Official Plan Review

Topic Areas

Completion of Phase 1: Conformity Review - The City of Hamilton has forwarded the Council-adopted Urban Hamilton Official Plan Amendment No. 167(PDF, 42.19 MB) and Rural Hamilton Official Plan Amendment No. 34(PDF, 58.33 MB) to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for Ministerial Approval, representing the completion of Phase 1: Conformity Review – Urban Focused Review and the GRIDS2/Municipal Comprehensive Review processes.

Timing

• January 2022 - Draft UHOPA - Conformity Amendment and RHOPA – Firm Urban Boundary Amendment to Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH)
• February 2022 -  Public consultation and non-statutory virtual Open Houses – visit engage.hamilton.ca/grids2mcr for more information
• May to June 2022 - Statutory Open House and Public Meeting (Planning Committee) and Final Council-Adopted UHOPA/RHOPA to MMAH

Topic Areas

Rural Hamilton Official Plan Amendment - Conformity matters related to the Provincial Policy Statement, Niagara Escarpment Plan, Growth Plan, and Greenbelt Plan:

• Agricultural System Mapping refinements;
• Natural Heritage Mapping refinements;
• Prime Agriculture and Open Space Policy updates; and, complementary RHOP updates, as per UHOP updates of Phase 1.

Timing

• Q1, 2023

Staff recognizes that updates to the City’s Official Plans will be necessary to address local community issues.  This phase will not be subject to the stringent timelines of the matters related to the MCR conformity review with the Provincial Plans and the resulting Official Plan Amendments will be exempt from the approval of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Once the Conformity Review component of the Official Plan Review has been completed, staff will complete the Official Plan Review process by addressing policy and mapping updates focussing on local community issues.

Topic Areas

• Noise
• Urban Design
• Waste
• Neighbourhoods
• Parks and Recreation
• Institutional
• Right-of-Ways
• Commercial/Mixed Use
• Residential density and built form

This list may be updated or refined as additional revision areas are identified during the course of the review.

Timing

• Q2, 2023

As work progresses on the development of the Light Rail Transit (LRT), an Urban Hamilton Official Plan Amendment will be required to delineate all of the Major Transit Station Areas (MTSA).

Topic Areas

• Mapped delineation of all MTSAs
• Prescribed Density Targets for MTSAs along the B-Line Route
• Possibility of Inclusionary Zoning Policies

Timing

• Q2, 2023

This phase may be added into Phase 3 depending on the planning and development of the LRT project.