"Zones? We don't need no stinkin' zones!"

OK.

That was a cheap shot.

Consider it my attempt to stay out of the 'High Dudgeon Swamp' to spend just a little time in the 'Levity Sector'.

The land I've been yammering on about is zoned 'OS-3'. What does that mean? Well, it refers to 'Open Spaces Zones' as defined by 'The Zoning By-laws of The City of Stoney Creek'. (Brought forward into the City of Hamilton Amalgamation, otherwise known as 'The Big Mistake That Nobody Involved Wanted...and Would Love to Rescind. If They Were Being Honest. Which They Can't Afford To Be'.)

"The provisions of this By-law shall apply to all of the lands contained within the municipal boundaries of the Corporation of the City of Stoney Creek as shown on Schedule “A”. However, the zone regulations on lands which are within the Development Control Area as established by the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.N.2, do not form part of this By-law, but act as a guide to the Corporation in assessing and commenting on applications for development permits."

Specifically:

"...those lands zoned "OS-3" by this By-law shall only be used for uses existing at the date of the passing of this By-law, natural forests, wildlife conservation areas, hiking trails, nature viewing areas, passive public parks, archaeological uses, watershed management uses, flood and erosions control uses, transportation and utility uses and uses accessory and incidental thereto."

So.

Here we have a piece of land that has very restrictive uses. It may have had other uses in the past...say, for example, agricultural, as in, maybe, a cherry orchard...but as it has been zoned 'OS-3', its uses are restricted. Not to put too fine a point on it, there's hardly any wiggle-room for 'development' of any kind. Make sense? Good.

Now; let's assume that you are the landowners of this parcel of OS-3 property. Your neighbours are a) a National Historic Site, the majority of which falls under the jurisdiction of the Niagara Escarpment Commission, and b) the Niagara Escarpment itself. You also have the NEC as an overseer, as well as the Hamilton Conservation Authority and the City of Hamilton as interested parties. There is a certain consistency of landscape: it's a little 'wild', there's lots of trees and brush and undergrowth...just like, off the top of my head, the Bruce Trail.

Here's my point: because of all this, not only are there certain stated guidelines to be followed in terms of protocol concerning stewardship of the land, but also inferred guidelines. To maintain the integrity of the area. To wit: you wouldn't want to go planting some massive (remember, this plot of land is the size of a football field) expanse of say, bluebells.

Nor would it be appropriate to chop down all the trees and then uproot them, raze the entire area with an excavator, scrape away the brush, leaving it all completely and entirely barren...under the guise of, let's suppose, making it look prettier, flattening it all out so you can more easily mow the resulting lawn once you've planted grass seeds.

That wouldn't be appropriate, would it...?