Is the day the back hoe digs into the building on the corner of Brant and James the beginning of a five year construction phase for the downtown core?

News 100 redBy Pepper Parr

June 26th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Gallery logo

The development will be the first of the really high rise buildings in the downtown core.

All the hubbub over what should be done with Civic Square is going to amount to a little less than a hill of beans once construction on The Gallery – the 24 storey development that has been approved for the north east corner of Brant and James.

The developer has applied for and been given Shoring and Excavation permits and expect to begin the demolition of the building sometime in the late summer.

The day the first back hoe digs into the existing structure could well be the beginning of a five year time frame for a continuous run of construction work on Brant Street.

3d rendering intersection

When completed the building will be the beginning of the change in the downtown core – until then it will be havoc for people who live and shop in the area. Imagine Sound of Music on a construction site.

The proposed development for the south east corner of the intersection has been approved for 17 floors – the developers of that project want the same as The Gallery – 24 floors. They have appealed to the Local Planning Act Tribunal. Those who watch this process carefully can’t see any way for the city to hold the development at 17 floors – which is what most of the previous city council was prepared to live with.

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9 comments to Is the day the back hoe digs into the building on the corner of Brant and James the beginning of a five year construction phase for the downtown core?

  • Eva

    How are we possibly going to accommodate the extra traffic all this high density housing will create. We have gridlock now. It took me over an hour to go from Walkers Line to the hospital last night. I left my house at 5:30 pm. I know, there was probably an accident on the QEW. There is one every day.

    • Tom Muir

      The chain of command wants you to take the bus. For real – look at the plans.

      Oh, I can’t forget – you can walk or bike too.

      Can you imagine that.

    • Stephen White

      Hi Eva. Your experience isn’t an anomaly or a rarity. It’s now the new normal in Burlington.

      I teach at McMaster’s downtown campus once a week. I leave my home in east Burlington at 4:30 p.m. and travel via Lakeshore and North Shore Boulevard, up LaSalle Park Drive, and west along Plains & York Boulevard. The earliest I’ve pulled into the parking lot on John Street in Hamilton was 5:15 p.m. This past week I got in at 5:55 p.m. Nearly one and half hours to drive 22 kilometres. At 5:30 I had only progressed as far as RBG.

      The gridlock in Burlington is ridiculous. The amount of congestion downtown is absurd and is getting progressively worse. It takes me less time travelling through Mississauga or Hamilton than it does negotiating around Burlington. Road repairs I could understand, but this hasn’t been the main cause of delays. Accidents I can understand causing delays, but this isn’t usually the major problem either. The City’s Transportation has repeatedly been told about problems with traffic light synchronization, and continue to “study” the problem with no discernible steps at amelioration.

      Downtown redevelopment will only exacerbate an already ridiculous and unacceptable situation.

      • Eva Amos

        Perhaps it’s time to revisit the “pilot project” of narrowing Lakeshore between Brant and Maple from 4 lanes to 2. The bottleneck this configuration creates is beyond ridiculous. Now cars waiting to turn left from Lakeshore to get to the hospital further reduce the westbound single traffic lane because the left turn lane is so short.

        You simply cannot bring in hundreds of new residents in the downtown core and leave the infrastructure as it was. To think all of these new residents will be taking the bus or bringing their bikes with them is a pipe dream.

  • Steve W

    This is just the beginning. Burlington will become Mississauga West.

  • Penny Hersh

    Rob, I am glad to see that you have included the OMB, the Provincial Government and City Planners in who you feel is responsible for the over intensification in the downtown core. You failed to mention Councillors and the Mayor. I don’t blame the developers – it is their business to develop and to make a profit. Our elected officials and City Staff are supposed to work on behalf of the citizens.

    Past councils had opportunities to change the designation of the downtown mobility anchor hub and chose not to. Burlington lost the appeal at the OMB for the ADI Development on Lakeshore and Martha Street, because they failed to defend the Official Plan.

    It just may be too late to correct the mistakes of the previous councils.

  • Carol Victor

    This 24 storey monstrosity is going to change the total atmosphere of our downtown, shame on those on the old council, the OMB, LPAT and the city planners who allowed this to happen.

    However, we can still affect Ford’s amalgamation plans by writing letters and ordering lawn signs to protest this “cost saving” initiative. Write those letters to: weloveburlingtonasis@gmail.com and put up those lawn signs NOW!!!! We can’t afford to be complacent while additional changes take hold of our city.
    Carol Victor

    • WeLoveBurlington

      Thank you Carol! Yes please send us an email for information on our letter writing campaign, to sign up for email updates or to order a free lawn sign. We are working hard … also visit us on facebook.

  • Rob Allan

    What was a lovely downtown core and waterfront is being destroyed by greedy developers. OMB, the provincial government and city planners have create a right mess.