Save Our Springs - Ancaster

09/19/2026

Today we are celebrating an important victory for Ancaster Springs, the Dundas Valley, the Niagara Escarpment and the Greenbelt.

On September 17, 2026, the Ontario Land Tribunal granted the City of Hamilton’s motion and dismissed the appeals by Mizrahi Developments and 2691715 Ontario Limited concerning the proposed 75-home development at 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road.

The Tribunal found that it simply did not have jurisdiction to hear these appeals. The Planning Act specifically restricts appeals where an urban boundary expansion would bring lands within the Greenbelt — including the Niagara Escarpment Plan area — into a settlement boundary.

The developer proposed moving forward conditionally while pursuing a future amendment to the Niagara Escarpment Plan. The Tribunal rejected that approach.

The ruling makes the order of events clear: the Niagara Escarpment Plan amendment must come first. The existing appeal cannot be kept alive while waiting to see whether these protected lands might someday be redesignated.

This decision does not mean our work is finished. The developer has already applied for an amendment to the Niagara Escarpment Plan, and that process is now where our attention must turn. The Tribunal itself noted that the next Niagara Escarpment Plan review has not commenced and that this amendment application is currently “not anywhere near being assessed or reviewed.”

For Save Our Springs, this has always been about something larger than one development application.

It is about protecting the lands and natural systems surrounding Ancaster Springs and ensuring that decisions affecting the Niagara Escarpment and Greenbelt receive the scrutiny and protection the law requires.

We thank the residents who wrote letters, attended meetings, submitted participant requests and continued to speak up. We also thank the City of Hamilton for defending its refusal before the Tribunal.

Today, UBE-3 is stopped.

Tomorrow, we continue watching the Niagara Escarpment Plan process and advocating for the long-term protection of Ancaster Springs and the lands that sustain them.

💧🌿 SAVE OUR SPRINGS
Protect the water. Protect the land. Protect the springs.

Planning Applications UBE Application: 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road Breadcrumb Home Build, Invest & Grow Planning & Development Planning Applications Urban Boundary Expansion UBE Application: 159 & 163 Sulphur Springs Road Planning Applications Urban Boundary Expansion UBE Application: 159 & 163 S...

08/18/2026

07/26/2026

This is an important post because it reinforces something our community has been saying for years: these applications cannot be viewed in isolation.
Whether it is 267 Sulphur Springs Road, the UBE-3 proposal, or any future development along the corridor, they all share one thing in common—they sit within the same sensitive groundwater system that feeds Ancaster's .
For over 150 years, these Ancaster Springs have defined Ancaster's identity. They are part of our natural heritage, our history, and our tourism story. Once a groundwater system is altered, it cannot simply be put back the way it was.
That is why cumulative impacts matter.
It's not just about , , , or housing numbers. It's about asking whether multiple developments, taken together, could affect groundwater , movement, natural discharge to the springs, water quality, and the ecological systems that depend on them.
Each planning application may satisfy its own technical requirements, but who is looking at the combined effect of all the proposed growth along Sulphur Springs Road?
Before any further approvals are granted, the City should require a comprehensive cumulative environmental and hydrogeological assessment for the entire Sulphur Springs corridor—not just individual studies prepared for individual developments.
Our springs are a finite natural resource. Once they are compromised, they cannot be replaced.
This isn't about opposing all growth. It's about ensuring that growth respects the landscape that has made Ancaster unique for generations.
The question isn't whether development will occur.
The question is whether we will protect the springs before it's too late.

04/18/2026

04/08/2026

1793: The Crown deeded the land to Henry Chrysler

Not much else is known about the property until the 1830's.

Map - Michael Thomas Bell