By Pepper Parr
June 18th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
It was a solid exchange of views between the Chief Executive Officer of the West End Home Builders Association and members of Burlington’s city council.
Mayor Meed Ward
Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns
Mike Collins–Williams was opposed to the shifting of the Urban Growth Centre boundaries to well north of the downtown core up to the Burlington GO station where there are plans for significant development.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward had gotten what she wanted and took exception to Collins–Williams suggesting that downtown had been sterilized when the boundary was moved.
Councillor Nisan termed the use of the word sterilize as disgusting, inappropriate and “inflammatory”.
The construction cranes are in place – the building will rise floor by floor in the months ahead.
Construction is underway.
It didn’t get any better for Collins-Williams when Councillor Kearns asked him to explain what it was that the home builders association wanted that city policies were not giving them. She followed this up by asking: “What might we be missing that the policies in place do not address?”
The debate was part of a Statutory meeting taking place at Regional Council last Wednesday.
The debate at the Region was never the kind of debate that took place at Burlington city hall between 2010 and 2018. The stark differences between the interests of the developers and the intentions of the current council was laid bare. It was the driving issue in the 2018 election and the voters liked what Meed Ward was offering better than what either Rick Goldring or Mike Wallace had put on the table.
Someone paid a third party advertiser to do what they could to influence the views of the voters – it didn’t work.
The debate heard on Wednesday was never heard in Burlington’s Council chambers in previous Statutory meeting occasions.
When the then Golding council approved the Carriage Gate development that would put a 26 storey tower opposite city hall the then city manager is reported to have gotten up to shake hands with the developer.
If the developers get their way there won’t be much park space for the public in that football shaped property. There are three developments working their way through the planning process.
The development opportunities on Brant Street south of Caroline are exceptional, as are those in the football between Lakeshore and Old Lakeshore Road where there are a number of developments working their way through the planning process (clogged up at LPAT hearings at the moment) that will result in a significantly different Burlington if they get built.
Development in Burlington is focused on profit, not on the creation of community. The building of high rise condominiums changes the scale, scope and streetscape, which determines how people relate to the community.
There is little in the way of input from the people who are going to live with the buildings. The condominium going up opposite city hall is built right out to the property line and soars straight up for 26 floors.
Some developers do create designs that embrace the street. The Molinaro group has a development that puts two towers on either side of Brant Street at Ghent, that have slight curves, which leave the impression the buildings are communicating with each other. If built they will become the gateway out of the downtown core to a different Burlington that will rise beside the Go station.
Appreciation for architecture rests in the eye of the beholder and what the public is seeing now is quite different than what was built along Lakeshore decades ago.
During the required Statutory meetings the developers set out what they want to do and explain that they are meeting all the required rules.
Mike Collins-Williams represented the interests of the developers during the required Statutory meeting on the changes being made to the Regional Official Plan.
What doesn’t take place is a dialogue between the architect and the public on what the public would like to see built on the streets they will live, work and play on.
Usually the first time a citizen sees a building is when they look at a glossy brochure.
Architects are hired by developers to create a pleasing looking building that meets the aspirations (and at times the egos) of the developer and doesn’t cost a fortune to build.
Developers are not in the housing business, they are in the profit-making business – and in a capitalistic society that is the way the game is played and accepted.
Selling housing isn’t the same as selling soap.
The homes that are built determine to a large degree the kind of society we have. Human beings need space; the developers refer to that space as amenities.
This isn’t a Burlington problem – it is one that plagues the country. However there is no reason a change cannot at least begin in Ontario. And if Mayor Meed Ward can pull that off – good on her.
Related news story
Lobbyist states the case for sticking with old Urban Growth plan
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
This guy just got an equally rough ride at Hamilton City Council. Looks like he will need a new set of talking points, since his message seems to be that developers are only being faithful servants to the province in paving over any exposed soil in Southern Ontario.
Hans.
Don’t be silly. We don’t elect developers, we elect Premiers and MPP’s that make housing policies and hand them down to Municipalities instructing them to follow the rules and that all councils decisions must be be consistent with that direction.
We first had the Liberal Government a Government who your Mayor wanted so badly to be included in. She ran as a Liberal and lost.
Why is that important?
Because the Liberals are the authors of the Greenbelt, and all this intensification mandate( the build up not out policies) they created. Even though she wasn’t elected. She was a stepmother to these policies never speaking against them when it suited her needs.
These policies were then adopted by the newly elected Conservative Government. Who modified and came up their version of Housing policies.
So you see Hans we had many Provincial elections and lot’s of democracy. By-laws that are so far out of date represent nothing except incompetence. Do you know the date of the present Official plan is 1999 with some modifications.
Do you know why the new Official Plan and By-laws are taking so long?
Problem is we don’t have an approved Burlington New Official Plan and Meed Ward and Kearns know it so it does not matter who thinks what. BG will be able to say they read this on the BG site when eventually the truth comes out as the locks are removed from the cabinets its locked away in.
Agreed. I would like to add that no one elected developers and they should simply read the zoning bylaws before they make their plans.
What he said.