Developers bought Hamilton Greenbelt property a month before Ontario revealed plans to open it up for housing

A prominent developer and key figure in the Ford government's controversial Greenbelt land swap purchased a Hamilton property a month before Ontario announced its plans to open the protected farmland up for residential development. 

According to property records, the purchase closed on Oct. 6, 2022 — three weeks after an unnamed developer requested that the province remove the land and other parcels from the Greenbelt, as described in a recent auditor general's report. 

Greater Toronto Area developer Silvio De Gasperis, head of Tacc Developments, along with Paradise Developments' Steven Weisz and Jack Eisenberger of Fieldgate Homes, purchased over 4.8 hectares at 411 Book Rd. W. for $2.8 million through their corporation, Book Shaver Developments Limited, CBC Hamilton found through corporate and property records.

With the Hamilton purchase, De Gasperis is set to benefit from four of the 15 sites removed from the Greenbelt, owning multiple properties in Pickering, Richmond Hill and Vaughan, as CBC Toronto has previously reported. Two of those sites are the largest of the 15. Eisenberger has also invested in the Richmond Hill and Vaughan developments, and has been buying up other properties on Book Road in recent years.

Both developers build detached homes and townhomes throughout the Toronto area.

When they purchased the 411 Book Rd. W. property in Hamilton, it was in the middle of over 728 hectares of protected Greenbelt land, known as the Book Road land, where rolling prime agricultural land is interlaced with wetlands and forests. 

Less than a month later, on Nov. 3, the province informed property owners and developers that it was proposing to remove the Book Road land and 14 other sites from the Greenbelt, significantly increasing the land value. The province informed the public a day later.

Coun. Craig Cassar, who represents the area, said the developers' purchase of 411 Book Rd. W. points to the idea that the developers knew of the Ontario government's plans ahead of time. 

"It is hard to conclude anything other than they were working with the provincial government in a very non-transparent way," Cassar said. 

Sale date 'pure coincidence': developer's office

Tacc Developments executive assistant Sandra Galassi said it is "pure coincidence" the closing date of Oct. 6 fell between the unnamed developer's request and when the lands were removed.

She said the property was listed for sale earlier that summer and a Tacc project manager presented the owner with an offer. 

When asked if the company knew the Greenbelt land would become available for development, Galassi didn't respond directly.  

"Tacc is a passive investor in many land deals across the GTA and beyond," she said.

Developers have bought up other pieces of the Book Road lands in recent years, despite them becoming part of the Greenbelt in 2016.

Leading up to the June 2022 provincial election, Eisenberger, De Gasperis and their family members donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Progressive Conservative Party and candidates, according to donor reports published with Elections Ontario. 

Around that time, in May 2022, De Gasperis, along with Weisz, invested in another property on Book Road. That property was originally purchased by Eisenberger in 2017. Neither Eisenberger nor Weisz responded to CBC's requests for comment.

Eisenberger recently purchased two other properties on Book Road — one last February and another in April — after the province removed them from the Greenbelt.

While the Book Road land is the largest site of the recent Greenbelt lands to be developed in the Hamilton region, there are four other sites in the area that have also been removed in Mount Hope and Grimsby.

The province has faced tough questions and backlash since Housing Minister Steve Clark and Premier Doug Ford announced the sites would be removed from the Greenbelt. 

CBC Toronto and other media outlets reported that for years, De Gasperis and his family have owned dozens of properties within Pickering's Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. Those 1,740 hectares comprise the largest site removed from the Greenbelt. The Book Road land is the second largest site. 

The De Gasperis family also owns land in Richmond Hill and Vaughan, which was also removed from the Greenbelt last year.

AG says land value could increase by $8B

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk investigated some aspects of the Greenbelt land swap and concluded in a damning report this month that developers influenced how the province selected the sites. 

"The process was biased in favour of certain developers and landowners who had timely access to the housing minister's chief of staff," Lysyk told reporters. 

As a result of this land being opened for housing, developers could see an $8-billion increase in its value, Lysyk found.

Clark's chief of staff, Ryan Amato, who resigned this week, led the initiative, says her report. 

At an industry event in September 2022, he received packages from two unnamed prominent developers, the auditor general found. They requested that land be removed from the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, to be developed by Tacc, and in King Township to be developed by another company, which purchased the land the day after the industry event.

Shortly after, one of those two developers then requested that the Book Road Lands be removed from the Greenbelt, along with two other sites owned by Tacc and companies linked to the De Gasperis family, the auditor's report says.

A 'terrible land use,' councillor says

Following the report's release, Ford told reporters he had only learned of the proposed Greenbelt changes the day before it went to cabinet for approval, while Clark said he learned of it the week before.

While Ford acknowledged the province could have had a better process in place to select the sites, he said opening up some of the Greenbelt land for development is necessary to meet its target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031 — an assertion others, including Hamilton city councillors and planning staff, have refuted.

The province has conditions that developers must meet — including building infrastructure and community amenities, supportive housing and long-term care homes — as part of their developments, Ford said. They also have to begin home construction by 2025. 

If those conditions are not met, the land would be returned to the Greenbelt, he said. 

Right now, the Office of Ontario's Provincial Land and Development Facilitator is reviewing the 15 sites, including those in Hamilton.

Hamilton city council has been adamantly opposed to the Greenbelt land swap, voting unanimously on Aug. 18 to demand the province abandon its plans.

Cassar said the Book Road lands are at "ground zero" in terms of services infrastructure and will likely take years to get ready for subdivisions.

Part of the site is also close to the Hamilton International Airport and the city has restricted housing in this area because of the noise. The auditor general found the province was not aware of this restriction when it removed it from the Greenbelt. 

"It's terrible land use for that to be made into housing, which is most certainly going to be low-density housing," Cassar said of the Book Road land. 

"That's not good for taxpayers, it's not good for the people who'd buy there and most of all, it's not going to help with affordable housing, which we most desperately need."