By Staff
November 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Inaria Burlington Inc. – 2030 Caroline Street
This should come as no surprise.
Originally the understanding was that this would be a six to eight storey structure with medical offices.
The city decided on November 4th, 2024 to not approve the planned development applications submitted for an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment for a 28-storey mixed use building with 302 residential units and a 6-storey above grade parking structure with a green roof adjacent to an existing 17-storey residential building bounded by Caroline Street, Elizabeth Street, Maria Street, and John Street.
The city advises that the developer has filed an Appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal.
No details yet on the specifics.
The Committee of the Whole, in accordance with the Planning Act, held Public Meeting No. 14-24 on November 5, 2024, regarding the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments for 2030 Caroline Street. Having considered the oral and written comments received from staff and the public, the Committee of the Whole approved the recommendation contained in the community planning department report which was to not approve tehe application
Councillor Kearns moved that the City:
Refuse the applications for Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment submitted by Inaria Burlington Inc. proposing a 28-storey mixed use building and 6-storey above grade parking structure with a green roof at 2030 Caroline Street.
IN FAVOUR: (6) Mayor Meed Ward, Councillor Galbraith, Councillor Kearns, Councillor Nisan, Councillor Stolte, and Councillor Bentivegna
OPPOSED: (1) Councillor Sharman
This decision was made at the Standing Committee level. It then went to council the following day where the Standing Committee recommendation was voted on by Council.
I attended that Committee of the Whole meeting on November 5th, and it does come as a surprise that Inaria Burlington is appealing the City’s refusal of their application. Halton Conservation was clearly not supportive of the developer’s abatement plan from flooding by Rambo Creek, and if anyone can halt a development in it’s tracks, it’s them. And that was only one of a dozen major problems ably listed by Lisa Kearns (and subsequently ignored by Paul Sharman).
Our downtown looks like the worst of Toronto, the Council has ruined it. Check out Oakville Lakeshore Road…not a single ugly high rise.
Condo sales are down 81%. Immigration levels are being cut. Everywhere you look in Burlington there are high rise condo units that sit empty. All the ground floor units that, purportedly, are available for commercial/retail space, sit empty. The commercial real estate vacancy rate sits at 22.5%.
High rise condos are not what new home buyers want or need. You can’t raise kids in a 400 sq. ft. one bedroom unit. So why are developers fixated on building stuff people don’t want? Probably because they are too stupid and too intransigent to pivot and adapt their business models to meet changing market realities.
https://www.google.com/search?q=condo+developers+going+bankrupt&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA999CA999&oq=condo+developers+going+bankrupt&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTY5OTdqMGoxNagCBrACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:65949f98,vid:V8V0X6r4Ylc,st:0
Downtown Burlington is a ghost town, a traffic nightmare, and retail dessert. The only redeeming thing about it is the Christmas light display at Spencer Smith Park. Projects like 2030 Caroline won’t enhance or improve the neighbourhood one scintilla.
Thank Goodness for Councillor Paul Sharman.
He’s never afraid to swim against NIMBY’s. We need more downtown multi-unit housing. We need density. Project makes complete sense.
Sharman gets most of his election campaign funding from developers. I’m sure they’d agree with you. Maybe you are one …
The medical centre that was promised over a decade ago for the site along with necessary parking structure would have benefited downtown residents. As would the original plan for some affordable units on the first boring tower, all reneged on. This project has been a disaster, a mess and an eyesore for years imo. This isn’t the type of housing people are wanting – I mean actually families, not investors. See Toronto and their “condo ghost town” they’re now dealing with.
I totally disagree!!
The Burlington Downtown area that residents once loved and enjoyed visiting has rapidly disappeared right before our eyes. Most of the shops are now gone and we have lost a huge amount of our beautiful “Window to the Lake” views.
Very sad and all of the charm it once had is gone forever!!
We do not need or want anymore high rise buildings in the downtown core.