By Pepper Parr
March 29th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
There are a number of issues in play that will have a massive impact on how Burlington grows: development charges, money developers are required to give the city when they are putting up a new high rise tower, parkland dedication, land that a developer is required to give a city – in Burlington many developers gave cash in lieu.
A number of new laws have been put in place by the provincial government that are throwing wrench into what municipalities have done in the past. Council listened to a report on the Building Homes Faster Act and what the impact would be on Burlington that has made building affordable and attainable housing it prime focus. The city recently signed a pledge with the province to build 29,000 new residences by 2031.
It also planned on using at least 3 hectares of parkland for every 1000 new residents. Where that land is going to come from was not at all clear.
City Manager Tim Commisso who realized some time ago that there isn’t all that much land available is casting a keen eye on school board properties that he expects to become available. That could solve part of the problem the city faces in finding the amount of land that is needed to meet the 3 hectares per 1000 people criteria – a pledge to build 29,000 by 2031 would work out to 3 x 29 = 87 hectares of land.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward: This is an eye opener>
After hearing the Watson report Mayor Meed Ward said:
“This is an incredible eye opener.
“When I hear that we won’t be able to achieve the three per 1000.
“That’s, shocking. And it just shows the challenges that we’re up against because we simply can’t build housing alone. That’s not a complete community. We have to think of not only what happens inside a home, but when people step out their front door, what’s their experience, what do they what do?”
She had some difficulty responding to a situation where the city would take a $36 million hit on the development charges it expected to receive added to the $335 million hit on the parkland dedication.
“And that’s based on what we think we know right now which is ever changing. And it’ll get worse once we actually start looking at the real housing pledge numbers.
“So this is an eye opener for us and for the community and it just shows us the hole that has been created by Bill 23 and other pieces of legislation that really it can’t be filled.
The new look for Burlington
“It can’t be filled by the province. They don’t have the money and they should be spending it on homelessness and mental health and addictions and health care and schools and social services and a whole array of other things.
“We had a system that was working but it has been broken for reasons that still escaped me. That being said, that’s not the only issue and we have to turn our mind to getting as much accurate data as we can and refreshing it as often as we can to make sure that when we come back with our multiyear investment strategy that we’ve accounted properly for what we need to put aside to make sure that we’re building livable communities, not just housing but places where people actually want to live, work, play, recreate.
“So this really lays another tool to use to meet the challenges ahead. I’m up for it. I know we are as a council. We’re ready. We’re ready to dig in and meet those challenges. We will figure it out. I have no doubt about that. I also understand the magnitude of the challenge.”
Monetarists believe in controlling the supply of money that flows into the economy while allowing the rest of the market to fix itself.
Keynesians (the current federal and provincial governments) believe a troubled economy continues in a downward spiral unless an intervention drives consumers to buy more goods and services.
So, given the context that we are living in, i.e huge national and provincial debt loads, it is no wonder this is happening? A little more Friedman and less Keynesian spending would mean the $68.6 billion in interest payments could go to, helping Cities, Health Care (once it is fixed) and other social programs
We certainly need immigration but not only “where are all these people going to live” We must also ask the question, will the necessary services be available to them? As it stands more and more people are without a family doctor, wait times for surgical procedures are so long, our one and only hospital is stretched beyond limits and simply getting around the city is becoming more and more difficult on our congested roads.
Excellent point which our “leaders” at all levels frequently ignore.
I would also say that with a huge population increase, we can’t continue to have only 6 councillors and a mayor representing us. I’d say they already have too much trouble, considering how even answering emails appears problematic. Kelvin in ward 1 already told one constituent of his that he’ll no longer reply to him – are we to believe that the mass numbers of people moving into his ward in all those towers – a stone’s throw from his three properties and his businesses (what a bonus for him), will be getting proper representation?
In Oakville, the councillors only cover either Town or Region, not both. Each ward has 2 council members therefore. Which also means they’re paid half of what ours are. With Burlington having one of, if not the, lowest number of councillors per capita in Ontario, why is our council saying nothing in all their diatribes about all the gazillions more people coming without mentioning that they can’t be served by 6 councillors? Don’t want a pay cut perhaps?
Bet she wished she hadn’t “borrowed” or ” depleted “some of the Reserve Funds.
‘they should be spending it on homelessness and mental health and addictions and health care and schools and social services and a whole array of other things’…what have you done Meed Ward?? Don’t recall seeing you on soapbox canvassing these local challenges to the province.
“We had a system that was working but it has been broken for reasons that still escaped me.”…Let’s be clear, this council has never had a plan other than develop as little as possible. That’s why all the OLT appeals and lack of housing. This is also reflective across the province with all municipalities…’not in my backyard’. I just read another article on shortage of workers, hence the immigration numbers going way up…1.5 million new comers for Canada…so how many in GTA…not sure, but municipal politicians like Meed Ward need to ask themselves, where are all these people going to live??