The city wants to block the province from developing environmentally sensitive lands near the Eramosa Karst.

The city’s planning committee voted yesterday to designate and preserve the lands near the karst as open space — a move that pits the city against a provincial report saying developing the land won’t damage the area.

“The fact of the matter is that the development of this land, we believe, will damage the karst,” said Councillor Brad Clark. “It’s one of three rare karst formations in the province, and it’s very unique.”

The Ontario Realty Corporation, the agency that handles the province’s real estate, wants to sell 36 hectares east of the conservation area for development.

But opponents say these lands include streams that feed underground geological features of the karst.

“If you don’t have the water flowing to the karst, you don’t have a karst. It’s that simple,” Clark said.

An environmental assessment study released by the ORC in January said there are no environmental reasons to stop homes being built on feeder land next to the Eramosa Karst Conservation Area.

The city has requested further review of this decision.

The Eramosa Karst — a patch of land in Stoney Creek formed when rain seeped through soil to the underground rock bed — was discovered in the late 1990s. The province handed over the karst land to the Hamilton Conservation Authority in 2006 after recognizing it was provincially significant.

It was previously designated for development.