City council adds 1,500 hectares to urban growth boundary (and maybe more)

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London will push on with an expansion to its urban growth boundary, the first significant change in almost 30 years, despite pushback outside the development industry.

Politicians gave their approval on Tuesday to expand the boundary, which dictates where residential and commercial development can happen, but were divided on exactly how much to add.

“This is one of the most significant votes this council is making,” said Coun. Sam Trosow. “If we overshoot, we can push it forward, but we can’t take it back.”

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After a 10-5 vote of council, the city will study adding 1,476 hectares (3,647 acres) to the urban boundary to accommodate the next 30 years of projected population growth, based on a recommendation from city staff.

The London area’s population has exploded in recent years, and is forecast by Queen’s Park to swell by more than 50 per cent, potentially a stressor on a housing and affordability.

Councillors Trosow, Anna Hopkins, David Ferreira, Elizabeth Peloza, and Skylar Franke opposed the change, while all others were in support.

The city will also ask the province to support an expansion of 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) for more than 40 years of population growth, recommended by independent consulting firm Colliers in a housing supply marketplace analysis. Should the province support the firm’s recommendation, it would take precedent.

It was the latter change that divided council, narrowly succeeding on an 8-7 vote and adding councillors Corrine Rahman and Hadleigh McAlister to the opposition.

“I’m trying to exercise an abundance of caution in our approach, especially with the long horizon,” McAlister said. “I like the approach in terms of densification, intensification, I think we need to stay the course on that.”

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Politicians feared advancing urban sprawl and losing farmland to large tract, $1-million single-family homes, and the possibility for land speculation. Several councillors already referenced having urban land that still doesn’t have servicing.

The Colliers report states land inside the urban growth boundary is worth 5.5 to eight times the value of land outside the boundary.

On the other side of the debate, councillors continued to reference the growth of towns just outside of London, adding they wished to prevent sprawl just beyond the city’s boundaries.

Politicians argued growth of single-family homes beyond London will continue regardless of what the city does with its urban boundary, but expanding available lands could open more housing options such as stacked townhouses.

“The nature of development has actually changed already in the city . . . single-family homes are not the thing leading the charge,” said Mayor Josh Morgan. “There are lots of really intense developments happening right now on (undeveloped) land.”

City staff will return with recommendations for lands to be added to the boundary in the spring, partly based on requests which have already been made by landowners.

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POLITICIANS APPROVE NEW ELECTORAL WARDS

City council also has given their approval to the new ward boundaries, which will be in use for the next municipal election in 2026.

Politicians opted to keep existing wards largely intact rather than overhauling everything, in order to keep communities together while better balancing current and future populations.

A failed move to shift largely industrial land from the new Ward 1 to Ward 14 to address the high population of the former prompted McAlister to abruptly leave the meeting, which he addressed Tuesday.

“The way the debate went led me to believe that council would not be open to making any changes,” he said. “I want to thank my colleagues for proving me wrong in this instance.”

Several tweaks were made last week to the wards with which council chose to move forward, including transferring the Rowntree neighbourhood near Victoria Hospital to the new Ward 11 from Ward 1, and part of Carling Heights to the new Ward 4 from Ward 1.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

@JackAtLFPress

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