Lots of height, several different forms of housing - not much in the way of amenities and no one speaking up for the new residents when they arrive

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

October 6th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

 

During the virtual  public pre-consultation given by the ADI Development people last week the number of people who were “on the call” was small.

Two that mattered though were the ward Councillor, Kelvin Galbraith and Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.

KG H&S

Kelvin Galbraith: ward 1 Councillor

mmh H&S

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward

They were there because council recently passed some rules for a process that, while voluntary, was necessary if the Planning department was to look at the application.

What was most interesting was how little they had to say.

One of the people who took part asked about retail and was told “there wasn’t going to be any”.  There wasn’t a word of comment from the Councillor.

The ADI people said that base level retail was not considered.  Judy Worsley, Executive Director of the Aldershot BIA said she had met with the ADI people and differed with them on ground level retail adding that “we will be revisiting this”.

3 towers

Rendering of a three story tower configuration.

The ADI people agreed that retail was important and they saw that being built along Waterdown Road which could become a retail spine for the area.

Shawn Coon did say that if retail is found to work “ADI will be interested” adding that retail might not work right away.

One had to wonder at that point what the Councillor was going to do to get some traction behind the need for retail. The hundreds of people who are going to live at Station West will need groceries, a Beer Store, an LCBO at the least.

The word supermarket didn’t get mentioned.

Galbraith, who has been working with a developer nursing their project along in the area, has said the developer will include a coffee shop in his development.  Galbraith is pushing him for a small supermarket that will be a long block away from the centre of Station West.

The matter of fire truck access came up which “needs to be worked out” according to Shane Cooney, an Executive vice president with ADI.

option 1 3 towers

Two towers at 39 stories each, a third at 29 storey. They will border Waterdown Road and Masonry Court.

config 1

Height will range from 39 storeys to 18 storeys

Meed Ward urged people to “continue thinking about what you like: green space, retail and built form.

Traffic was another issue: Cooney said that it is early in the process of doing a traffic impact study – we are not certain how to estimate what the vehicle traffic will be.

ADI defines Station West as a complete community with different housing forms.

There is certainly a lot of housing and in time there are going to be a lot of people in that community – but at this point there didn’t appear to be anyone talking loudly about what was missing.  By the time half of the people have moved in it will be too late.

No library, no community centre, no park.  Not the usual definition of complete community.

Related news story.

ADI gets to tell their story.

 

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2 comments to Lots of height, several different forms of housing – not much in the way of amenities and no one speaking up for the new residents when they arrive

  • Perryb

    Unless the people who will live here stay in their cells (like permanent covid quarantine) and emerge only to get on the GO and go somewhere else, this will be a terrible place to live. Like the soviet-era places you see in Russia. No greenspace, no amenities. Maybe they hope somehow to create an outdoor paradise where the cement works is, maybe?
    To even present this concept is another ADI gratuitous spit in the eye of Burlington; perhaps they think they now have license to do anything they want?

  • Steve

    Small grocery store sounds nice, but can a “small” grocery store compete, pricewise with the big chain stores. I think not.