Hamilton Spectator
6/26/2012
City council may have a fight on their hands at an upcoming Ontario Municpal Board hearing.
Some Mount Hope residents say they are stuck and can't sell their homes because their properties have been designated as 'airport reserve land' which means the city will eventually buy it for airport expansion.
However, it seems the city is in no hurry to buy.
Some residents are relying on the sale of their home as a ticket into a retirement home -- but are essentially locked in until the city buys the rest of the almost 200 hectares around the airport.
But the director of the city’s industrial parks and airport development says the city can’t afford to buy all of the designated lands now. Adding the plan is to do so over the next 10 or 15 or 20 years, as they are required by the airport.
Some residents plan to fight the designation as an illegal property freeze.
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