Ancaster Factor

Terra and I are getting together on Friday October 9th at The Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre raising funds for Carnegie Gallery .
TICKETS - https://secure1.tixhub.com/memorialarts/online/b_otix.asp?cboPerformances=872&cboEvent=496&iEvents_id=496&fbclid=IwY2xjawUWo3FwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUhsRldtaHpmSDRWbkhhdzVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEePFO4xjQMJ-FGJW-xxJfQSp83p2xgqMsPSzg7lfEQ9SlMdh9HPXFBacD0Crk_aem_DSEBWEJ64IciFU3x5UXMkw #
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BIG NEWS FOR ANCASTER — UBE-3 APPEAL DISMISSED

The Ontario Land Tribunal has officially dismissed Mizrahi Developments’ appeals for the proposed 75-home development at 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road.

Hamilton refused the development. Mizrahi appealed. The City asked the OLT to throw the appeals out — and the City won.

The reason is important: these lands are within the Greenbelt/Niagara Escarpment Plan area. The Tribunal ruled that the Planning Act does not provide a right of appeal for an urban-boundary expansion that would bring these protected lands into the settlement area.

The developer argued that the case could proceed conditionally while it sought a future change to the Niagara Escarpment Plan. The OLT said no.

The Niagara Escarpment Plan amendment has to come first. The Tribunal's final order is clear: the appeals are dismissed.

This doesn't mean the issue can never return. The developer can pursue the Niagara Escarpment Plan process and potentially start again if the designation is eventually changed. But the OLT notes that the next Plan review hasn't even begun and the amendment request is “not anywhere near being assessed or reviewed.”

For everyone who has spent years speaking up for Ancaster Springs, the Dundas Valley, our groundwater and these protected lands, this is a significant decision.

🌿 For now, UBE-3 is stopped.

Our attention now turns to the Niagara Escarpment Plan review, because that is where the next chapter of this fight could happen.

The Ancaster Factor will be watching.

READ HERE https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1620102366572478&type=3

UBE Application: 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road | City of Hamilton Planning Applications UBE Application: 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road Breadcrumb Home Build, Invest & Grow Planning & Development Planning Applications Urban Boundary Expansion UBE Application: 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road Planning Applications Urban Boundary Expansion UBE Application: 159 & 163 S...

♻️ Could Hamilton Turn Our Recycled Plastic into Park Benches and Muskoka Chairs?

Canadians carefully sort their recycling, but collecting plastic does not necessarily mean it becomes another useful product. Statistics Canada reports that Canadians discarded approximately 5.15 million tonnes of plastic in 2022, while only 333,000 tonnes were converted by Canadian recyclers into pellets, flakes and fibres for manufacturing. That is roughly 6.5% of the plastic discarded.

Here in Hamilton, the City manages more than 200,000 tonnes of waste each year. Its new Solid Waste Management Master Plan says approximately 60% of what residents currently put in the garbage could be diverted through existing programs. Glanbrook is now Hamilton’s only active landfill, so extending its remaining life should concern all of us.

What if we helped create an actual local market for our recovered plastic?

Ontario companies are already manufacturing Muskoka chairs, picnic tables, park benches, planters and plastic lumber from recycled HDPE—the material used in milk jugs and detergent bottles.

Hamilton could establish a pilot project that:

♻️ Separates a clean, traceable stream of locally collected HDPE plastic.

🏭 Partners with a Canadian processor to wash and convert it into flakes, pellets or plastic lumber.

🪑 Uses that material to manufacture benches, picnic tables, planters, recycling stations, bollards and other products needed by the City.

🇨🇦 Creates Canadian manufacturing and recycling jobs.

🔄 Requires the products to be taken back and recycled again at the end of their useful lives.

The City could use its purchasing power to create a dependable market by requiring recycled content, Canadian processing, long warranties, repairable parts and end-of-life take-back provisions when it buys municipal furniture.

Imagine sitting on a bench in an Ancaster park with a sign that says:

Made in Ontario from plastic recovered in the Hamilton community.”

Ontario’s Blue Box system is now operated through producer responsibility, so Hamilton would need to bring together recycling operators, producers, manufacturers and municipal procurement staff. But that is exactly the kind of leadership a circular economy requires.

This election season ask City Council to ask staff:

* Where do Hamilton’s different grades of plastic currently go?
* How much actually becomes a new product?
* How much is processed in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada?
* Could Hamilton launch a locally traceable plastics-to-products pilot?
* Could recycled-content requirements be included when the City purchases park furniture and other products?

Hamilton’s waste plan talks about creating a circular economy. Let’s make that commitment something residents can actually see, use and measure.

Would you support turning our locally recovered plastic into locally manufactured park benches, picnic tables and outdoor furniture?

https://www.hamilton.ca/city-council/plans-strategies/master-plans-studies/solid-waste-management-master-plan?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Sources: Statistics Canada, *Plastics in Canada: From Production to Recycling, 2022*; City of Hamilton, *2026–2050 Solid Waste Management Master Plan*.

www.hamilton.ca

The weather these last couple of summers has sucked compared with the “before times.”

Too much smoke. Too much extreme heat. Too many violent storms, floods and stretches without rain. It no longer feels like the summers many of us remember.

Canada’s latest climate report says our country has already warmed by 2°C over the past 75 years—and approximately another 1°C of warming by 2040 is now considered unavoidable.

So yes, things are going to get worse.

That doesn’t mean every day will be hotter or every summer will be terrible. It means unstable and extreme conditions will happen more often: longer fire seasons, heavier downpours, flash flooding, drought and dangerous heat.

We need to stop pretending this is temporary and that everything will somehow return to normal. The “before times” aren’t coming back. We need to reduce emissions, prepare our communities and protect the natural systems that still protect us.

This is not about panic. It is about facing what is happening while we still have choices left.

Climate reports forecast warming impact is “effectively irreversible” in decades ahead New reports published this week looking at the consequences of a wa...

A huge **THANK YOU to the Hydro One crews** who worked so hard today to get Ancaster’s power back on. ❤️⚡

With downed trees, downed lines, hanging wires and some genuinely dangerous conditions on our roads, these crews were out there working through it all to safely restore power to our community.

It’s easy to take electricity for granted—until the lights go out. Today was a good reminder that there are real people out there doing difficult and sometimes dangerous work to get them back on.

From a very grateful community: thank you for showing up, working hard and keeping us safe.

Please stay safe out there—and know that your work today was very much appreciated. 🙏⚡💙