Resident will fight Hamilton's ward boundary changes at the OMB

Hamilton city council's decision to barely change its ward boundaries ignoreswhat the public wants, doesn't give residents equal representation and smacks of "self dealing,"says one resident. Now he hopes to use legal means to prove it.

Mark Richardson has filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). He wants council to more drastically redraw ward boundaries. If he's successful, the OMB will either impose boundaries on the city, or send council back to the drawing board.

"I am demanding that Hamilton city council redraw ward boundaries that are more equal by population," Richardson said in a media release Monday.

There's an imbalance, he said, and council's decision doesn't fix it. He also said councillors were "engaged in self dealing" by redrawing the boundaries themselves.

• Hamilton city councillors vote to change ward boundaries - but only slightly

The decision "impairs the right to vote, and fails to guarantee effective representation," Richardson said in his letter to the OMB. The city also ignored its own criteria when it redrew the boundaries.

Maria Pearson, Ward 10 councillor, said the appeal doesn't surprise her. She stands by council'sdecision.

"We sit around the table and we know the wards," she said. "We know the areas."

The issue of ward boundaries has lurked in the background for years.

Hamilton amalgamated in 2000, and its transition board advised a future council review the boundaries within 10 years.

The reason? Hamilton's ward boundaries still mostly follow old lines, some wards have much higher population than others.

Ward 7 on the Mountain, for example, had 62,179 people in 2011. Ward 14 in rural Flamborough had 17,634. Also, the city has grown rapidly in some areas since 2000.

A city-hired consultant recommended two options. One still had 15 wards but redrew them to make populations more equal. The other recommended creating a 16th ward.

In February, city council voted to keep largely the same boundaries, suggesting its own changes to the consultant's "option one." That led some residents and one city councillor to say it was gerrymandering.

Craig Burley, a local tax lawyer interested in municipal affairs, is representing Richardson.

samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBC