City needs more land to lure more jobs to Hamilton, report says

Hamilton has about half as much shovel-ready land as it needs to bring enough jobs here to support the population over the next 20 years.

So says Guy Paparella, the city's director of industrial parks and airport development. He says the city should acquire more.

Hamilton has about 268 hectares of shovel-ready land meaning land that's properlyserviced, zoned andready to accommodate the next Canada Bread or Maple Leaf Foods, Paparella said.

But it should have more like 500 hectares, and be growing that total by about 50 acres per year, to accommodate the jobs we need, he said.

Unless Hamilton fixes this, Paparella said, it will increasingly become a city where people commute out in droves.

• Why aren't Hamilton's industrial parks growing?

According to population estimates, he said, "by 2041, we need 350,000 jobs. We have around 220,000 jobs. That's a lot of jobs we have to generate in the next 30, 40, 50 years."

It's not that the city lacks land. Right now, more than 900 hectares are available for building, including the airport employment growth district (AEGD). But much of it isn't serviced.

Don McLeanfought the AEGD with Environment Hamilton and is part of Citizens At City Hall (CATCH).He's heard predictions about a lack of land before, and he doesn't necessarily buy it.

The city has industrial land, particularly near the airport, that's been sitting vacant for years, he said. Banking more land "could easily be classified as overkill."

The idea of needing more land "represents perhaps an ideological position of economic development, that the more land we have ready for the possibility of someone coming along, the better chance we have of getting that new industrial development," McLean said.

Investing in servicing more land is "a gamble," McLean said one that doesn't pay off if no new industries want to locate here.

Last week, city councillors voted to ask the federal government for money to service more land. Paparella also said he'd pitch a 10-year plan during the 2017 budget process. The economic development department will also propose spending money on a plan to market the city's available land.

That plan will involve identifying key industries to target to get them to expand to Hamilton, said Jason Thorne, the city's general manager of economic development. The city currently focuses on industries such as agrifood, life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

Paparella's report came after February numbers showed that the bulk of Hamilton's tax assessment growth still comes from residences.