Freeman Station okayed for Spencer Smith waterfront park

March 4, 2010 – 3:34 pm

Do you want more development in Spencer Smith Park on Burlington’s downtown waterfront? City councillors voted 4-3 this week to put the old Freeman Train Station in the park. It will go near the foot of Brant and Lakeshore, at street level with lower level washrooms walking out to the park.

Now councillors want your feedback before the issue comes to a final vote at city council March 22, 7 pm, at City Hall.

Speak up for greenspace

I’ll personally be delegating to council against adding more development in Spencer Smith. If you’d like to add your support to my delegation please email me at mariannemeedward@bell.net (Your contact information will be kept confidential and you don’t need to attend or speak at the meeting).

Better alternatives

If we need washrooms in Spencer Smith, there are better locations than a prominent building on our main street. If we are going to preserve Freeman Station, there are more appropriate locations, including Ireland House Museum on Guelph Line, which is one of the options under consideration.

The museum already has an active educational and historical program for visitors and could incorporate the historic train station – maybe even display items related to Burlington’s rail history. This is a more relevant use for a heritage building than turning it into modern washrooms, and my delegation will ask councillors to support that option.

Residents speak

So what do you think? Email me at mariannemeedward@bell.net, or post a comment by clicking here.

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (24)

Advisory committee approved – hold on development discussed Feb. 8.

February 5, 2010 – 6:17 am

Members and supporters of Burlington Save Our Waterfront achieved a major victory for community engagement Monday, as city council unanimously passed the Burlington Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee. As soon as we get information on how you can apply to serve on this committee, we’ll post it here.

Hold on development discussed Feb. 8, 6:30 pm

Burlington Save our Waterfront supporters

More than 20 Save Our Waterfront supporters attended Monday’s council meeting. Michelle Bennett, a dedicated member of our organizing team, stood beside me as I presented to council our support of the advisory committee (full text of my delegation is below). We also asked for a hold on development in the Old Lakeshore Road area while the advisory committee consults with residents on a better plan for this key area of our waterfront.

To my pleasant surprise, Councillor John Taylor asked that discussion on the possibilities of a hold on development be added to the agenda for the next Community Development Committee meeting, Mon. Feb. 8 at 6:30 pm.

So, we’ll be back in chambers next week to hear that discussion, and invite you to join us.

Thank you!

After months of waiting, things are now beginning to move along quickly – thanks to you speaking up for our waterfront. Congratulations, and thanks for your support. We wouldn’t have come this far without you.

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Advisory committee clears first hurdle – final vote Feb. 1

January 25, 2010 – 12:15 pm

The advisory committee on the waterfront that you’ve been asking for since last fall has cleared its first hurdle: it received unanimous support at 10:45 pm on Jan. 18. That vote still needs to be ratified at council Feb. 1.

Join us Feb. 1, 6:45, City Hall lobby

Members of Save Our Waterfront will be at council Feb. 1, and we invite you to join us in the City Hall lobby at 6:45 before proceeding up to chambers at 7 pm. We thank all of you who attended the January meeting, and regret the vote came so late in the evening that many of you couldn’t stay to see it.

Your victory

The establishment of the advisory committee is your victory – though others will take credit for it. Without you calling and emailing your councillors and mayor to ask for community input on a better vision for the entire waterfront, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.

Waterfront not saved yet

Though the advisory committee is a significant step forward, the waterfront has not been saved. The Old Lakeshore Road area remains at risk of highrise development because of changes this council made in 2007 to increase the allowed height of buildings.

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We got our committee (!) – almost. Attend City Hall Jan. 18, 6:30 pm

January 16, 2010 – 7:57 am

It’s another win for the people! We’ve just learned that our request for a waterfront advisory committee is coming before the city’s Community Development Committee Monday, Jan. 18. This was a last minute addition to the agenda, after much behind the scenes negotiations in the wake of Tim Hortons’ withdrawal of its appeal to the [...]

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Victory! Tim Hortons backs off – but there’s a long road ahead

January 8, 2010 – 10:55 pm

You did it! As a member of the Save Our Waterfront movement, you’ve achieved a significant victory. We’ve just learned that Tim Hortons has withdrawn its appeal to exceed height limits of 15 storeys on the vacant waterfront lot east of Emma’s Back Porch in Burlington’s downtown. The Ontario Municipal Board hearing on this matter scheduled for Jan. 12-15 was cancelled after Tim Hortons unconditionally withdrew. That clears the way to set up the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Waterfront that we’ve been asking for.

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Waterfront advisory committee a go – with strings attached

December 19, 2009 – 12:01 pm

Save Our Waterfront got an early Christmas present, thanks to your many emails and phone calls to your elected representatives: agreement in principle to strike a Citizen’s Advisory Committee on the Waterfront. But it’s a present with significant strings attached.

You can read the details of the proposed committee below, developed after a series of meetings with two city councillors and two Save Our Waterfront representatives. We’ll need votes from two more councillors, but this is a step in the right direction. And, as always, we welcome your feedback (click to comment).

But a few days ago, we learned about the “strings” attached: when the councillors ran the proposed committee past the city’s lawyer, the advice was to delay its establishment until after a decision in the Ontario Municipal Board hearing on Tim Horton’s waterfront property. The councillors have elected to take this legal advice, and put the committee on hold.

You’ll know from our other posts that Tim Horton’s owns the vacant lot beside Emma’s Back Porch on Old Lakeshore Road and is challenging the city’s definition of a 10-storey building – they want to go higher.

We’ve been told the legal concern is that striking such an advisory committee on the waterfront could be seen as an admission that the city is uncomfortable with its own plans for the waterfront. The mere existence of the committee could be used against the city at the hearing.

That’s the argument, anyway. Save Our Waterfront, respectfully, disagrees. This turn of events represents an unnecessary – and potentially indefinite – delay in citizen consultation.

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Towers on the lake? A train station in the park? We can do better

November 27, 2009 – 3:50 pm

A small turnout greeted the downtown councilor and city staff for a public meeting this week to discuss waterfront development and traffic issues. We know residents care about these issues – more than a 100 people have attended each of our last 2 meetings – so what gives?
Two thoughts come to mind. First, the meeting [...]

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Towers on lake one step closer, but city prefers to shoot the messenger

October 15, 2009 – 12:53 pm

We’re one step closer to getting 10-storey buildings right along our shoreline, but instead of transparently presenting the facts about recent events and their own role in them, our elected representatives would prefer to shoot the messenger.
You’re being “misled”, our downtown councilor, Peter Thoem, recently told one of our supporters, when she contacted him to [...]

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City Council quietly removes shoreline protection

September 19, 2009 – 11:52 pm

Most of us have assumed that the heritage buildings along Burlington’s waterfront on the south side of Old Lakeshore Road are protected from destruction and development, because of shoreline setbacks, inside of which no development can take place. But we’re wrong – city council quietly removed the shoreline protection. Even worse, the owner of the empty lot beside Emma’s Back Porch – Tim Hortons (TDL) – is appealing just about all the limits on development in this area.


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City’s waterfront info leaves you in the dark

August 26, 2009 – 9:22 am

Because you’ve made Burlington’s waterfront plan an issue, the campaign is starting to influence City Hall. The city issued a “Vision for Old Lakeshore Road” and a press release in which the downtown councillor calls highrise buildings that destroy heritage in the area – in exchange for a one-block waterfront path – “reasonable and careful” development.

But until they are more transparent about the plan’s details and implications, we have much to do.

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By Marianne Meed Ward | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (16)