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Abandoning the Bayfront When Hemson Consulting endorsed an enlarged aerotropolis business park in March of 2007, the newly elected mayor and several councillors suggested the calculated land need was far too large. They demanded an accounting of the redevelopment potential of the of existing underutilized industrial lands in the 7800 acre area stretching along the harbour. The responding staff and consultant reports unveiled in March essentially write off this area, concluding that no more than 50 acres is available there for new job opportunities. And they argue even more farmland around the airport is needed to meet job targets over the next 25 years. The extremely low availability of bayfront lands was apparently calculated by only counting properties that are both vacant and not paying taxes. Staff went on to argue that the bayfront lands only appear underutilized, and that boarded up properties and empty parking lots obscure ongoing economic activity. There was no mention of the fact that over 30,000 jobs have disappeared on the bayfront in the last 30 years, or that successful tax appeals, mainly by industrial property owners, chopped a record $12 million off city revenues in 2007 alone. Several councillors described the conclusions as unbelievable. One asked how much of the older industrial lands would likely become available by the end of the planning period in 2031. The response is that staff assume a further net decline of 10,000 jobs in those lands, and consultants anticipate that the only redevelopment there will be for residential use – as has happened in the Toronto portlands. The essential message is that Hamilton should forget about its brownfield sites and plan its economic future on the “clean slate” of agricultural lands around the airport. This strategy not only abandons the bayfront lands for our grandkids to remediate; it also cripples any vision of revitalizing the lower city. |