Do you want Burlington’s waterfront turned into tower alley? If no, join the campaign to Save our Waterfront. Click herel
The city’s official plan allows for two development options in the Old Lakeshore Road precinct, between Pearl and Torrance: those options are for 6-10 storey towers, or even worse, 8-15 storey towers. The area currently has 1-2 storey buildings, including 11 heritage properties – all but one of which would be lost under the second option.
See the video for details.
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.
Read More
There are ways to make people feel totally disengaged from community planning consultations, and intentionally or not, this happens too frequently.
Case in point: Last week Burlington city councillors approved plans to redevelop the aging Appleby Mall in the city’s east end into a series of standalone buildings. The mall is used regularly by seniors, especially in winter months, who use the indoor corridors as walking and community gathering spaces. This recreational use will be seriously compromised by the standalone replacements.
It’s the exact campaign the residents of Don Mills mounted in 2006 against the bulldozing of their indoor mall in favour of the new, outdoor Shops at Don Mills, that earned critical approval in the 416 but hasn’t exactly quieted the anger of its neighbourhood.
The Burlington “demalling” was approved despite extensive input from local residents, including a petition with hundreds of signatures.
The property owners said the current mall setup wasn’t working, and indeed there were many empty stores in the mall. Further, demalling is part of the “big box” development trend, with store owners requesting larger footprints than can be accommodated in a typical mall.
Residents are not insensitive to these economic pressures, nor are they opposed to redevelopment. As one resident poignantly, but ultimately fruitlessly, pleaded at the meeting: “We want something that is fair to residents, council, (store) tenants and the developer.” Read More
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
Halton has one homeless person. One that’s visible, anyhow. I saw him last week, about a block from our home in downtown Burlington, wearing a worn plaid jacket and pushing what looks like a jogging stroller filled with his things.
Poverty in Burlington? The fourth best place to live in Canada, according to this month’s MoneySense survey. One of the wealthiest cities in Ontario — where our average income of $111,307 tops Toronto’s ($87,823), and Hamilton’s ($77,009). Say it ain’t so.
It’s hard to convince people it is so. And it’s our mothers and grandmothers who largely bear the brunt of poverty, a shameful fact to think about on Mother’s Day, when we pause to celebrate the contributions of women in our lives.
According to tabulations from Community Development Halton (CDH), based on Statistics Canada’s 2006 census, female lone-parent families have the highest rate of poverty, after recent immigrants. In Halton (which covers Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills), 22% of single mothers with children live at or below the low income level. In Burlington and Oakville the rate is higher — a shocking one in four. Read More
It’s not every day I’m called a loser on welfare who doesn’t pay tax, and need an escort to my van, amid angry catcalls. But such are the theatrics of public meetings when land use issues are at stake.
Expect the fireworks to continue.
Halton Region is currently holding public consultations on its Sustainable Halton Growth Management Strategy — its “plan” to fit 780,000 people into the region in the next 20 years, almost double the current population.
The region has had four public consultations — in Burlington, Oakville and Halton Hills last week, and Milton a week earlier — with a public workshop this Thursday, and a vote on the strategy May 27.
I attended the Burlington meeting. The shouting started when I said the growth strategy included ever-shifting urban boundaries, which are certain to eat into prime agricultural land.
The shouting continued when I said it’s well known that development does not pay for itself. Development fees and the new property tax base don’t come near paying for all the things a thriving community needs — hospitals, schools and transportation networks, to name a few, which are already overcrowded, underfunded and struggling to serve the needs of Halton’s current population.
Thus, price and tax increases are inevitable, pricing seniors and young families out of our community. Read More
If they put Lululemon in your downtown, would you visit?
City planners and business associations are asking questions like that, namely what mix of shops and services will entice people downtown.
I found it heartening to learn that my own city, in conjunction with the local business association, is in the final stages of a study to find out what mix of businesses we need, then develop a plan to go after them.
This is good news to residents like me who fear our downtown is being carved up willy-nilly, with no overall plan for what is needed or wanted. It’s nice to know that some smart people are on the hunt for signature stores.
Some call this the Starbucks factor. You know an area is on the verge of renewal when the high-end coffee seller sets up shop, as they did in downtown Burlington recently.
“Starbucks is our gateway,” says Brian Dean, general manager of the Burlington Downtown Business Association. “It’s a bellwether store. It raises expectations” about the other stores you’ll find in the district.
You need a few of these bellwethers — Lululemon is another — to anchor a downtown, without turning it into an outdoor mall of national chains. That’s the kiss of death for downtowns, which almost by definition are the “anti-malls,” to use Dean’s word. Read More
As teenager, I wouldn’t have dreamed of spending my limited cash on something so mundane as bottled water.
I could get water free, from fountains, taps, and restaurants. It never made sense to pay for it. Plus, forgoing bottled water left more money in my pocket for really important things, like another shade of lip gloss — which did more for my fashion statement than carrying a bottle of Evian.
Today, I have different reasons for avoiding bottled water, but the cost savings will always be a bonus. I was thinking of these reasons during Earth Week last week, as I listened to the ongoing debate in our community, and our country, over bottled water.
The push is on to encourage people to stop buying bottled water, and to ban its sale from municipal buildings and events, schools and universities.
Both the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario are urging cities to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water at their own facilities. To date, 28 municipalities from six provinces have voted to restrict bottled water, and several more — Toronto, Oakville and, this past week, Burlington — are considering proposals to do so.
Another 21 universities and colleges have established bottled-water-free zones, and several school boards — including Halton District just this month — are considering a bottled water ban. The conversation and debate is bubbling.
So why is bottled water a problem? Read More
