“you never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”: Beachway home sold for $600,000

By Pepper Parr

January 16, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Many readers will recognize the headline – the phrase comes from the iconic rock song, Big Yellow Taxi, and its haunting lament “you never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.

Beachway – once a small community of more than 150 homes with its own services has been whittled down to 30 homes – each has a date with a wrecking ball.

The Beachway Community is may not seem like “paradise” to some; one unsuccessful candidate in the recent municipal election was appalled at the thought that people would live and raise families there. Councillor Blair Lancaster once told her colleagues that when she was a young lady “nice girls” didn’t go to that part of the city”.

Putting aside this rather smug arrogance, the Beachway residents are a long-standing and resilient culture within Burlington and the Halton Regional Government has, at least in part, elected to take away their homes and “put up a parking lot”. Over time, the community, which has existed for over 100 years, will eventually be demolished.

The Beachway residents fought hard in 2013 to be allowed to stay and co-exist with the expanded Beachway Park. They observed then that they have never prevented the public from accessing the beach nor posed a threat to the shoreline.

The Burlington Waterfront Committee (BWC) took up their cause and, in a campaign that lasted from Spring through Fall of 2013, argued that the residents should be left alone. A survey conducted by the BWC in the Summer of 2013 showed that 82% of Burlington respondents agreed. However, only three Councillors in Burlington ( Meed Ward, Dennison and Taylor) were of like mind; the other four members of Council voted for acquisition of the properties. As a result, Burlington took a divided voice to the Region in October 2013 and lost the vote – a local community was earmarked for destruction.

These homes on the lake side of LAkeshore Court, neat and well kept, will meet their fate with a backhoe if the Region manages to buy all of them.

The Beachway is in ward 1 – Councillor Craven provided absolutely no support to that community during the debate. He wants to see every house razed and a park created. Craven’s rationale is that speculators and developers will buy up the properties and in time there will be nothing but condominiums in that part of town

There has been no love lost between the current Beachway community and the ward Councillor. On one occasion he felt his personal safety was at risk and asked someone to escort him to his car which was parked 25 yards away.

The BWC sees the razing of homes in the Beachway as an unnecessary loss of community. But it was a done deal. The Region would buy up the homes on a willing buyer/willing seller basis and over time they would eventually own all 30 properties and Burlington would get another park. That’s where things were left.

The Region sort of budgeted $330,000 per home. The BWC wants to now question the associated economics and business case with the benefit of new information.

Laura Gillespie points out the part of the Beachway that affects her the most – the spot where her house is located.

Readers may or may not be familiar with all aspects of the planned purchase of all 30 houses in the Beachway community by the Region. The purpose of the acquisition is ostensibly to add another 3% of land to the Regional Beachway Park. The BWC concern is at what cost and to what end use? The houses will be demolished, as acquired, and the properties will be restored as natural land (foundations, pavement, septic tanks/beds and any other contaminants removed. The Region has estimated the cost of the property acquisition alone to be $10 million or an average of over $330,000 per home. Significantly, the costs of restoration, which will be considerable, have not been estimated.

Sold for $600,000 to the Region, current owner gets to live in the house for two more years.

Now we have learned that the first domino in the property purchase game has fallen. It is 1011 Lakeshore Road, a property on the west (non-shore) side just south of the Sewage Treatment plant. The cost to regional taxpayers is well over $600,000. It is early in the game and one home sale does not represent a pattern. It does, however, provide a reason for concern and caution. If each house (on both the shore and non-shore side) was valued with this cost as an average, the total cost just to purchase all of the houses could be over $18 million or nearly twice the estimate given to taxpayers. If the costs of restoration are then factored in to the total, the cost becomes far, far greater.

Whether or not this is good value for taxpayers is subject to debate and interpretation. Our point is that the debate has never occurred and, given a decision made with a completely different set of cost metrics, may never occur.
Are there other projects in the Region that have better value, that exhibit a better cost/benefit ratio for our tax dollars? Quite possibly and, of course, “value” is largely determined by the use to which these resources are put. This leads to the second major issue, our “parking lot”.

Parking in the Beachway is currently on what is referred to as a “dynamic beach – on the lake side of Lakeshore Road. The intention appears to be to spend million to buy up homes on the west side, tear them down and make that space a parking lot.

The BWC asks: “What is the plan once the Beachway homes are all demolished over time?” The Region’s “Park Plan” is not complete they advise, “so we only have the latest “Burlington Beach Regional Waterfront Park Master Plan” to go by.

What hasn’t been made all that well known is that Burlington’s Parks and Recreation department has a small team working away on early design plans.

No word yet on when they will show what they have come up with to the public. We don’t know if there are “professional park designers” involved either.

Under the list of elements that the park zone is envisioned to include there is a proposal to “relocate parking from the dynamic beach to parking in less sensitive areas”. Significantly, the only “less sensitive areas” in the park are on the west side of Lakeshore Road where the one rectangle of fifteen (15) houses exists today.

Another section of the Plan notes that “with the entire beach area as parkland” this “allows for expansion of existing parking capacity west of Lakeshore Rd. & Lakeshore Court.”. This makes it reasonably clear that the fifteen (15) houses on the west side of Lakeshore Road are to be purchased and demolished for a parking lot. Did someone just hear the screen door slam?

Based on our estimates, said the BWC, buying half the houses, tearing them down, cleaning up the mess and paving it over, will give residents a parking lot that could cost over $10 million of taxpayer money. Arguably, it would be the most expensive parking lot in Burlington – we are getting into Brant Street Pier pricing here.

The proposal to move parking away from the dynamic beach area would suggest these lands would not be parking areas but possibly naturalized areas of grass. Still, at a possible total cost of twice the initial estimate, is the original decision still valid and is all this destruction both warranted and cost-effective for the citizens of the region?

At the very least, the first business case needs to be re-examined with a new and more critical set of eyes. As such, we would ask concerned citizens to communicate with the City and the Region to encourage a proper cost benefit analysis be undertaken, to advocate that it include all relevant costs and to ensure that both City and Region commit to a process of extensive public engagement and awareness once the true costs are known.

Councillor Craven inspecting the Pump House on the Beachway – thinks the place could serve as the Official Residence for the Ward Councillor.  When his vision of the Beachway is complete – it may be the only structure left standing.

Take it as a given that Councillor Craven keeps himself fully briefed – he has always made a point of creating and maintaining strong relationships with staff.

Take it as a given as well that Councillor Craven is not going to share what he knows unless he absolutely has to – and even then – you won’t get the full picture.

The Burlington Waterfront Committee meets regularly, usually on the second Wednesday of each month – check their web site