I’m getting rusty, I guess.
My plan was to read a city of Hamilton Planning report and
provide an update to a story I’d done recently. http://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.ca/2012/09/local-governments-and-distance.html
That was the plan but to my eyes the report is pretty much
incomprehensible and that is saying something for a planning report.
As a recap the City of Hamilton denied the approval of a
“Residential Care Facility” (their word) at 121 Augusta Street in
Hamilton. This would have allowed a
mental health program for teenage girls to relocate to this address from the
city owned building the non-profit operated.
This building requires extensive renovations and costly repair. The
denial was based this on the City’s Radial Distance Separation (RDS) Policy.
Many believe that
these RDS policies violate basic human rights and the city may be forced
to address that matter in an Ontario Municipal Board hearing later this year.
But out the blue and I’ll quote from the planning report
here:
“staff’s attention was drawn to the difficulty the applicant
had in securing alternative locations within the City limits that were conducive
and appropriate for the proposed use.”
Not said here, but important to note, is that the city
caused and continues to cause a lot of those difficulties.ck to the staff
report:
“On closer examination of the search parameters identified
by the applicant, staff determined that the proposed function of the facility
will not be that of a Residential Care Facility, and that the characterization
of the proposed use as a Residential Care Facility by the applicant’s planning
consultant is not representative of the intended use, having regard for how the
By-law treats a Residential Care Facility.”
At a preliminary OMB hearing last week the city argued that
they don’t want the RDS policy considered.
That is the same policy, of course, that they previously used to argue against approval
before their “closer examination” produced another planning argument. The hearing officer reserved judgement on this.
Councillor Brad Clark put it well, I think.
"It’s embarrassing
to have the human rights commissioner intervene at the OMB when our vision is
to be the best place to raise a child.” http://metronews.ca/news/hamilton/395199/human-rights-chief-will-fight-hamilton-at-the-omb/
