Craig's Current - June 2025

Welcome to the June edition of Craig’s Current. It’s been another busy month at City Hall. The two big topics from the past few weeks were Asset Management and developer-initiated applications for urban boundary expansions. I cover each of these important topics in detail, but be sure to keep reading for much more news and events from around Ward 12 and the broader City of Hamilton. Finally, I hope to see you at Ancaster’s drone show Canada Day event at the Memorial Arts Centre on June 29 at 8 pm. Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Council News 

• Infrastructure Spending Gap 

• Urban Boundary Expansion 

Around Ward 12 

• Garner Road Update 

• Traffic Calming Update 

• Ward 12 Development and Planning Town Hall 

• 159 and 163 Sulphur Springs Greenbelt Application

• Richardson Hyslop Frebold House Update 

• Ancaster Farmers Market  

• The Barracks Inn Heritage Award 

• Ancaster Farmers Market 

In Other News 

• Graffiti 

• HSR Alert – New Real Time Transit Information 

• Engage Hamilton 

• Youth Builder Training 

• Vacant Unit Tax 96% Submission Rate 

Happening Around Hamilton 

Ongoing events 

Climate news 

• ‘Cities for Everyone’ Webinar Series 

• Birds of Ancaster 

I've written about Asset Management in the past. It is one of the most important topics as it has daily impacts on your interaction with the built infrastructure of the City and on affordability, through a direct impact on your property taxes. If you read my 2025 budget newsletter, you will recall that Council has increased the annual investment into our crumbling assets because of historical underinvestment. This article will elaborate on the predicament we are in due to decisions made over the past many decades.  

I'll start with some basic definitions since there will be different levels of knowledge on this topic. 

City assets are anything physical you interact with or are part of providing a service to you. Examples are roads and sidewalks, the drinking water treatment plant, and all the pipes that deliver safe drinking water to your tap, as well as the pipes, etc. that manage sewage, water, and stormwater. This group of assets is defined by the Province as core assets, basically meaning that they are the highest priority. 

Of course, the City has many other assets. A sample list of those includes recreation centres, libraries, everything related to bus service or emergency services, long-term care homes, waste management, etc. It is a long list. These are defined by the Province as non-core assets. 

City Staff are responsible for managing all of these assets across the multiple stages of their lifespan, which include initial construction, operation, and maintenance during the life of the asset, and finally disposal and lifecycle replacement. Each asset has a limited lifespan, just like your refrigerator, your vehicle, or the roof on your home. At some point, they've reached the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. Sometimes, additional money can be poured into them to avoid a larger capital cost, but there comes a point when it becomes cheaper in the long term to replace the item. 

With that background, I can summarize the June update that we received from our Asset Management Team. They've been working hard over the past several years to meet the requirements of relatively new Provincial legislation to formally evaluate our assets and develop a plan to manage them over the long term. One output of that work is an evaluation of the budget we have available to us (property taxes are the main source) and the forecast money we will need to spend in order to keep assets in good working order at the levels of service currently offered.  

The headline is that we are in a very large hole. The 10-year infrastructure funding gap for the City of Hamilton is estimated at $5.2 billion, or $520 million annually. As work continues and further data is collected, that number could grow or shrink, but we still have a very large problem to solve. It's not logistically, technically, or even remotely financially feasible to close that gap in a year, or even a few years, but the financial magnitude of the gap is equivalent to a 40% increase in the tax levy. Yes, you read that number correctly. It is huge. So, let's dig into how we have gotten into this predicament.  

Why do we have a $5.2 Billion infrastructure spending gap? 

This is a complex topic, and there are many factors that have accumulated over many decades to dig the hole we are in. But I will summarize it into the following three main reasons: 

1. Reduced funding from upper levels of government. The 1990s saw significant changes, which amounted to downloading of Provincial costs onto municipalities, and in more recent years, Provincial and Federal funding has not kept up with inflation, so Hamilton has needed to increase the municipal share for projects. 

2. Our growth pattern since WWII (and the growth pattern of most North American communities) has been to sprawl outward, building mostly very low-density single-detached housing that requires a disproportionate investment in linear infrastructure (e.g., roads, water/sewage/storm water pipes) that we cannot afford to maintain. The revenue generated from historical medium-density mixed-use patterns (buildings of a few stories in height with businesses on the first floor and residential above) requires much less of this linear infrastructure and generates significantly more property tax revenue per meter of infrastructure. Suburban development requires a lot more roads and pipes, and the property tax received does not cover the costs over the long term. As you can see in the chart below, these items are near the top of the funding gap list. 

In short, we've followed a financially unsustainable, growth-focused strategy that has been compared to a pyramid or Ponzi scheme in which new money is constantly required to 'keep the machine' running. This video from Strong Towns provides an excellent overview of this topic. Additionally, I've cued up this next video from the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes to provide an example that explains the simple math of how Hamilton's growth pattern has created our deficit position. In a nutshell, we've been living beyond our means and we didn’t know it (see #3 below). 

Note: Keep this concept of an unsustainable growth pattern in mind when you are reading the following article about Council's recent refusal of two urban boundary expansion applications. With the knowledge I have shared with you, it should be clear why an urban boundary expansion is a colossally stupid move.   

3. The final reason I will put forward is the lack of inter-generational equity that has been applied in the past. The $5.2B funding gap has developed over a long period of time during which insufficient funds were allocated to maintaining our assets, effectively passing the burden on to the future. We understand the gap and the consequences are materializing in ways that we can all see very clearly (e.g., crumbling roads around the City). This is not meant as an indictment of previous Councils, or of my colleagues who have been on Council for many terms. The simple fact of the matter is that the priority for a very long time seems to have been 'keep taxes as low as possible', which is a reasonable, noble, and justifiable goal, one that we still pursue. But, when that approach is taken over and over again without considering the long-term costs, it grows into a matter of inter-generational equity. However, to be fair, past terms of Council did not have the same level of data about city assets we have available today, and the level of understanding of municipal finance, as explained in point #2 above, was poor, if it even existed at all. So, both Staff and Council over the decades may not have known any better. You might compare the situation to the days before we understood the harms of smoking, when doctors appeared in ads for tobacco companies.  

You might be thinking that the concept of inter-generational equity still applies, and it can't be the job of this generation to make up for all the errors of the past. Further, many assets that exist today - or will be built or maintained in the near future - will be a benefit to future generations, so why should it be just our tax dollars paying for everything? You are absolutely right, and the City has undertaken an approach that will balance the costs and benefits to this generation with what the next one will inherit from us.  

For our core assets, Council has implemented a 10-year plan that will close the annual spending gap (but not the overall ‘debt’ we have accumulated) for our core assets and a 25-year plan for our non-core assets. This materialized in the 1.5% capital investment portion of the 2025 property tax increase I wrote about in my 2025 budget newsletter.  

I hope this article has given you some insight into the complex topic of asset management and the current state of affairs. Council will need to make decisions over the balance of this term and into the future regarding how we balance the costs to manage our assets with the level of service they provide. At some point, we may be faced with the very tough decision to reduce service levels in order to contain costs. What that looks like or how it might be implemented is a task for the future. But rest assured for the moment that no such decisions have been made, and you can be confident that I will be writing about our journey along the asset management path in future issues of Craig's Current. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Asset Management, you can watch the video of the General Issues Committee (GIC) meeting HERE.  The Staff presentation, Staff report, and appendices are at item 8.1 HERE. 

On June 25, 2025, special Planning Committee and Council meetings were held to review two Urban Boundary Expansion (UBE) requests by two separate development groups. Prior to Provincial Bill 185, which gained royal assent in 2024, urban boundary expansions could only be contemplated during the City’s review of its land and housing needs, which occurred every 10 years. This was the process by which the Elfrida boundary expansion was contemplated, but ultimately denied, by the previous term of Council in November 2021. At that time, decisions by a municipality were not appealable to the OLT, so the decision was final. 

Under the new legislation, anyone can apply for a boundary expansion anytime, anywhere, completely undermining the ability of Staff and Council to plan their city’s growth.  

Let's frame what's happening here. The Province has used the context of a housing crisis to override local democracy, enabling landowners to instigate urban boundary expansions at ANY TIME without consideration of the City's existing strategy, our goals, and the work already underway.  

What are the City's goals? To build more homes? Absolutely! To build them wherever without considering the consequences? Most definitely NOT. A city is much more than just homes. It's a place for business and people to work. It’s public spaces for everyone to enjoy. It’s an opportunity for people and families to grow. It’s a place for people to connect with each other. It’s a vehicle for building quality of life.  Cities are complex organisms and need planning in order to succeed.  

City Council and STAFF are responsible for leading our CITY building. WE are the City Builders. Developers and builders are our partners and one of the many contributors. They are essential to realizing our vision. But they are not and CANNOT be the drivers to determine how our city is built. 

We've heard recently from the development industry that their proformas just don't work in the current economic climate and that they need taxpayers to provide subsidies to make them viable. I get that, and evaluating the viability of that approach is underway. But if we're going to be concerned about financial viability, let's be consistent. As I covered in the previous article, we have a $5.2B infrastructure funding gap over 10 years! Conclusion: We cannot maintain what we already have! You've all been on our crumbling roads. Everyone has read the news stories about Hamilton on the list of the worst roads. There hasn't been enough funding to keep up with maintenance for decades. The proforma for the City 'does not work' and a UBE only makes that situation WORSE. We need to end the financially unsustainable development model we have been following for decades. Building ‘out’ means we will just be incurring more costs we can’t pay for, and we’ll be stuck with them forever (see previous article).  

There is a false dichotomy that we’re choosing between skyscrapers and single-detached homes. There are many ‘missing middle’ options that we can – and are! – taking advantage of. The City is undergoing a transformation of our zoning policies that have long prohibited building any kind of meaningful density across much of the city. As was covered in my recent town hall, we’ve already completed an update on low-density residential zoning that enables up to 4 units on residential lots, including accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Current work is focused on mid-rise residential housing that would enable more density along main roads and transit corridors. Following that, there will be a review and update on high-density zoning. With the opportunities that all of this work will unlock and the vast amounts of empty and underutilized land we have around the city (e.g. single-storey commercial plazas with acres of parking lots are just one example), we have the opportunity to add tens-of-thousands of new homes beyond our provincially mandated housing targets between now and 2051. 

Staff also identified the very real risk that focusing growth of 142,000 people (roughly 2/3rds of the planned growth over the next 25 years) outside the boundary when we are already planning to incorporate them inside the boundary would have grave consequences and be financially ruinous. The following is an excerpt from the Staff report: 

In addition to impacting the City-wide intensification target, this reallocation of future population growth away from the built-up area would also impact planned intensification of strategic growth areas within the City including the Downtown, Major Transit Station Areas and other community nodes which in turn creates a risk that infrastructure and public service facilities currently planned and upgraded to support additional households through intensification may become underutilized. This could result in a stranded debt situation whereby the City cannot recoup the costs to upgrade infrastructure through the expected development charges. Historically, it has been shown that policies that support intensification generate more interest in redeveloping underutilized lands within the built-up area.  

Further to that point, the decline of downtown Hamilton in previous decades occurred as its residential population and business community were hollowed out when the population moved to the suburbs. Restoring vibrancy and economic success for our City hinges on the viability of the downtown. Pushing outward and funneling growth to the fringes of the city would repeat that mistake just at a point where major investments in the downtown, like the entertainment precinct led by the renovation of our arena, are generating new life.  

It won’t be a straight path or an easy journey, but the way to a better city that is more vibrant, more successful economically, more affordable for residents, and a happier place to live for everyone is to build it within the current urban boundary…just like the previous term of Council decided in 2021 and this term of Council reaffirmed on June 25, 2025. 

To learn more about the Urban Boundary decision, you can watch the video of the Special Planning Committee meeting HERE. The Staff presentation, Staff reports, and appendices are HERE. 

The construction work on Garner Rd. is quickly coming to a close with expected completion and a full re-opening of the road in mid-July. Here is the latest update from Construction Staff:  

Garner Road Trunk Watermain Project (Fiddlers Green and Garner Road) 
For the next 2 weeks, work will continue with the installation of the trunk watermain east of Braithwaite and will include trench backfill and road restorations, intersection work at Fiddlers Green Road and Garner Road, and watermain commissioning east of Fiddlers Green Road. It is anticipated that the intersection will be reopened by July 9th. 

Hamilton Police have been attending the site daily since June 19th due to aggressive driving and verbal altercations with the onsite crew, including at least one incident where someone exited their vehicle to threaten crew members. Note that the cost for paid-duty officers is an expense billed to the City, not the contractor.  

Garner Road Trunk Sanitary Sewer Project (near Bennett's) 
Earth Boring’s management team has stated that all contractual work would be completed around the 3rd week of July.  We ask that motorists remain patient and drive safely through the construction areas.
 

At the request of local residents concerned about safety on their streets, Staff have conducted traffic studies (speed and volume of vehicles) for Kitty Murray Lane, Fair Street, and John Frederick Drive. Their work confirmed the need for traffic calming, and speed cushions are to be installed on these streets in the coming weeks. The demand for improved street safety is very high in Ward 12 and across the City. Staff are working at full capacity and continue to prioritize their work based on the potential impact on each street. Traffic calming plans for Meadowbrook Drive are underway, and Staff continue to assess other streets. I will share more information once we have an update from Staff. 

On June 25, our office held a Development and Planning Town Hall meeting with Staff in attendance. Thank you to all who attended!  The goal of the meeting was to:  

• Make the development process more transparent, understandable,e and accessible to Ward 12 residents. 

• Update the community on some high-profile projects in Ward 12. 

• Explain what role a Secondary Plan plays in development. 

• Explain how traffic studies, parking minimums, natural heritage, and trees factor into developments. 

• Outline the Residential Zones Project and how zoning changes allow more density. 

• Delve into Hamilton’s $5.2 billion infrastructure deficit and how a city’s built form influences taxes. 

A lot of information was shared, and the meeting was recorded, so if you missed it, you can watch the recording and view the slide deck at my website: CraigCassar.ca/townhalls 

Please mark Thursday, July 10, on your calendar for a public open house meeting concerning an application to expand the urban boundary onto Ancaster’s Greenbelt. RSVP here.   

On December 17, 2024, the City received an application to expand Hamilton’s urban boundary by 10 hectares into the Greenbelt and Niagara Escarpment Plan Area at 159 and 163 Sulphur Springs Road, Ancaster, to allow the development of 75 residential dwellings. When it was submitted, the City deemed the application to be incomplete and refused to process it. The developer, Mizrahi Developments, then appealed to the OLT, and the Tribunal ruled that the application was complete and ordered the City to process the application as-is.  

The City has significant concerns with this application. It constitutes an urban expansion into the Greenbelt, and it conflicts with the land use policies of the Niagara Escarpment Plan, which designates the lands “Escarpment Protection” and “Escarpment Natural”, neither of which allows urban development. The Provincial Planning Statement, 2024, states municipal planning decisions must conform or not conflict with Provincial Plan,s which includes the Niagara Escarpment Plan. 

Nevertheless, the OLT has ordered Hamilton's Planning Department to process this file, and as a result, the City will be scheduling a virtual open house meeting on July 10, 7 pm-9 pm, to provide the public an additional opportunity to review the application and provide comments. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. It will be important for the City Planners to hear from the community.  

You can also sign up to receive updates from the City’s Urban Boundary Expansion team at Hamilton/UrbanBoundary. Note that Provincial Bill 185, Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, 2024, now permits urban boundary applications anytime, anywhere. As a result, there are now four separate applications to expand the boundary, all totaling over 3,800 acres of prime farmland. You can learn more at the City's UBE webpage. 

On April 22, 2025, Municipal Law Enforcement issued Property Standards Orders for 243 Garner Rd E (Richardson Hyslop Freebold House) with a deadline of July 1, 2025. If the work has not been carried out by that date, the City will complete the work, issue charges, and have all associated costs added to the owner’s property tax roll. 

Additionally, as this is a vacant building, Staff have been completing quarterly inspections of the property. The Property Standards Order requires the following work: 

• Repair metal posts 

• Clear all eavestroughs  

• Paint all boarded windows black  

• Paint door openings 

• Secure door openings (heritage permits required) 

• Repair/replace the shed 

• Connect the heating and cooling system in the designated heritage building and maintain the system 

An application for a Heritage permit must be issued before any work impacting identified heritage attributes. 

I was pleased to attend the annual Hamilton Municipal Heritage Awards at Bridgeworks on June 26. Congratulations to Bob Wilkins and Bill Walker, owners of Ancaster’s Barracks Inn, who took home a recognition award in the category of “Adaptive Reuse of a Heritage Property”! The architectural style of the Barracks Inn adds just the sort of heritage feel the village core needs. 

The Ancaster Farmers Market returned on June 4th for the 2025 season and will be open every Wednesday until October from 3 pm to 7 pm at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre. For more information about vendors, check out the Ancaster Farmers Market website.   

The City of Hamilton has launched a new awareness campaign to tackle illegal graffiti as part of its continued commitment to community safety, beautification, and well-being. The campaign focuses on removing and preventing unauthorized graffiti and encouraging residents to get involved. It also supports the City’s broader downtown revitalization goals and aligns with the Clean & Green Strategy. 

See it? Report it! One of the best ways to stop illegal graffiti is to remove it quickly. The City encourages residents to report illegal graffiti in their neighbourhoods:  

Report existing graffiti to [email protected], 905-546-CITY (2489). See (hamilton.ca/graffiti) Report graffiti vandalism in progress at 9-1-1  

Make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-8477 

HSR is making it easier to know before you go with real-time updates! The new interactive HSR Alert Map puts real-time service alerts at your fingertips - including detours and unexpected service disruptions, all in one convenient place. Planning a trip? Use your favorite third-party trip planning app to check for alerts and see real-time bus arrival times. 

HSR Alert map is: HERE 

Schedules, detours, and bus stop changes are HERE 

Above are four of the recent topics now open for public feedback on the Engage.Hamilton.ca website. Please take part in these and other projects that are currently open for engagement. Your voice matters! Browse the site to also learn about former consultations.  

The Xperience Annex is excited to announce another cohort of the Turkstra Youth Builders Program.  A training program offered by Turkstra Lumber in partnership with the City of Hamilton. 

This training program, for individuals aged 18-29, will allow participants to gain experience in the building materials and supplies industry, which will include hands-on training in truss and panel manufacturing. Training will include health and safety, First Aid, and Working at Heights. The Program will start on August 5th with a screening date on July 8th. For more information and to register, please contact [email protected] 

The City of Hamilton extends sincere appreciation to all residential property owners who participated in the first year of the Vacant Unit Tax (VUT) program. As of the extended deadline on May 30 of this year, 96% of Hamilton homeowners submitted their occupancy declarations for the 2024 tax year! That represents 171,649 of the 178,058 mandated residential properties city-wide who submitted their declarations. Ward 12 reached a declaration rate of 97%! Thank you to everyone who submitted your declaration. Click HERE if you are a homeowner who declared your unit vacant and want to know how payments work, or if you wish to dispute your bill. 

Patio Season on King William Street - ongoing through the summer 

Lynden Canada Day – July 1 -  admission by donation 

Troy Canada Day Parade & BBQ – July 1 – 2295 Troy Rd 

Canada Day Military Tattoo – 5pm-7pm - July 1 - Dundurn Castle 

HMCS Haida Canada Day – 10am-5pm, July 1 – Copps Pier Amphitheatre and Gantry Pavilion  

Pull for Polio – 10am-2:30pm, July 1– Dundas Driving Park  

Sundays Unlocked - Sunday, July 20 – Locke Street – Vendors and entertainment 

Community Salsa Dancing – July 10 - Ferguson Station 

Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre has various events during the month of July. 

Fieldcote Memorial Park and Museum  August 1, 2pm – 6pm. Emancipation Day 

Downtown Hamilton Park Crawl –  ongoing July 11 – September 14 

This bi-weekly webinar series by urbanist Gil Penalosa is FREE and always interesting. It will provide you with tools to be a ‘passionate advocate’ for equitable, sustainable, and playful cities, where all can live healthier & happier. Fascinating guests present for 25 minutes, followed by a 25-minute dialogue with the many hundreds of participants from over 30 countries. Recordings only include the presentation. It’s live, by Zoom, every other Tuesday at 11:00am EST. 

Learn more HERE. Register and watch past webinars HERE 

Dark-eyed Juncos are sparrows that breed across Canada, typically further north than here, but come south to spend the winter with us. Their arrival in the last half of September is an annual reminder that winter is on its way. They commonly frequent backyard feeders and linger well into spring, not departing back north until the first half of May. With their white breasts and winter appearance, they have been nicknamed "snowbirds." Thanks to Ancaster resident Bob Bell - “The Birder Bob” for another great shot of birds in the community! 

Thanks, as always, to everyone who reaches out to engage with our office. I hope you enjoyed reading this month’s newsletter. Please share it with Ward 12 neighbours and friends. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and subscribe to the Ward 12 newsletter at CraigCassar.ca. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.