toronto developer ONE Properties Inc applied to the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) for a permit to bulldoze a locally significant wetland in Ancaster known as the “Garner Marsh”.
The permit was denied but now ONE Properties and their agent, Ancaster firm Urban Solutions have appealed the HCA’s decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) with the aim to “move the marsh” to build a million square foot warehouse complex. The Hamilton Conservation Authority and the City of Hamilton will both defend their positions at the OLT and Environmental Defence Canada has agreed to represent the Marsh itself at the hearing. Save our Streams is helping by raising awareness and fundraising to help with Environmental Defence’s costs. Please consider donating to our legal defence fund below!
Doug Ford’s Climate and Conservation Calamities. Directly from the mouths of Hamilton350.org members: a summary of the damage Doug Ford and his administration have done to Ontario's efforts to combat climate change and to protect our natural heritage. Music: "Revolution Now" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
Our Headwaters under threat
Did you know that the headwaters of the creeks and streams that make Hamilton the City of Waterfalls are all found right here in our backyard? The 1300 acres of pristine farmland, habitat, wetlands and headwater tributaries south of Garner, Rymal and Twenty Roads are all under threat of destruction by industrial warehouse developments. There are no less than five active warehouse applications at City Hall just now. Below is a very quick video of what is in store for our wetlands and foodland if we don’t stop it!
Garner Marsh tour Feb 2022
The weather was windy and cold but the sun and the views kept everyone engaged and interested! Thanks to Carrie Hewitson for showing people around the marsh and farm fields and to local birder Sheldon McGregor for pointing out the local bird life, nests and features along the way! Stay tuned for more Marsh tours planned as the weather warms up.
