By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. August 8, 2013. Growth for a city like Burlington isn’t always a positive thing in the minds of many people. There are loads of residents who like the place just the way it is – the last thing they want is more traffic.
The local community didn’t want the development and took their argument to the Ontario Municipal Board which approved the project.
These higher, multi-storey houses face Queensway, with a balcony and a patch of grass behind them, re-place the older housing shown below.
However cities don’t get to decide on what kind and how much growth there will be – those decisions get made by the province.
This World War II era housing met the needs of families for more than 60 years. They were purchased, assembled and after zoning and Official Plan changes were approved demolished. These houses front on Queensway.
It was one of the first infill project that came to this council. It wasn’t popular with the neighbours and looking back – it’s kind of clear that it isn’t the best planning work this city has done.
It met all the rules, but it really amounts to a lot of houses being put on six, albeit large lots, that had six houses. There is basically no open space for people to play around in the new community. Oddly enough, to the immediate west of the project there is a co-op that has all kinds of space between the buildings.
The stretch of land once housed two buildings, one at each end, with large back yards. Developers saw this an opportunity and bought up the land for this development.
Like much of Burlington, the community was orchards that over time gave way to housing. At one point there was a small school that was closed and razed.
The public school board, with two years notice that this development was to be approved, don’t have space for the influx of new students
The original application was for 74 houses – that got whittled down to 56 – and was seen as a win for the city.
The community is bound by the QEW on the north and the railway line to the south. It is a pleasant walk from the development to the GO station.
