The Town will be hosting a Public Information Centre (PIC) focusing on the “Future of Grimsby” on Tuesday June 18th at Town Hall from 6PM to 8PM. The drop-in event will cover three major planning undertakings at the Town, the Official Plan Review, Parks Master Plan and Transportation Master Plan.
According to the post on the Town’s website “this will be an in-person session which will give attendees the opportunity to provide input into the progress and direction of these significant studies”.
Your attendance and comments will help shape the future of Grimsby.
It’s “Groundhog Day” on June 5th for the Greenbelt property at 502 Winston Road when the Town hosts its last public meeting into the application to redesignate the property from “Specialty Crop – Tender Fruit & Grape Lands” to the lesser-protected “Rural” classification. If approved, this would be the first step towards potential major development of this Greenbelt land.
After the original change was put on hold and then outright rejected by the Province after their “Greenbelt fiasco”, the applicant is now trying (again) at the Town and Regional level.
If you wish to spectate or delegate your opinion on this Greenbelt property application, the meeting will be tomorrow (Wed June 5th) at 6PM at Town Hall, Council Chambers. If you wish to delegate by Zoom, you can email your request to planning@grimsby.ca and/or clerks@grimsby.ca
After the Province made good on their promise to rollback all their Greenbelt changes, the developers at 502 Winston have “reactivated” their original Town and Regional Official Plan Amendment applications. The applications are attempting to “redesignate” the Greenbelt property from Specialty Crop/Tender Fruit to the lesser protected Rural designation. This would “pave the way” for an urban boundary expansion and potentially significant development on those lakefront lands.
LJM Developments is back in town for another kick at the development can, this time proposing 16 & 22 Storey buildings east of their existing buildings along the North Service Road. Standing in their shadows, quite literally would be the existing townhouses between Winston and the North Service Road.
Image Credit: Drone’s Eye Photography via Hamilton Naturalists’ Club
The Hamilton Naturalists’ Club (HNC) has won a 2023 “Brownie Award” for its work at the Grimsby Wetlands aka The Biggar Lagoon. Awarded by the Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) under the category of “Reinvest: Financing, Risk Management and Partnerships”, the CBN has recognized the turnaround of these once contaminated sewage treatment lands into an important ecological system within Grimsby and Niagara. This was the first time a “Brownie” award has been given to a volunteer group.
Image Credit: Hamilton Conservation Authority/Fair Dealing
With today being the last day for public comments to be sent to the Province about the reversal of the Greenbelt changes (submit your comments here) and Council’s willingness to see parts of it not be re-protected, it seemed timely to take a look at the history of the Fifty Point area and its natural importance.
Following a resolution passed in October requesting the Town submit comments to the Province regarding the reversal of the Greenbelt changes, a Staff Report for the consideration of Council on Monday was published today. The report urges Council to request that the Province NOT to reverse the Greenbelt changes in Grimsby (502 Winston and Cline Road) and leave those parcels out for development.
After the defeat of proposed amendments to permit hunting under Grimsby’s “Discharge of Firearms and Bows” at last Council in October, it appears after some “reconsideration” that at least one Councillor thought permitting hunting was suddenly a good idea.
Following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by Environmental Defence and EcoJustice to the Provincial government, they released a treasure trove of documents related to the Greenbelt fiasco. You can find the repository at this link here.
On Monday, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra announced at Queens Park that after reviewing previous decisions made by the Ministry, it would be introducing legislation to roll back Provincial changes made to Official Plans and Official Plan Amendments in 13 municipalities, including those made to the Region of Niagara’s OP (list of changes here).
For the most part, this applies to urban boundary changes. Calandra said this was part of “building a better relationship” with municipalities. That also includes the Minister “reviewing costs” of Grimsby and Pickering, reversing course on his statements last week that would have municipalities on the hook for incurred expenses.
The costs incurred by Pickering hover around $360K, while Grimsby’s costs have been pegged between $82K to $88K.
With provisions such as “Proceedings barred”, “No costs award”, “No remedy” and “Retrospective effect”, the Province has attempted to prevent litigation through legislation between anyone, be it the Province, developers, municipalities and other classes related to this whole affair.
