Those of us protesting towers up to 15 storeys on our waterfront have been led to believe our city council’s hands are tied – those heights are already allowed in the Official Plan. We’re also told provincial Places to Grow legislation mandates “intensification” in urban growth centres, which includes the downtown.
So imagine my surprise when I learned that our current city councilors were the ones who passed the most recent Official Plan, and actually increased the allowed height of buildings in that area from 7 storeys to up to 15.
In 2008, our current council passed a revised Official Plan for the Old Lakeshore Road precinct on the waterfront. Under the old plan, the maximum height was 22 metres – 7-8 storeys. Under the new plan, described in the guidelines that many of us protested last week, the maximum heights increased to 10 storeys in the west section (6 in the east), with the option to go to 15 storeys (8 in the east).
That information came from Bruce Krushelnicki, the city’s director of planning, who spent almost two hours with me today (which I appreciate) giving me helpful background information.
The upshot: this council can’t blame the Official Plan for tying their hands on saving our waterfront from towers, when this council passed that plan themselves.
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Parks attached to schools in Burlington are one step closer to being protected thanks to years of efforts by local residents Amy Schnurr, Ken Woodruff and Kurt Koster. Those efforts culminated in a unanimous vote by city council in June to send a resolution to the Ministry of Education asking for changes in the rules surrounding sale of school lands when a school closes.
Provincial regulation 444/98 requires schools to sell land attached to schools that have been closed at “fair market value.” The proceeds then fund new schools in growing areas.
However, that requirement makes school land too expensive for municipalities. The land is usually snapped up by developers and paved over with housing. Burlington alone has lost 10 schools and 86% of associated land to development. This scenario is being repeated across Ontario. Read More »
Burlington is under tremendous pressure from population growth. Residents have seen schools, shops and parks disappear, replaced by houses and apartments.
Urban sprawl and highways are carving up farms and greenspace. Our waterfront is threatening to become tower alley. Our city has more traffic – and more air pollution. Our taxes are going up.
You wonder: What can be done?
A lot – when we work together. As a columnist covering the “905″ region for the Toronto Sun, and a downtown resident with my husband and three children, I’ve written about and lived through many of these changes, too.
Like you, I’ve seen a lot of reasons for community “disengagement.” Read More »
Ondrea Crockett
Ondrea Crockett describes her shop in downtown Burlington’s Village Square as “upcycled” vintage furniture. A new spin on the recycling trend, these are restored treasures found at garage sales, antique shops and elsewhere, repaired and repainted. I’ve got two pieces – restored book cases – and they always get raves.
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(originally published in the Toronto Sun)
How do you curb sprawl when your population is growing like wildfire? That’s the question before residents, politicians and planners in the Golden Horseshoe.
The short answer is to put more people in less space, and build on already developed areas rather than on greenfields. That was the intent of the 2006 Places to Grow — Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The plan sets population and employment density targets cities must achieve to manage growth and curb sprawl — that nasty spread of low-density subdivisions and big-box commercial developments from urban centres onto precious farmland.
The province set a deadline of June 16 this year for Ontario municipalities to change their official plans to show how they will meet these targets and accommodate growth. Halton region alone will almost double in population and employment between now and 2031, from 448,000 people to 780,000, and from 233,000 jobs to 390,000.
Places to Grow mandates that by 2015 and thereafter, 40% of this population and employment growth must occur in built up areas. Those areas include urban growth centres as well as greenfield developments, each with their own density targets. Read More »
