Residents hammer the plans for the redevelopment of the east end Lakeshore Village Plaza plans.

News 100 redBy Staff

April 16th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The big news for the city last week was the delegations made at city hall on the proposed development plans for the plaza in the east end of the city that had fallen into disrepair and much in need of an upgrade.

There were 14 registered delegations at the required Statutory Public meeting with an additional 10 walk ons.

Lucy Belvedere set the tone that was heard throughout the evening when she said:

LVP aerial rendering

The proposed development.

“The Plaza isn’t in a major commercial area. Lakeshore Rd. isn’t a major road. It has less width than Guelph Line, Fairview St., New St. or Appleby Line. The proposed Official Plan Neighbourhood Centre Policy should be revised to distinguish between the smaller and larger properties given this designation. Halton Region doesn’t support this plaza proposal because this site isn’t in the regionally mapped Intensification area where such a density is generally supported.”

The proposed Neighbourhood Centre Policy applies to sites between 4 to 12 hectares. At 3.84 hectares, this Plaza falls under the minimum size. The new policy permits a reasonable 2 to 6 storey height. However, the floor area ratio established at 2.5:1 is far too much and unwarranted for this smaller site. That same floor area ratio is used in the Uptown Corridor, a Primary Growth Area.

Lucy B Stat meet

Lucy Belvedere

Further, variance applications can even increase this floor area ratio and allow a height of up to 11 storeys. But, the city has stated that Lakeshore Road, a minor arterial 30 meter road will never be widened. A max of six storeys with a reduced floor area ratio makes more sense. It sufficiently increases the existing OP policy for a Neighbourhood Commercial site under five hectares, with the CN1 zoning which permits 3 storeys, and a lesser floor area ratio. In contrast, Appleby Village is Community Commercial with a CC1 zoning because it is larger in size and has wider roads to serve it.

Accepting this proposal will permit many undesirable taller buildings and allow the unbelievable and incompatible 900 residential units, in addition to the expansive 14,655 square metres for commercial use. It is ludicrous, over-crowded and completely unsuited to its surrounding neighbourhood.

East-end Lakeshore has only 2 tall residential buildings: one, 19 storeys built in 1978; the other, 12 storeys built in 1983. The rest built since the 80’s have much less height. The average for all 12 buildings is 8 storeys, stretching across 900 metres; these are well spaced and surrounded by green open spaces. This sharply contrasts the claustrophobic concrete jungle created by this proposal. On the Plaza frontage, a mere 165 metres, it proposes 6 buildings, with 4 far exceeding the 6 storey limit.

They are presented as 2 massive structures separated by a dangerously narrow entrance and hide the other 5 buildings in the back. These unacceptable taller buildings, with such extreme density that can’t be justified and don’t enhance the streetscape. On such a small site, the proposed Policy variances are abused by this proposal.

Dana at Stat Meet

Dana Anderson, planner for the developer.

The developer’s lead planner has successfully pressured and swayed city planners through numerous meetings and delegations to the previous Council to form the Neighbourhood Centre Policy that favours this excessive density and height, absolutely impractical for our neighbourhood. Former Councillor Dennison called it “a Golden Egg in our basket of opportunities”.

Is money and greed to be the primary goal? The proposed policy illustrates the unprecedented influence of the project’s lead planner to shape the proposed Policy to clearly benefit her employer, the developer. It totally ignores residents’ legitimate concerns regarding increased traffic congestion, increased overflow traffic on neighbouring streets, and increased noise levels.

It will result in decreased safety for children and seniors, decreased air quality and decreased sky view. It threatens to jeopardize our present quality of life.

The 5 stage phasing locks us in an endless lengthy construction zone, a nightmare of noise, dirt, dust, and traffic tie-ups, estimated at 7 to 15 years, as I was told at the July Open House. What if the developer abandons these intense, complex plans mid-way and doesn’t complete the project? We could end up with a very unbalanced, unattractive plaza.

The developer is Joseph Popack, who has owned this property since 2001. This American billionaire developer, absentee owner, appears as #7 on the list of top 10 worst landlords in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn, New York where he owns over 3000 apartments. He has allowed Lakeside Plaza to deteriorate to its present inglorious state.

This over-intensification is ultimately meant to maximize his profits and represents his greed. He doesn’t care about our neighbourhood!

Please revise the Neighbourhood Centre Policy to distinguish between larger and smaller sites, to prevent future development proposals from ruining residential neighbourhoods similar to ours.

Jeremy skinner

Jeremy Skinner

Belvedere, a retired school teacher covered all the bases – those who followed her weren’t able to add all that much – except for Jeremy Skinner who has a penchant for getting into the weeds on any task he takes on.

We will report on his delegation later this week.

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3 comments to Residents hammer the plans for the redevelopment of the east end Lakeshore Village Plaza plans.

  • Alfred

    Stuart. Without being a little more specific, as to what ruined Aldershot. I’m having difficulty understanding what the problem is? I drive through there all the time. I usually take Northshore the area is stunning. The problem with nimby’s crying wolf too often is that people stop listening to them. From what I understand the LPAT upheld and allowed 20 townhouses to be built on Dynes rd. The City staff and council supported the application. The only dissenting vote was from our now new Mayor and the neighbors who had difficulty understanding the new rules for development. I would encourage nimby’s to read this decision as it is quite detailed. Does anyone who stands in judgement of these cases ever agree with her position. Who pays for all these lost appeals? Taxpayers?

  • Stuart J.

    Previous city councils have ruined aldershot. Please don’t allow east Burlington to mirror the mistakes in the west.

  • Tom Muir

    Great delegation Lucy – about as good as it can get in 10 minutes.

    Perfect mix of planning argument in expert style jargon:

    – reasoned based argument assessing the proposal and suggesting modifications that could fit the site and the city OP with acceptable amendments, and,

    – assessment of compatibility with both physical neighborhood and provincial planning and growth plan guidance, and

    – background of development style and respect for citizen opinions.

    Well done by all.

    I’m waiting to hear from Jeremy.