Galbraith will run for ward 1 again - has he earned the opportunity to be returned ?

By Pepper Parr

March 30th, 2022

BURLINGTON, ON

The pandemic certainly cut into meeting with people.

It wasn’t until I was part way through an interview with Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith that he mentioned he is never in city hall unless he is chair of the Standing Committee. Other than that he works from home.  The suggestion was that he might be able to sublet the space he has at city hall.

Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith during a Standing Committee meeting.

While Galbraith isn’t in the office all that much he is certainly busy enough with the development activity in his ward – which he now refers to as Ward 1 and not Aldershot – the Tyandaga people don’t like that name and the Maple people would rather be part of ward 2 – so for Galbraith – using the description ward 1 makes life a little less contentious.

I started out by asking Galbraith why he ran for office and how much of what he said he would do has actually been done. I followed that up by asking if he is running got another term.  He is.

He ran for office because he wasn’t happy with the kind of development that was taking place in the community.  He wanted to see more variation in the commercial space that was going to be in the ground floor of the developments popping up on Plains Road.

It took Galbraith some time to find a place in the community to meet with constituents. The Peach Cafe is where he is most comfortable.

He wanted space that had the duct work needed for restaurants in place and he wanted to see a larger variety of commercial operations.  The ward doesn’t have the supermarket choices he thinks the community needs.

The changes coming to Plains Road in the summer are significant and mark a distinct change that Galbraith thinks will get people out with their bikes.

The disappointing part of getting people on bikes is that Galbraith drives a gas guzzling pickup back and forth to city hall.  Optics on that one aren’t good.

Mayor Meed Ward and ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith are the co-chairs of the Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force.

There was a point during this first term where Galbraith appeared to be almost joined at the hip to Mayor Meed Ward; some felt that he should be a little more independent.  Galbraith points out that he has voted differently than the Mayor on a lot of the motions.  When Mayor Meed Ward drafted Galbraith the the Red Tape Red Carpet Task  Task Force she said she needed someone who understood what the commercial and development people were having problems with.

Kelvin is often uncomfortable with the pace at which business gets done at Council meetings.  He is a much more get on with it kind of guy – talking just so he can hear himself isn’t his style.

Galbraith made the point that many people think all the development is taking place in ward 2 – in the downtown core.  He passed along a list of the development applications taking place in his ward and suggests he might have at least as many.

Pending Applications

• Adi Development Group – 1120 Cooke Blvd
• Camarro Developments Inc. – 1062-1074 Cooke Blvd.
• Coletara Development – 1010 Downsview Dr. and 355 Plains Rd. E.
• King Paving & Construction Ltd. – 291 North Service Rd.
• Molinaro Group – 1134-1167 Plains Rd. E.

Amendment Applications

• 1511 Old Plains Road West Inc. – 1497, 1499, 1505 and 1511 Old Plains Road West
• 1600 Kerns Rd
• 284 Plains Road Development Inc – 284-292 Plains Rd E.
• Chelten Developments Inc. – 92 Plains Rd E.
• Eagle Heights – Flatt Road and Waterdown Rd.
• Georgian Court Redevelopment – 610 Surrey Lane
• Infinity Development Group – 40-70 Plains Rd. E.
• Infinity Development Group – 1029-1033 Waterdown Rd.
• National Homes (Plains) Inc. – 484-490 Plains Road E.
• Penta Properties -1200 King Rd.
• Vrancor Group – 53-71 Plains Rd. E and 1025 Cooke Boulevard

Applications in Other Stages of Development

1085 Clearview Ave.

1157-1171 North Shore Blvd

1371975 Ontario Inc. (Markay Homes) – 1167 Bellview Cres.

Adi Development Group – 101 Masonry Crt

Aldershot Properties Inc. – 35 Plains Rd

Fellowship Canadian Reformed Church – 1350 Waterdown Rd

Markay Homes – 1159 Bellview Crescent

National Homes (Brant) Inc. – 2100 Brant St

Urban Solutions – 539 King Forest Court

Where Galbraith differs from ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns is the way he interacts with his constituents.  He hasn’t held a meeting for the past two years – saying that Covid19 didn’t make meetings possible.  Kearns found a way to hold both live meetings that were also virtual.  It worked quite well.

Kelvin Galbraith talks to constituents in a coffee shop. He has yet to hold a community wide meeting that is live.

In terms of his retail politicking – Galbraith has some distance to go.  He is approachable – but you have to approach him.  He is not a glad handler.

His focus is business and he is very much in tune with the development community pointing to several developments where he believes he solved a lot pf problems that were created by community involvement.

National Homes Development on Brant – sold out in weeks.

The 2100 Brant National Homes development that is now underway was a mess.  Getting it through the various community development and  Statutory meeting stages was a challenge.

Galbraith now finds that the problems are with the city engineering department and other departments.

What surprised Galbraith was that National Homes, the 2100 Brant developers, tore down the sales office that was set up on the site.  All the homes were sold in a two week period – which points to just how significant the demand for housing is in the city.  Galbraith can’t get them approved and at the shovels in the ground fast enough.

Part two: What Galbraith wants to achieve in a second term if he is returned to office.  Coming soon