Those development projects: How many are there and where are they going to be built? Will they ever be built?

News 100 redBy Staff

December 6th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

During the election mention was made regularly that there were 30 development applications being processed by the Planning department.

Several of the either retired or defeated members of the 2014-2018 city council didn’t confirm that number.

MMW Mike and Goldring 2

TVO debate – Then Mayor Goldring was less than impressed.

When Mayor Meed Ward was debating on TV Ontario with the other three candidates she pulled out a map she had showing just where those developments were located.

One of the prime election issues was what Meed Ward called over-development. The other was the very poor public engagement on the part of senior people at city hall.

The firing of the city manager underlined just how unhappy people were with the way they were being treated.
Days after being elected the city manager went on holiday, hours after being sworn in City Council met and the man was fired.

high profile 421

Approved – but a building permit has yet to be issued. City council might un-delegate site plan approval and manage that process itself

nautique-elevation-from-city-july-2016

The OMB didn’t buy the city’s argument against the ADI development – it has a green light.

409 Brant image

This development on the south eat corner of Brant and James is before the Land Planning Appeal Tribunal.

With close to two years left on what is believed to be a five year contract the city is facing a whopping settlement – thought to be close to half a million dollars.   The price of progress.

City Council is going to take the balance of the month to think about what they want in the way of a city manager – early in January the search for a replacement will begin.

There is a lot of thinking for those five people who are completely new to municipal politics. We are going to see what they are made of very quickly.  No pressure.

In the meantime – what about those development project? Where they and what are they?
The map set out below tells you where they are. Now to learn just what they are.

Development project Dec 2018

Development projects set out by ward. They aren’t in just the downtown core.

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6 comments to Those development projects: How many are there and where are they going to be built? Will they ever be built?

  • Lucy

    The current development projects can be accessed here on the city site. Numbers given are as of today, Dec. 6, 2018. They are different than when I checked them in the summer. There were none archived at that time…guess, they have updated since then. Busy, busy, busy times for our city.

    https://www.burlington.ca/en/services-for-you/current-development-projects.asp

    Ward 1…10 projects, 6 archived
    Ward 2…6 projects, 7 archived
    Ward 3…1 project, 0 archived
    Ward 4…4 projects, 3 archived
    Ward 5…4 projects, 3 archived
    Ward 6…4 projects, 5 archived

  • Steve D

    How about a, manager, and city council, that won’t allow the bulldozing, and displacement, of an entire community so that very high density units can be jammed in its place? I know it will be, profitable and beneficial, for the developer……not so much……for the city.

  • Susie

    From what I see there is a lot to be drastically downsized to meet any type of proper design for the downtown. Per the diagram above, the 7 red circles amassed near Lakeshore needs serious thought! Two monstrosities were given approval “Bridgewater and Nautique” to move to the extremes of outward and upward! The two red circles, Lakeshore/Brant (the opening to the Lake from the beauty of our downtown area, needs strict low height regulations going forward. If each red circle is a development of some sort, I am counting 51 red circles and I am surmising that is just a pittance of the influx we are yet to be presented with.

    • Brian Paulson

      This is a map from the City’s website with 51 dots, each representing a current development application as found on the City’s website.

      It is important to note that these applications run a full gammit of types of developments and stages of application. They include developments low-rise single detached homes, commercial buildings and hi-rise mixed use. Some have been sitting in the pipeline for many years with no activity (Eagle Ridge in Ward 1 since 2004 for example). Others are already approved (Adi in Alton) or well under construction (Bridgewater).

      I believe that the map the MMW used (on the Agenda and during debates) was the concept plan for the downtown mobility hub. This is a concept showing 30 possible tall buildings that could possibly, maybe, perhaps, be built over the next 20, 30 or 40 years. However, as some have noted in other postings, this does show buildings not likely to come to fruition, such as; in the middle of village square and at the Bell transfer station at Caroline and Brant.

      This concept by the City’s consultant is not a true representation of what is happening, however, unfortunately, is has been represented as what is actually happening and in the books.

      Take a good look at the 51 applications available on the City’s website to get a better understanding of those development projects, how many there are, where are they proposed to be built and at what stages of development they are in. I think you will find that development is not as rampant in Burlington as some may lead you to believe.

      Editor’s note:

      A Gazette reader provided the following:
      Ward 1…10 projects, 6 archived
      Ward 2…6 projects, 7 archived
      Ward 3…1 project, 0 archived
      Ward 4…4 projects, 3 archived
      Ward 5…4 projects, 3 archived
      Ward 6…4 projects, 5 archived

      Paulson is using the deny and deflect approach.

      • Brian Paulson

        There may be deny and deflect happening, but not on my part.

        As stated in the article: “When Mayor Meed Ward was debating on TV Ontario with the other three candidates she pulled out a map she had showing just where those developments were located.”

        Watch the clip here and go to the 1:25 mark where MMW pulls out the map;
        https://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/burlingtons-mayoral-race
        She is showing the conceptual map from the downtown mobility hub report, as she did at the mayoral debates. This is different from the map in the article.

        Here is the transcript from that section of the clip;

        “Marianne shows a map of the city on paper and says
        THIS IS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT
        ACROSS THE CITY BUT PARTICULARLY
        DOWNTOWN.
        SO THIS IS THE MAP OF MY
        DOG-EARED COPY HERE.
        30 MORE HIGH-RISES IN THE
        DOWNTOWN CORE THAT HAS BEEN
        APPROVED 6-1 BY THE CURRENT
        COUNCIL.
        WE DIDN’T HAVE TO.

        MMW is talking about downtown and the way she words it makes it sound like 30 hi-rises have been approved in the downtown. What she is in fact talking about is that council voted 6-1 approving the Official Plan that included a downtown mobility hub and she is using the conceptual model in the report for the downtown mobility hub hat shows about 30 buildings that are taller than 12 storeys. Again, this is a concept by the City’s consultant. Could 30 applications come in? Possibly, maybe, perhaps, but this is not the current status and most likely wouldn’t be for quite some time.

        Since MMW was talking about the downtown mobility hub, let’s have a look at the current developments listed on the City’s website. Ward 2 has 6 current developments listed and 7 in the archived section.

        Of the 6 listed 3 are in the downtown mobility hub, all being hi-rise. These appear to be active applications either under appeal, just having received appeal decision or some other stage. These applications date from 2014 to the present.

        Of the 7 archived applications, 5 are within the mobility hub, of which 4 are hi-rises. All 5 have approvals, are past the appeal timeline, are about to start construction or are well underway, with some near completion. These date from at least 2010 (the Bridgewater goes back further) to present.

        So how many? Downtown has 1 mid-rise and 7 hi-rise applications, and those range from under review to appeal to nearly completed buildings. For Ward 2, 13 total, but only 6 are active applications. Citywide the count is 53, with 29 being active.

        There is no denying or deflecting that the article refers to MMW on the Agenda, where she shows the Mobility Hub and refers to 30 more hi-rises in downtown, and then the article shows a citywide map with 53 dots of developments in various stages. Makes no wonder people are confused on these numbers. They are being misinformed and do not understand this.

        Editor’s note:
        The map the Gazette used came from the city’s web site. It is indeed a confusing situation. Better access to city staff would resolve some of the problem,