Official Plan
Official Plan Review
Contact Us
Charlie Toman
Program Lead - MCR
City Hall, 4th Floor
71 Main St W, Hamilton
Call 905-546-2424 ext 5863 or
Email [email protected]
GRIDS 2 & MCR
The City is updating its Growth Management Strategy (GRIDS 2) and will also be completing a Municipal Comprehensive Review.
Municipalities review their Official Plans on a regular basis to ensure they remain up to date, reflect current provincial policy, and represent the long-term vision of the municipality.
The City of Hamilton's Rural Hamilton Official Plan and Urban Hamilton Official Plan were approved by the Ontario Municipal Board and came into effect on March 7, 2012 and August 16, 2013, respectively.
The Planning Act, the Places to Grow Act, and the Greenbelt Act all contain municipal requirements to undertake Official Plan reviews and conformity exercises to ensure the City’s official Plan reviews and conformity exercises to ensure the City’s official plans are reflective of community goals and objectives, and that they implement the provincial policies contained in the Provincial Policy Statement, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, and the Greenbelt Plan.
Changes to the Official Plans that implement provincial policies are referred to as a Municipal Comprehensive Review or the “Conformity Review”. Changes that are reflective of community goals and objectives are referred to as the “Official Plan Review - Local Objectives”.
The Official Plan Review is not intended to be a rewrite of the City’s Official Plans, but rather a targeted update to only those sections and policies that require changes to address provincial policies and significant locally-identified issues. The organization and structure of the Official Plans will remain the same.
GRIDS 2 (Growth Related Integrated Development Strategy) is a big-picture planning process that evaluates the land use, infrastructure, economic development, and financial implications of growth for the next 30 years. The City is planning for 236,000 new residents and 122,000 new jobs in Hamilton to the year 2051.
Many of the studies that are required as part of the City’s growth strategy are also part of the City’s Municipal Comprehensive Review .Therefore, the Municipal Comprehensive Review has taken place concurrently with GRIDS 2, which has the benefit of combining the public and stakeholder consultation into one process, and efficiently utilizes staff time and resources.
As part of this process, the City undertook a Land Needs Assessment, Urban Growth Survey, and Employment Land Review.
The outcome of the Municipal Comprehensive Review and GRIDS 2 planning process has been implemented through Official Plan Amendments to the Urban (OPA 167) and Rural Hamilton Official Plan (OPA 34).
View previous staff reports and public engagement materials related to the GRIDS 2 planning process.
Flow chart depicts the City’s Municipal Comprehensive Review Process, as it relates to the Growth Strategy GRIDS 2 process.
On April 10, 2024 the Province of Ontario released an updated version of the proposed Provincial Planning Statement, 2024. The proposed Provincial Planning Statement represents a consolidation of the existing Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2019 and includes select changes from the draft released in 2023 in an effort to address some of the comments received on the previous draft.
If approved, all planning decisions, and any future City initiated reviews of the two Official Plans, will need to be consistent with the updated policy framework, pursuant to the Planning Act. Further information on the proposed Provincial Planning Statement, 2024 visit Provincial Planning Matters.
Project Topic Areas
The Official Plan Review and Municipal Comprehensive Review has been broken down into project topic areas, each resulting in separate Official Plan Amendments. Review of the City’s Official Plan policies has occurred at the same time as the GRIDS 2 project completes the necessary steps to determine how and where the City will accommodate additional growth.
Conformity Review (Urban Focus)
The Conformity Review (Urban Focus) process has been completed. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued decisions to the City of Hamilton on November 4, 2022, in response to Council adopted Official Plan Amendments OPA 167 and OPA 34.
Visit the Conformity Review – Urban Focus page
Major Transit Station Areas
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). Includes mapped delineation of all MTSAs, prescribed Density Targets for MTSAs along the B-Line Route and possibility of Inclusionary Zoning Policies.
Visit the Major Transit Station Areas page
Conformity Review – Rural & Natural Heritage System Focus
The Municipal Comprehensive Review and Official Plan Review Process is currently being initiated and includes updates to the Rural Hamilton Official Plan (RHOP) and Natural Heritage System policies of both Official Plans for conformity with Provincial Policy. Staff will review the existing policies of the Rural Hamilton Official Plan against policy documents such as the Provincial Policy Statement, Niagara Escarpment Plan, Growth Plan, and Greenbelt Plan.
Visit the Conformity Review – Rural and Natural Heritage System Focus page
Official Plan Review – Local Objectives
Staff recognize that updates to the City’s Official Plans will be necessary to address local community issues. These project topic areas will not be subject to the stringent timelines of 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 focusing on local community issues.
Visit the Official Plan Review – Local Objectives page
Employment Area Review
Phase 1 may include the preparation of an Urban Hamilton Official Plan Amendment, as well as an amendment to the West Harbour Setting Sail Secondary Plan Area, to expressly state that the permitted uses in employment areas shall be in alignment with the Planning Act definition of “Area of Employment.” Phase 2 may include a detailed review of the City’s existing employment area policies.
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