“You will see a lot of consistency in this document,” said Tim McCabe, general manager of economic development and planning.

Hamilton’s urban official plan joins the city’s rural official plan that was approved by councillors last year to create the city’s first harmonized Official Plan since the six municipalities were amalgamated in 2001.

The urban official plan had to be approved by councillors by June 30.

The plan was delayed by a few years, after the provincial government introduced its Greenbelt plan and Places to Grow document that encourages intensification in urban areas.

The plan incorporates the city’s Growth Related Integrated Development Strategy (GRIDS) that proposes encouraging development within nodes and corridors, such as in the Elfrida area, along with other essential planning documents that have been approved over the last few years. It also includes land use designations, neighbourhood construction, employment areas, transportation master plan, natural heritage system, and commercial and mixed uses. As well, the plan incorporates transit master plan documents, the Stoney Creek Urban Expansion policies, and the downtown master plan recommendations. City planning staff held four days of public meetings in June prior to council’s approval.

It is expected the document will be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. Once the issues are resolved by the OMB, it is up to the province to approve the plan.

Mountain councillor Terry Whitehead argued the plan could create “inequities” within neighbourhoods, allowing for higher buildings in one community, and forcing intensification in another neighbourhood.

“There is a need for continuity,” he said.

Mountain councillor Scott Duvall said homeowners have grown increasingly concerned about the insistence on the part of municipal and provincial governments to intensify neighbourhoods instead of expanding a municipality’s urban boundary, which eats up precious green space.

Under the province’s Places to Growth legislation, 40 per cent of Hamilton’s urban area has to be intensified to accommodate the expected growth in population over the next 20 years.

“I want to make sure we don’t stack 25-pound potatoes in a five-pound sack,” said Duvall. “We should intensify only in certain areas.”

McCabe assured council the plan establishes consistent planning principles across the city with proper mixed uses, while attaining the required intensification.

“We are ensuring we have consistency,” he said.