 By Pepper Parr
April 22nd, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
In a Statement published in the Mayor’s Newsletter – A Better Burlington – Mayor Meed Ward wrote:
City Council, at a Closed session accepted a proposed revised plan for a townhouse and semi-detached development at 2100 Brant Street. The proposal will be decided by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) at a hearing scheduled in July.
 It is a piece of land that was farmed for centuries. It was pristine – and good have been a model community. The plans do not include anything near the traditional back yard. The original proposal was for 12 townhouse blocks with a total of 83 units and three condominium townhouse blocks with 150 units, for a total development of 233 units. There was no parkland. Also included in the applications are a woodlot block as well as a natural heritage system block. The proposed development site has a total area of 11.1 hectares (27.2 acres). The developable area is 5.04 hectares.
The land is currently vacant and has been historically used for agricultural purposes.
The former City Council had approved a revised proposal in November 2018, before the new council was sworn in but after the election when 5 of 7 members of the previous council were not returning due to defeat or retirement.
Current City Council rescinded that plan in December 2018 in an effort to give residents, staff and the applicant additional time to improve the plan and come to a consensus on a revised development.
A group of citizens, primarily representing residents in the neighbourhood north of the development, formed Vision 2100 Brant Neighbours Association, an incorporated group that received Party status at the LPAT hearing to present evidence on behalf of residents.
Representatives of the townhouse condominium board immediately to the south of the project had earlier issued a letter of support for the November revised proposal, considering their issues (primarily around setbacks and drainage) to be settled.
City Council and Vision 2100 received a revised proposal in March 2020. This proposal was provided directly to the Vision 2100 citizen’s group at a meeting March 10 with the applicant and Ward Councillor. The proposal was further discussed April 2 via teleconference with Vision 2100 representatives and the Ward Councillor and Mayor, to seek citizen input on the proposal.
To date, Vision 2100 has not provided any suggested changes or feedback on the proposal, but did raise additional questions around parking, snow storage, traffic, and storm water management. These were answered by the applicant by email to the residents (see background below), and addressed in the revised proposal to the city’s satisfaction.
The new proposal improves on the original application as well as the November 2018 proposal with the following changes:
Reducing the unit count from 212 to 210 (down from 233 in the original proposal)
In the Northwest area of the development on both sides of the Almonte Drive extension, replacing six 2-storey townhouse units with 4 semi-detached 1.5 storey bungalofts
Increasing setbacks from the homes to the north, from 9 metres to 10 metres; in some areas the setback is 11 metres
Increasing the senior-friendly units with ground floor bedrooms to aid accessibility, from 7 to 16 units
Provision of a 0.3 hectare (0.76 acre) centrally located Public Park.
City council voted to accept the revised proposal at the council meeting of April 20, 2020.
The details of that March plan, and the planning justification for supporting it provided by city staff, are included in the planning staff analysis here: 2100 Brant Planning Analysis
 The orange is where the proposed 233 units were to go – that has been reduced to 210 Unlike the vast majority of municipalities, Burlington releases the planning analysis for matters which the municipality is supporting approval of by the LPAT, in advance of the hearing. This policy change was implemented by the new City Council to ensure maximum transparency with residents about the basis of our decision-making.
The final decision on the revised proposal will be made by the LPAT. The city and applicant will appear in support of the proposal.
Vision 2100 is a registered Party to the hearing which gives them the right at the hearing to call evidence (witnesses, studies or both) to refute or support the proposal, cross examine city or applicant witnesses, or suggest further modifications to the proposal. The City of Burlington, the applicant (National Homes) and the Region of Halton are the other registered Parties to the hearing. There are two registered Participants to the hearing who can provide feedback at the hearing as well.
Details on the original application submitted in 2017, revisions to the proposal, and details of the LPAT hearing are available on the project page for the development here created when the application was received: Current Development Applications, Ward 1, 2100 Brant St
Below is additional background, answers to some questions and a statement from the Mayor and Ward councillor.
Statement from Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith on 2100 Brant:
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward Resident input over several years, including the work of Vision 2100, has improved this application for the better, and we thank them for that.
Though the most recent proposal may not be exactly what residents or Councillors were hoping for, it does include more green space than the original proposal, including a new park, fewer units, less height and density, more variety and senior-friendly options, increased setbacks and better transition to the neighbourhoods to the north and south. The recent questions raised by residents around parking, traffic, snow storage and storm water management have been addressed.
 Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith – working part time as a DJ? In accepting the revised proposal, council considered a number of factors, including public input, the improvements made that addressed some of the concerns raised, the planning justification provided by staff, and advice from legal counsel.
Our decision also factored in some practical realities, including the inability to secure a planning witness that was of the opinion that the November 2018 proposal did not overall represent good planning, the likelihood that a hearing would not produce a different result, and the possibility that city taxpayers could be required to pay the entire costs of the applicant at a lengthy hearing. In addition, city staff who supported the November proposal would likely have been required to testify on behalf of the applicant, at city taxpayers expense.
We also considered that notwithstanding council accepting a revised proposal, there remain options for continued public input, especially for Vision 2100, which can provide feedback or modifications on the revised proposal, and/or proceed as a party to the hearing and call evidence and witnesses.
We believe we achieved the best outcome possible for residents in this case, and your input directly made that happen.
Background and Answers to Questions:
How has public input been gathered on this application?
This application has been under review since 2017, with multiple points of public input along the way. A citizen’s group, Vision 2100, was formed to represent the concerns of residents primarily north of the development site. A citizen’s group was formed to the south to represent the interests of the townhouse development to the south. They submitted a letter of support for the November 2018 revised proposal.
The applicant met with the public over 12 times in that period, in either organized public meetings or smaller resident meetings.
There was a neighbourhood meeting Oct. 12, 2017, a statutory public meeting April 3, 2018 where residents presented detailed feedback and suggested modifications to council. Some council members at the time remarked that they were the best and most comprehensive presentations they had heard. There was a further open house to discuss revised plans July 17, 2018.
Throughout 2019 there have been numerous additional consultations with the applicant, city staff and Vision 2100, individually or as a group, to address the remaining concerns of the community. They included general over development of the site with related issues, and the interface of the development to the single family neighbourhood to the north, at Almonte Drive/Belgrave Court/Havendale Blvd.
In February 2020 the applicant advised it was prepared to make changes to the plan to address the resident concerns. In March they submitted a revised proposal to Vision 2100, and city staff. City Council received the proposal in early April.
How is public input reflected in the final proposal?
Since the original application, there have been at least 11 major revisions as a result of public, staff and council input, including a reduction in units, increased parkland, increased setbacks from the neighbourhoods to the north and south, reduced height of some units and conversion from townhouses to semi-detached, and provision of accessible, senior friendly semi-detached bungalofts. There have been three different proposals including the most recent one.
The proposal was provided directly to the Vision 2100 citizen’s group at a meeting March 10 with the applicant and Ward Councillor. The proposal was further discussed April 2 via teleconference with Vision 2100 representatives and the Ward Councillor and Mayor, to seek citizen input on the proposal.
To date, they have not provided feedback on the most recent proposal, but they did raise several outstanding questions via email related to traffic, parking, snow storage and storm water management. These questions were raised with the applicant by the Mayor and Ward Councillor on residents behalf, with the response as follows:
Traffic on Havendale, Fairchild and Brant St. Was a traffic study produced and taken into account? ANSWER: A traffic study was provided to Vision 2100 previously with the analysis describing the difference of a single family development and a townhouse development completed by a professional traffic engineer, outlining that a single family home development would generate more traffic. City staff reviewed and supported the findings of the study.
Parking, no street parking on private roads and limited visitors parking. Where do visitors park? ANSWER: Visitor parking is provided in the development on both public roads interior to the site and private roads as detailed in the attached site plan (also provided to Vision 2100).
The Zoning By-law requires 54 visitor parking spaces, whereas 59 are proposed. In addition 25 on-street parking spaces could be accommodated along the Almonte Drive extension.
Snow removal. There is no room to pile snow. Does the City have a plan to resolve that problem? ANSWER: The site plan attached to the revised proposal identifies areas where snow storage will be designated, in the bottom left and top right areas of the development.
Storm Water management. This has been a serious issue for the residents, based on actual flooding experiences where the empty lot at 2100 Brant served as a sink which helped to mitigate the flooding. Now there will be no sink because the area will be developed. The proposal is for an underground collection system with tanks which can be drained into the existing stormwater sewer at Brant Street. The question is, will there be enough capacity to accommodate two major rain storms in a row and will the system work properly? ANSWER: The design was prepared by a professional engineer based on their experience and history of developing many projects within the GTA with a similar design. Burlington City engineering staff had their professional engineers along with the Region of Halton’s professional engineers review the design of the system and both have been satisfied.
Why was this appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal?
Developers and residents have equal legal right in Ontario to appeal any decision of city council on a development matter to the LPAT, to seek a different decision.
Further, an applicant can appeal to the LPAT if the municipality exceeds the provincially mandated timelines to make a decision, which at the time of this application were 180 days.
The applicant, residents and staff agreed to continue to work together on the project beyond the 180 day time frame to try to come to a better outcome, thus setting aside the deadline. This application is now in its third year of review.
However, this changed when the previous provincial government announced it was making changes to the LPAT (then called the Ontario Municipal Board) to restrict what could be appealed and giving more priority to local council decisions. The current provincial government rolled back those changes so the LPAT functions essentially the same as the OMB did.
However in that transition period thousands of applications across the province, were preemptively made to preserve rights to a hearing under the old OMB rules, including this one which appealed using the tool of “non decision” within the deadline, because council had not made a decision within the 180 day time frame.
What happens now?
This application and the proposed revised plan will be heard by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) at a 12-day hearing scheduled to begin July 27. At that hearing, the applicant and city staff, based on City Council’s instructions, will jointly be requesting that the LPAT approve the revised application.
Due to COVID19, the province has cancelled all hearings till the end of June, but that does not apply to 2100 Brant Street as it is beyond that window of time. As such, all parties to the hearing, including Vision 2100, are required to produce evidence and experts to refute the application and revised proposal if they wish to challenge it.
To date, neither the city, nor Vision 2100, were able to find a planner to refute the proposal. This would leave the city without a witness at the hearing, compromising any ability to reach a different outcome at a hearing than the proposed application. In addition, city staff would most likely be called by the applicant to support the proposal, as they initially recommended approval of the November 2018 proposal. This factored into council’s decision to accept the third revised proposal as the best outcome possible, and an improvement on both the original and November proposals.
Entering a hearing without a witness could have also led to an award of costs against the city for the applicant’s expenses of the entire 12-day hearing, saddling taxpayers with a significant bill with no improvement in the outcome of the development. This also factored into council’s decision.
What are the opportunities for further public input on this application?
The next steps and opportunities for further public input at the hearing are detailed below, and were outlined via email to Vision 2100 from the Mayor and Ward Councillor April 10.
Vision 2100 has party status at the hearing. They can present evidence at the hearing regardless of whether any other party enters into a settlement. As such, they retain the opportunity (and obligation as a party) to call evidence against the revised proposal if they are opposed.
An issues list identified for the hearing outlines the issues raised by the various parties. The list is available on the project page on the city’s website. Issues list, attachment 3
There are four parties to the hearing: National Homes, City of Burlington, Vision 2100 and Region of Halton. On the issues list there are 16 issues cited by the city and Vision 2100 (Items 1-12, 14-17); 4 issues cited solely by Region of Halton (Items 13, 18, 19, 21), one issue cited by Region of Halton and Vision 2100 (Item 20), and 2 issues cited only by Vision 2100 (Items 22, 23).
We understand that Vision 2100 has wanted to see the city’s response to various issues and concerns to use in their own efforts at a hearing. Given that city staff previously approved the initial, and the modified (Nov 2018) application, and recommended approval of the March 2020 proposal, any concerns can assume to have been resolved to the city’s satisfaction.
The bulk of the issues raised by the city relate to planning justification matters. These were resolved to the city’s satisfaction, as outlined in the planning justification analysis
Any party can withdraw its issues or settle. Where issues are jointly raised, if one party withdraws from an issue, the remaining party to that issue can still raise it as an issue at a hearing.
Thus, regardless of the actions of the other parties, Vision 2100 retains the option in a hearing to call its own evidence on any of the issues they are listed under, as noted above.
According to the LPAT procedural order, where there are multiple parties listed beside a single issue, those parties have the option to call one single witness together to deal with that issue. This has led to some confusion that the city would call evidence and pay for it on behalf of Vision 2100. That is not the case, as each party remains separate. The City has been clear with Vision 2100 throughout the appeal process that each party, although having the same issues, was separate and should prepare to call its case separately in the event that one of the parties reached a settlement of the appeal.
If the city chose to call evidence on a particular issue, Vision 2100 could rely on that evidence themselves, rather than hire a second individual. If the city did not choose to call evidence, Vision 2100 would then be required to do so themselves. Each party retains independence, with the option to collaborate.
If one of the parties withdraws an item as an issue, or deems it settled and taken care of, the responsibility would be with the remaining party to call its own witness at the hearing, if that party believed that issue has not been resolved, based on their own expert review.
The format of the hearing is that each party must call its own witnesses to support their position of whether or not the application as presented should be approved; each party has the ability to cross-examine the witnesses provided by any other party. The documents in support of the application have been publicly available online since 2017, and residents can review this in advance of a hearing to plan their response. The planning analysis from the city is now also available to residents to plan their response.
A party to the hearing can produce their own evidence to refute the application, and would have opportunity at a hearing to ask questions of others. Regardless of whether there is a settlement, Vision 2100 has this opportunity to ask questions at a hearing, but also an obligation to produce its own evidence for any issues that Vision 2100 has identified on the Issues List.
Summary of options for continued public input:
1. Vision 2100 can undertake to hire their own experts to respond to the material that has been provided by the applicant and is publicly available online. This review may satisfy the concerns raised, or lead to suggested modifications which could in turn be requested of the applicant. Understandably, this is a significant financial undertaking, and may not be feasible.
2. As a resident’s group and as a party to the hearing, Vision 2100 has a unique opportunity to provide a direct public voice on the revised proposal, which they have not done yet. Vision 2100 has an opportunity to review the revised proposal, determine if it satisfies the concerns raised and if not suggest modifications.
3. If the proposed modifications are not accepted, Vision 2100 also has the option to proceed to a hearing, with the obligation to hire experts to refute the applicant’s material (which is publicly available online) and present new evidence in support of any additional proposed changes.
Did the city follow proper planning process on this application?
In dealing with this application, the city has followed the provincial planning process, which is not unique to Burlington but is required across Ontario. The process allows any party independently to determine whether or not its issues have been resolved.
The process allows any party to determine that its issues have not been resolved and proceed to a hearing, but in that case would need to present its own evidence to refute the application.
What is City Council’s role?
City council has an obligation to review and consider any revised proposal. In reviewing the proposal, we consider input from our planning and legal team, the applicant, as well as resident’s groups or individuals. The public is represented in this process in a variety of ways, including through your elected representatives and our voices carrying your input/questions forward, as well as any direct input you have provided to the city, applicant and elected representatives.
Your elected representatives also undertake to ensure that outstanding questions/issues have been addressed in making any decisions.
All means of public input described above have occurred throughout the processing of this application.
 Think traffic flow onto Brant – and pity those that want to make a left hand turn on Brant in the morning rush hour.
 By Pepper Parr
April 20, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The City has put out an update on what it expects of its citizens.
The parks are closed and are going to remain closed.
City staff are focused on delivering essential services.
With the arrival of warmer weather, residents will start to see City of Burlington staff begin spring maintenance work in City parks and roads:
 Expect to see equipment like this on the streets • Street sweeping has begun on arterial roads and crosswalks with residential roads scheduled to begin mid-May
• Park and roadside litter clean up where needed prior to grass cutting
• Grass cutting will begin but will not include the usual trimming around trees and other objects
• Repair work for grass that has been damaged by sidewalk snow plows will begin the week of April 27with a contractor visiting the sites to fill areas with soil and grass seed
 City wants to keep pedestrian traffic to a minimum. Staff are only doing essential work to maintain City parks, facilities and assets until further notice. Wood chips at the Operations Centre on Harvester Road are not available for pick up during the pandemic and community gardens will remain closed as they have been deemed non-essential by the Provincial government. The City has delayed Community Garden openings until further notice.
To help keep everyone safe during the provincial emergency order, Spencer Smith Park is only available for walk-in traffic. The parking lots are closed and only walking is permitted in Spencer Smith Park, including the Promenade and the Brant Street Pier.
Visitors must keep a two-metre distance from other walkers. No other activities are permitted until further notice: no running, no rollerblading and no biking through Spencer Smith Park. This is to reduce the volume of people in Spencer Smith Park and to help walkers maintain physical distancing.
Physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most important steps everyone needs to take. The COVID-19 virus doesn’t move on its own; it needs people to move it.
Remember to:
• Keep two metres away from others – about the length of a hockey stick
• Move to the right on pathways to make room for others to pass safely
• Carry out your garbage whenever possible
Respect the caution tape and keep off playgrounds, sports fields, skateboard areas, tennis and basketball courts. The City has signage and barricades in the entrances of parking lots to block vehicles from parking. Vehicles left in parking lots will be towed at the owner’s expense.
Residents who see groups of five or more people gathering or individuals using outdoor recreational facilities can call the Halton Regional Police Service COVID hotline to file a report at 905-825-4722.
Local enforceable orders include:
• Closure of places of non-essential businesses
• Prohibiting events and gatherings of more than five people
• Closure of public places and establishments
• Closure of all outdoor recreational amenities and parks
Burlington Transit
As an essential service, Burlington Transit continues to operate on a modified schedule for essential trips only. Essential trips include going to medical appointments and picking up medication or groceries. Extra buses will be added if needed to help protect drivers and allow passengers to practice physical distancing from other riders. Please use the back doors to enter and exit the bus, keep behind the marked area and follow the recommendations of public health professionals. For more information on Burlington Transit, visit www.burlingtontransit.ca
 Not much work for the parking control people. Parking
Parking enforcement is currently limited to safety-related issues such as fire routes, accessible parking, no parking/stopping areas and blocked areas, including parking lots at Spencer Smith Park, Lowville Park and all other City parks. Time limit restrictions have been relaxed to help those working from home or self-isolating. Parking permits and exemptions are not required until further notice. For more information on parking, visit www.burlington.ca/parking.
Service Burlington
Customer Service staff are available by phone and email for residents’ questions. Online forms can also be submitted via our website. Only in-person services, such as marriage licences, are not available during the pandemic.
 Not going to tie that know this month – maybe not in June either. The City of Burlington is not issuing marriage licences while City Hall is closed. Residents needing a marriage licence can call Service Burlington two weeks before their intended marriage date and if City Hall has re-opened, will be accommodated as close to their wedding date as possible.
Municipalities issue marriage licenses on behalf of the Province of Ontario. Current legislation requires original signatures and documentation. City staff have asked the Province to review this legislation and make some interim amendments to allow for electronic signatures and documentation. Staff is also asking the Province to extend the licenses that were issued prior to the COVID-19 shutdown beyond the normal 90-day expiry dates.
In-Home Activities
The best thing residents can do to protect themselves and the community, is stay home. The City of Burlington and its partners have put together a list of activities people of any age can do while staying home at burlington.ca/programming. The list includes:
• Virtual fitness
• Free music
• Ebooks, emagazines and online resources from Burlington Public Library at bpl.on.ca
• Videos for recreation programming such as games, activities and crafts.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward cautions people. “As the weather gets warmer we know it will be harder to follow the provincial emergency orders, and the directives from Burlington City Hall. But we must continue to stay apart, and stay in our own neighbourhoods, so we can get through this sooner. Please resist the urge to congregate in groups, stay 6 ft. away from anyone you don’t live with and please stay in your own neighbourhood and local parks for your walks.
“Walk, don’t stop, and stay off playgrounds, benches and other park amenities. In particular, please do not come downtown to the waterfront where there has been some crowding in Spencer Smith Park and Beachway Park. We have taken extra measures to restrict the use of these areas.
“We know how difficult this has been so far for our residents, but it will only get more difficult the longer we have to keep these directives in effect. The longer we stay apart now, the sooner we can safely come together.”
By Staff
April 1st, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Earlier this week the City of Burlington announced it would extend the closures of City Hall, administration facilities, recreation facilities and parks through to the end of June.
While decisions like this continue to be made on a daily basis in response to the ever-changing situation with COVID-19, the way the City makes these decisions looks different than it has in the past.
The City wants to ensure the people of Burlington have a full understanding of what is happening behind the scenes during this emergency, and that they are transparent about how issues are raised, and decisions made during this challenging time.
City Council continues to be responsible for overall governance of the City and strategic decisions. Emergency-related and time-sensitive decisions that are being made on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis and relate primarily to operational issues are being managed by the city’s Emergency Control Group.
From a Municipal governance perspective, City Council is ultimately responsible for the review and approval of the City’s overall emergency planning and management. Section 2.1 of the Provincial Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) requires municipalities to develop and implement an emergency management program and adopt it through a by-law. On July 15th of 2019, City Council approved by-law 46-2019 which provides for our Emergency and Continuity Management Program.
The City moved to a Level 3 – Full Emergency Activation, our highest level, on March 17th. This Emergency Level means we are in a high level of crisis and in a mission-critical stage. In order to support and protect our first responders, field and administrative staff and our community while continuing to provide critical and essential services, a Level 3 emergency enables a body of decision-makers known as the Emergency Control Group (ECG) under our Corporate Emergency Response Plan (Appendix B to the by-law). This group is vested with decision-making responsibility related to time-sensitive and immediate actions to address the emergency at hand, including operations and crisis communications.
The goal of the ECG is:
1. Keep staff and public safe, minimize spread
2. Maintain essential services
3. Build and maintain strong awareness
4. Provide for the overall management and coordination of support activities and consequence management issues
5. To ensure that response priorities are established, and that planning, and response activities are coordinated
The Corporate Emergency Response Plan designates the following positions as members of the ECG (also known as the command staff and section chiefs):
 Tim Commisso: City Manager – The Community Emergency Management Coordinator (CEMC)
– The City Manager (Chair of ECG)
– The Head of Council (the Mayor)
– The Chief Financial Officer
– The Fire Chief
– The Health and Safety Coordinator
– The Executive Director, Strategy, Risk and Accountability
– The Executive Director of Legal Services & Corporation Counsel
– The Chief Information Officer
– The Executive Director of Human Resources
– The Director, Recreation Services
– The Director, Roads, Parks, and Forestry
– The Executive Lead, Customer Experience
– The Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation & Mobility
– The Director of Corporate Communications & Government Relations
– The Executive Director of Environment, Infrastructure & Community Services
– The Director of Capital Works
There are numerous support members of this team that assist with the day-to-day strategic planning involved, implementation of action items, and tracking of ongoing resource needs.
The ECG meets every afternoon, including weekends, via conference call. Meeting attendance is tracked, and minutes are kept and saved. A daily Incident Action Plan is compiled, approved by the group and sent through to the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management.
Each morning, including weekends, each department director first meets with their management team in order to identify the following based on ongoing situational awareness:
1. Critical Daily Objectives to meet the Overarching Goals of the ECG (at a department level); and
2. Strategies and Tactics (action items) needed to meet objectives set forth for that day (operational period). If needed, these can roll into the next operational cycle as well.
During the ECG meeting each afternoon, the CEMC opens with a Review of Operational Cycle Information, followed by a high-level overview of current issues and communications plans by the City Manager and the Mayor, and a roundtable discussion with input from all other members. Time-sensitive decisions are made by the group and actionable items are assigned to appropriate owners.
Examples of some of the emergency-related decisions that are being made by this group include the closure of parks and recreation facilities, adjustments to transit schedules and services, and enacting safety measures to keep employees and the public safe through limiting access to City Hall and other administrative buildings.
The ECG will continue to function as long as the City is at a Level 3 – Full Emergency Activation.
City Council continues to function throughout this emergency:
 City council taking a moment to remember. Council is functioning through a new format we began on March 24th to help us maintain the physical distancing our health experts have mandated for the public. We are conducting only essential and time sensitive business for the time being. During council and committee meetings, we are taking extra precautions to protect staff, the public and council, while doing our best to ensure transparency and accountability to the public. No public are allowed in Chambers as we have closed all City facilities including City Hall, effective Monday, March 16 through to the end of June; however, staff are looking into ways of extending the technology to allow for remote public participation. Members of the public will still be able to submit written delegations to the clerk, and any councillor who has questions can follow up directly.
There will be minimal people in chambers at City Hall, such as the Mayor or Committee Chair, the clerk and our technician, ensuring we keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet apart and that all surfaces are cleaned before and after the meeting. It is important for a few people to be present in person to ensure remote public viewing of this meeting by live webcasting and recording the meeting. At this time, it is our best way to maintain a public facing component. As these are unprecedented times, we are doing our best to navigate and would ask for your patience and understanding. This is how our meetings will be conducted for the foreseeable future, but we may need to make further changes as the situation evolves.
Council also continues to provide ongoing support to constituents in their wards via telephone and email every day. They are working hard to identify and solve urgent issues for individuals and businesses, direct people to the numerous resources being announced at a rapid pace by the Federal and Provincial governments, communicate important updates and distribute helpful information through digital newsletters, social media, and print material. They are provided with regular updates from the Mayor and City Manager on key communications and decisions being made by the ECG, and have the opportunity to ask the Mayor to filter issues up to the ECG in daily meetings.
There is a great deal of collaboration happening at all levels in the City of Burlington, as well as with representatives in regional, provincial and federal government, and through our partners at organizations such as Burlington Economic Development, the Chamber of Commerce, local Business Improvement Area groups, Joseph Brant Hospital, Burlington Hydro and beyond. Everyone is working together, day and night, 7 days a week to ensure we keep you informed, safe, and healthy.
“The City has an Emergency Management Plan that was approved by council last July” said Mayor Meed Ward. “We are following it. Most of the decisions that council normally makes, we are still making, and we are anticipating getting back into the business of the city and a regular rhythm to council in May. A 3-month plan including staffing and budgeting will be brought to council in April for discussion. The majority of the decisions the ECG has made thus far are those of an operational nature that staff could typically make without council approval, with the exception of those that are time-sensitive and directly related to the emergency and the health and safety of our community. I am grateful for the way everyone at the City has come together in the past few weeks, working tirelessly 7-days a week to react and respond to this unprecedented situation. We can now turn our minds to planning for the next 3 months.”
Dave Lazenby, Fire Chief and Operations Section adds: “Like most other municipalities across the province, Burlington has activated its Emergency Control Group (ECG) to oversee the response to this unprecedented situation. I have been involved in many large-scale incidents over the years. Never have I experienced something that has evolved so quickly. What has been incredibly heartening to see is the commitment, expertise and nimbleness of the ECG, staff and Council to address this.”
Some observations:
A comment from a Gazette reader shows that the public can communicate with staff when they have to:
Today I called Building@Burlington.ca at the phone# provided. Left a message to call me back at the their convenience. Had barely hung up when the phone rang. My screen indicated that it was the City of Burlingon. Spoke with a gentleman named Tyler. Within 1 minute we had made arrangements for me to deliver 2 building permit applications and attached info. to the City to be delivered. With a cheque of course. From my experience the Zoning, Engineering and Building Depts. are pushing ahead during these tough times. Big thanks to the City from my workers and I. Paperless apps. and banking might be an option down the road.
The detailed explanation on how the city operates under the current Emergency conditions was needed. It is detailed enough for anyone – that detailed minutes are kept is good to know. We aren’t anywhere near through this yet.
By Staff
March 30th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19, the City of Burlington has decided to suspend all City-run spring programs and extend the closure of all recreation facilities, parks, playgrounds, sports fields and City administration facilities to the end of June.
During this time, all bookings will be cancelled, and refunds will be given. Organizations and residents are asked to please be patient as refunds may take up to two weeks to process. Questions related to rentals can be sent to rentals@burlington.ca. For registrations, email liveandplay@burington.ca.
This decision, made by the City’s Emergency Control Group, follows the guidance of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health to prepare and plan for the months ahead.
The City of Burlington regularly plans in quarters, including Council’s 4-year strategic workplan, Vision to Focus. We need to make decisions now that affect programming weeks and months out, to provide some certainty to our community and to our many community partners.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward explains that: “This decision is absolutely necessary to protect the health and well-being of our employees and our community, as we plan for the best but prepare for the worst.
“COVID-19 numbers are still rising in our City through community spread. So we must continue to work towards flattening the curve through social and physical distancing and staying home. That means we can’t gather together at recreation facilities, community centres, sports fields and parks.
“We don’t know exactly how long this situation is going to last. By planning ahead, we can redirect resources where most needed, put non-essential projects on hold, and remain agile enough to open things up earlier if the situation changes. And once this is over, we will come together again as a community to celebrate. Let’s each do our part to get through this, healthy and whole.”
We are asking everyone to remember they have a role to play in slowing the spread of COVID-19:
Please continue to keep out of park facilities including
o playgrounds,
o sports fields,
o skate parks,
o dog off-leash areas and
o community gardens.
o If you need some fresh air and activity, it’s okay to walk, cycle or jog through our parks, but please do not linger.
o Stay 2 metres (6 feet) away from everyone else in the park or on a trail.
o Please take your waste home with you to dispose of it.
During this extended closure we will continue to maintain our essential services and those services that provide direct support to keep our residents and staff safe. These include areas such as Burlington Fire, Burlington Transit including Handi-Van, Traffic Services, ByLaw Enforcement, Roads, Parks and Forestry Operations, Building Inspections and Service Burlington.
With this announcement the administration wants to assure residents that the business of the City will continue during this critical time.
“Our staff that are able, are continuing to work from home to maintain City services such as Community Planning, City Capital Works and various Corporate Services. During this unprecedented time, we are continually looking at ways for us to work more efficiently and to use taxpayer dollars wisely. We have already put in place spending restraints on all non-essential purchases during this time and will look to utilize our staff where we can instead of outsourcing.
“The majority of the City’s expenditures is paying our hard-working employees and we must continue to ensure we have the staff needed to get us through these challenging times. This means we will maintain our full-time staff workforce. They will continue to work remotely during this period or be redeployed where possible into essential service areas. We are also aware of other organizations that may need assistance, like the Region of Halton, where we may be able to redeploy staff.
“For our part-time staff, we will look at various options including evaluating government assistance programs being offered by the provincial and federal governments.
“Once we have looked at options for our staff, as a last resort we will also consider layoffs as required.
“We also know we’re not going to be back to 100 per cent on Day 1 after this pandemic has ended. We have to set the expectations for ourselves as a City and the public that it won’t be business as usual the first day we’re back from this. However, having plans in place for the next three months means we’ll be able to get back on our feet, operating at 100 per cent again that much sooner.
“This situation is evolving every hour and we are continually monitoring. The City of Burlington will continue to keep you informed.
 Tim Commisso, City Manager Tim Commisso, City Manager adds that “Over the last few weeks our focus and priority has been on dealing with the immediate impacts of COVID-19 which has included meeting daily and taking specific actions based on analysis of virus spread and in partnership with public health.
“Clearly, we now need to look ahead and make decisions that are in best interests of our community and staff. We still need to do all we can to prevent the spread of the virus and continue to deliver our essential services in addition to providing certainty and stability for the next several months. We remain committed to strong financial management and ensuing we have adequate resources to meet this challenge.”
 By Staff
March 20th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
There are a number of very authoritative sources on just what the COVID-19 virus does to people.
 The Guardian newspaper, one of the best in the world has done a feature article on what happens to people who are infected.
How is the virus affecting people?
Guardian Australia spoke with Prof John Wilson, president-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a respiratory physician.
He says almost all serious consequences of Covid-19 feature pneumonia.
Wilson says people who catch Covid-19 can be placed into four broad categories.
The least serious are those people who are “sub-clinical” and who have the virus but have no symptoms.
Next are those who get an infection in the upper respiratory tract, which, Wilson says, “means a person has a fever and a cough and maybe milder symptoms like headache or conjunctivitis”.
He says: “Those people with minor symptoms are still able to transmit the virus but may not be aware of it.”
The largest group of those who would be positive for Covid-19, and the people most likely to present to hospitals and surgeries, are those who develop the same flu-like symptoms that would usually keep them off work.
A fourth group, Wilson says, will develop severe illness that features pneumonia.
 A doctor looking at x-ray images of a patient’s lungs. He says: “In Wuhan, it worked out that from those who had tested positive and had sought medical help, roughly 6% had a severe illness.”
The WHO says the elderly and people with underlying problems like high blood pressure, heart and lung problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness.
How does the pneumonia develop?
 When people with Covid-19 develop a cough and fever, Wilson says this is a result of the infection reaching the respiratory tree – the air passages that conduct air between the lungs and the outside.
He says: “The lining of the respiratory tree becomes injured, causing inflammation. This in turn irritates the nerves in the lining of the airway. Just a speck of dust can stimulate a cough.
“But if this gets worse, it goes past just the lining of the airway and goes to the gas exchange units, which are at the end of the air passages.
“If they become infected they respond by pouring out inflammatory material into the air sacs that are at the bottom of our lungs.”
If the air sacs then become inflamed, Wilson says this causes an “outpouring of inflammatory material [fluid and inflammatory cells] into the lungs and we end up with pneumonia.”
He says lungs that become filled with inflammatory material are unable to get enough oxygen to the bloodstream, reducing the body’s ability to take on oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide.
“That’s the usual cause of death with severe pneumonia,” he says.
How can the pneumonia be treated?
 Points at which fluid builds up in the respiratory tract. Prof Christine Jenkins, chair of Lung Foundation Australia and a leading respiratory physician, told Guardian Australia: “Unfortunately, so far we don’t have anything that can stop people getting Covid-19 pneumonia.
“People are already trialing all sorts of medications and we’re hopeful that we might discover that there are various combinations of viral and anti-viral medications that could be effective. At the moment there isn’t any established treatment apart from supportive treatment, which is what we give people in intensive care.
“We ventilate them and maintain high oxygen levels until their lungs are able to function in a normal way again as they recover.”
Wilson says patients with viral pneumonia are also at risk of developing secondary infections, so they would also be treated with anti-viral medication and antibiotics.
“In some situations that isn’t enough,” he says of the current outbreak. “The pneumonia went unabated and the patients did not survive.”
Is Covid-19 pneumonia different?
Jenkins says Covid-19 pneumonia is different from the most common cases that people are admitted to hospitals for.
“Most types of pneumonia that we know of and that we admit people to hospital for are bacterial and they respond to an antibiotic.
Wilson says there is evidence that pneumonia caused by Covid-19 may be particularly severe. Wilson says cases of coronavirus pneumonia tend to affect all of the lungs, instead of just small parts.
He says: “Once we have an infection in the lung and, if it involves the air sacs, then the body’s response is first to try and destroy [the virus] and limit its replication.”But Wilson says this “first responder mechanism” can be impaired in some groups, including people with underlying heart and lung conditions, diabetes and the elderly.
 A group of seniors taking part in a Bfast transit meeting – these are the people most at risk. They will not be able to meet like this until the COVID-19 pandemic is over Jenkins says that, generally, people aged 65 and over are at risk of getting pneumonia, as well as people with medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer or a chronic disease affecting the lungs, heart, kidney or liver, smokers, Indigenous Australians, and infants aged 12 months and under.
“Age is the major predictor of risk of death from pneumonia. Pneumonia is always serious for an older person and in fact it used to be one of the main causes of death in the elderly. Now we have very good treatments for pneumonia.
“It’s important to remember that no matter how healthy and active you are, your risk for getting pneumonia increases with age. This is because our immune system naturally weakens with age, making it harder for our bodies to fight off infections and diseases.”
 By Staff
March 16th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
To protect the public and City staff and to help minimize the spread of COVID-19 virus, all City facilities including City Hall will be closed to public access effective Monday, March 16 to Sunday, April 5.
Essential services will continue to operate as usual to support our community. Cemetery services will be by appointment.
Service Burlington will continue to operate via phone 905-335-7600 and email city@burlington.ca
We encourage residents reach out if they have questions. Residents can also access services using the City of Burlington mobile app.
A drop box outside of City Hall is available to drop off documents.
Residents are encouraged to delay any non-essential business or to consider conducting business online or by phone, where possible.
Meetings with City staff where appropriate can be setup on a case by case basis and will require a health screening process in keeping with established public health guidelines.
While Mayor Meed Ward has not yet declared an official emergency on COVID-19,
Burlington’s Crisis Management Team (CMT) has now fully activated the City of Burlington Emergency Response Plan at a Level 2.
This decision made today by the CMT, in close consultation with the Mayor, enables a more rapid response to dedicating specific resources to prevention and containment of the virus.
City buildings closed to general public access effective March 16 include:
City Hall (phone/online/drop box still available)
Roads, Parks and Forestry
Burlington Transit – Transit Operations Centre
Animal Shelter
City offices in SIMs Square office building (390 Brant Street)
414 Locust Street offices
Burlington Fire Headquarters and all stations
Residents are encouraged to delay any non-essential business or to consider conducting business online or by phone, where possible. Meetings with City staff where appropriate can be setup on a case by case basis and will require a health screening process in keeping with established public health guidelines.
All Burlington Citizen Advisory Committee meetings have been cancelled until April 5, 2020.
The following meetings are cancelled:
March 18 – Agricultural and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee
March 18 – Sustainable Development Advisory Committee
March 23 – Seniors Advisory Committee
March 23 – Committee of Adjustment
March 23 – Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee
March 27 – Inclusivity Advisory Committee
March 31 – Council Workshop
March 31 – Cycling Advisory Committee
April 1 – Mayor’s Millennial Committee
April 1 – Mundialization Committee
City staff are reviewing options related to the upcoming March 30 Burlington City Council meeting, as there are time sensitive matters that may require Council resolution. The City of Burlington is looking into how the meeting may be conducted and will be provide an update closer to the meeting date.
For further information and updates, the City has launched the webpage burlington.ca/coronavirus
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
“Our first priority is ensuring public health and safety, and the safety of our staff who engage with the public. We are looking at options to ensure residents can still be served without physical attendance at City Hall. As a result, we are expecting a higher than usual call volume and we are redeploying staff to assist, but we would ask for your patience and understanding in these times.
Our decisions are not taken lightly, as we realize the impact they have on our community, but they are done in an effort to do our part to ‘flatten the curve’ and slow down the spread of COVID-19.
Quick Facts
• Contact Halton Region Public Health by calling 311, 905-825-6000 or toll free at 1-866-442-5866 if you have a fever OR cough OR breathing difficulty AND any of the following:
o travelled outside of Canada in the 14 days before onset of illness; or
o close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19; or
o close contact with a person with acute respiratory illness who traveled to affected areas within 14 days prior to their illness onset.
 By Pepper Parr
March 6th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
It is still coming out in dribs and drabs but at least the people who are going to have to pick up the tab for the legal challenges to the January 30th council decision unanimously approving the revised recommendations from the findings of the Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL) Land-Use Study, including the approval of the proposed Official Plan (OPA) and Zoning Bylaw (ZBA) amendments resulting from that study, now know a little bit more.
The Council decision was made before the one-year ICBL deadline of March 5, 2020.
In remarks in the Mayor’s March Newsletter we learn that:
“The recommended OPA and ZBA are the result of an extensive technical review by third-party consultants and City planning staff, public input (including written and oral submissions from the development industry), and Council deliberation.
 Mayor uses March Newsletter to dribble out a little bit more information on the legal challenges to the recent flood of appeals to LPAT. “Our current Official Plan (OP) is in full legal compliance with all applicable provincial documents, as are its approved updates, after the province’s Places to Grow Act and the density targets that were established and embedded into our OP. This latest update dealt with better defining the Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) that to this point had never been defined.
“Since Council’s decision on Jan. 30, the City’s OPA and ZBA have been appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). These appeals will extend the ICBL’s development freeze on the downtown and Burlington GO area until they are resolved. It’s important to note, the appeals to the City’s ZBA are what caused the freeze to continue — the OPA appeals would not have.
“The bulk of the number of appeals dealt only with the OPA. If the remaining appeals are resolved quickly, the development freeze would be lifted. It is typical and expected that the most likely course of action may be a grouping of these appeals to LPAT, where they address similar issues. That remains to be seen.
“Official plans are constantly changing. Burlington’s OP has changed 119 times (since 1997). Some of those changes the City initiated, others were developer initiated (those who had applied for OPAs and ZBAs). Plans never stay the same and we have a legal obligation to update our OP every 5 years. Those updates can be through minor tweaks or complete overhauls — Burlington has done both in its history.
“Changing an OP is normal practice, as is the number of appeals and reaction when a significant change to an OP is made.
“In the past, the City of Burlington has found itself in a difficult situation when staff’s and Council’s positions related to our OP differed — that is not the case now. Our City also found itself in a difficult situation when it gave away height and depth to development applications that far exceeded what was in our plans out of fear of being taken to the LPAT. Not only was that precedent-setting, but it sent the message that our City would make significant exceptions at the mere threat of an appeal.
 Mayor Meed Ward: Stay the course — your Council and City staff will be doing just that. “We’re not doing that anymore. We are now making decisions that are founded on sound planning principles based on evidence and a one-year independent consultant study. That is what residents expect us to do. The City of Burlington did not elect me to surrender. We will defend the policies we created — and were unanimously-approved by Council — vigorously.
“These policies also reflect the vision of staff, council and our residents for the future of our city and we will remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the right development in the right place at the right scale.
“I recently received a note from a resident that said they knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but to stay the course — your Council and City staff will be doing just that.”
It is now clear that the Mayor, the senior planning people, the city’s solicitor and, perhaps, whatever outside counsel the city has hired, have spent a lot of time going over the documents – which the public has yet to see.
Whenever politicians withhold information, or slip it out on a Friday afternoon, you know that the full story is not being told.
A tighter look at the Newsletter content tells us that “the appeals to the City’s ZBA (Zoning Bylaw Amendment) are what caused the freeze to continue — the OPA appeals would not have. Not sure what the relevance of that is – we will talk that over with our planning consultants.
The “bulk of the number of appeals dealt only with the OPA”, which the Mayor tells us can be dealt with very quickly.
 Politicians tell you what they want you to know – seldom do they tell you everything you are entitled to know. We have a Mayor who touts the importance of media but has yet to call a media conference and make herself available for questions. There was a time when you couldn’t keep the woman away from television camera lights.
Meed Ward was once very fond of using the phrase “truth to power”; haven’t heard that one from her lately have we?
 By Staff
March 6th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The developers who are either building residential towers that are 20 stories plus or have applications to build have a point of view.
Few of them do interviews but they do have trade journals that will publish what are really “canned” paid-for articles setting out their view of developments in Burlington.
Nick Carnicelli, president of the Halton Hamilton Home Builders Association, gave his view on the Outlook for 2020.
Carnicelli is a major Burlington developer with one project completed, another with shovels in the ground and a third that is a concept at this point.
 Nick Carnicelli, President, Carriage Gate Homes He was interviewed by Condo Life, a magazine that promotes developments and provides background information for people in the housing market. We are reprinting that article.
Condo Life: How do you see the outlook for the new home industry in 2020?
Carnicelli: We are going to see a very positive market. Spring will be very strong, with a number of very exciting projects coming forward. A diverse selection of housing will be available that will meet the many needs of new-home buyers. With interest rates remaining relatively low, and a strong influx of immigration, the economy will remain strong.
CL: And for your company?
Carnicelli: We think 2020 will be Carriage Gate‘s biggest year, following a very exciting 2019, with the launch of our Roxborough Park development. This is the largest development we have ever been involved in. The project will feature a dynamic and affordable mix of housing types in Hamilton’s east end – three-storey towns, back-to-back towns, affordable and market rental apartments.
CL: What is your company doing to address the issues facing the home-building industry – namely, affordability and new home supply?
Carnicelli: Carriage Gate continues to innovate and bring new products to market to address housing supply and affordability. We work with a talented team of individuals and many of the industry leaders to meet homeowners’ needs. Our newly expanded construction team will lead, our renowned architects and creative consultants will innovate, and our customer-centric team at Carriage Gate will push the envelope to find new creative approaches to homeownership. The Roxborough Park master-planned community coming in spring 2020 will introduce a wide variety of home styles and address more affordable housing options.
CL: What more could the industry do to address these issues?
 Nick Carnicelli – the man with four towers either built, under construction or at some stage of application Carnicelli: The building industry must not be complacent. We must continue to work with all levels of government to spearhead many of the changes needed to support our ability to provide affordable, high-quality housing to meet the needs of a diverse range of home-buyers. Our industry does more than just build housing. We must work together with our municipal partners to create “whole” communities with a full complement of services and amenities to improve the quality of life, not only for the existing residents but for future generations.
Now more than ever, municipalities must work together to bring forward the changes needed. In many instances, the municipalities may not have a staff complement that is familiar with the types of development and redevelopment proposals that we’ll be bringing forward. These municipalities need our continued support. At Carriage Gate, we work closely with our municipal colleagues to promote the efficient review and consideration of new applications and many of the new and emerging municipal initiatives that fundamentally impact our business. We encourage the building industry to do the same.
CL: What should prospective new-home buyers know about your company for 2020?
 Carnicelli’s proposed development for Lakeshore Road and Pearl Carnicelli: We are committed to continuing to bring innovative and high-quality projects to market. Construction will move into high gear
 The Gallery – under construction opposite city hall at Gallery Lofts + Condos in downtown Burlington, with occupancy planned for 2022. Roxborough’s new master-planned community will come to market, in which Carriage Gate will play an integral role in the revitalization of downtown Hamilton, with the launch of one of the city’s biggest inner-city developments. We will forge ahead with the planning of a number of new condo projects through public engagement and consultation with our key stakeholders, and are looking forward being a part of downtown Burlington’s exciting evolution.
CL: Why should prospective new-home buyers consider buying from Carriage Gate in 2020?
Carnicelli: Burlington may just be the best place to live in Canada. It offers residents a safe and friendly environment as well as fabulous restaurants, shopping, festivals, events, a culturally rich arts community, and access to the Niagara escarpment.
 Sold out – occupied. The development was part of a three phased project – the other two are going nowhere at this point. Carriage Gate’s first downtown condominium, The Berkeley, geared to transitional buyers who appreciate a luxurious hotel-style environment, occupied earlier in 2019.
Our next project, Gallery Condos + Lofts at 421 Brant Street, is now under construction, with occupancy to begin in 2022. Located directly across from City Hall in the heart of downtown, Gallery Condos + Lofts is within walking distance of everything you could imagine.
 On Lakeshore as you enter the downtown core. If built it will be stunning. and change the way Burlington is seen as a city. Available suites range from 500 to more than 1,600 sq. ft., with layouts that will appeal to everyone from young buyers looking for their first home, to mature adults seeking to downsize, but who still want space for entertaining family and friends. Carriage Gate continues to be an integral part of downtown Burlington’s exciting evolution, with a number of projects in the planning stages.
Specializing in the construction of high-quality homes, modern condominiums, commercial developments and urban high rise communities, we embrace the future, appreciate the past and celebrate the dedication that has brought us to this point, where we can ensure our commitment of being “Home to New Living.”
 By Pepper Parr
March 2, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
In comments made when the Amendments to the Approved but-not-in-force Official Plan were passed by Council they argued that it took some time to get it right to have an Official Plan that could be defended at LPAT hearings.
 Executive Director Heather MacDonald, centre, taking all the questions during discussion on changes to planning policy. In a comment attached to the Media release sent out late last week Executive Director Heather MacDonald, who handles the Planning files, said it is not unusual for there to be appeals to Official Plan changes.
I don’t think she was ready for a total of 31 appeals (and counting?)
Lisa Kearns the Councillor for Ward 2, where much of the planned development is to take place, slipped some comments onto her Facebook page saying it was “important that you know what’s happening at City Hall.” And added that “This week marked the close of the appeal period for the planning policies that were approved by Council on January 30th for the lands in the Interim Control By-law (ICBL) boundaries.
 A detailed explanation on what has and probably will take place – didn’t hear much of this during council debates. When the amendments and the zoning changes were voted on it was hailed as an historic day for the city. “The ICBL (development freeze) will continue as a result of appeals which prevent the policies from going into effect. It is important that your Councillor provides clear and understandable information about the process. Many have keenly followed this year long process as City Hall sought to address issues of growth pressure and how transit designations affect growth
Why are we here today?
“The community asked me to deliver on pushing the city for a more sensible approach to growth and accountability surrounding development. I have been steadfast in keeping residents up to date on the approach Council has undertaken to achieve this.
“We have made it clear there is no simple approach or ‘silver bullet’ to untangle the complex systems that support planning applications that are not compatible with the community vision. A technical process has delivered solid planning policy that tightens zoning controls which address height maximums and podiums, street line setbacks, active transportation elements (ie: bicycle parking, mid-block corridors, streetscaping elements), and community institutional use.
“Through this process, areas within the ICBL boundaries were identified with no zoning designation, particularly near the Burlington GO. This means that the planning process everyone is familiar with through pre-consultation to statutory public meeting, and council decision do not apply to developments in these areas.
“The result is no public engagement, no community benefits, and no limits beyond the Building Code; applications go straight to technical Site Plan Approval. We have brought tighter zoning controls that the community supports in the land generally being downtown and at the Burlington GO.
 Councillor goes long winded then buries her remarks on a Facebook page. What does this mean to Residents?
“Burlington has committed to community responsive growth management that ensures growth respects council approved height and density for land use as set out in its planning instruments. For clarity, this includes the existing municipal planning policies, and any revisions from the Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw (ICBL) studies and recommendations. The resulting policies, that are now appealed, seek to deliver this for residents.
“This means residents can be confident that their elected officials are working in their best interest using the resources and tools best available. We will continue to defend these policies that represent good planning created by independent consultants.”
Councillor Kearns makes no mention whatsoever about what the city is really up against. The public has yet to actually see the appeals that were filed and thus don’t know what the appeal documents say. Nor does the public know who is representing the developers.
Has one law firm taken on the task of asking for the same thing in the appeals or will the city have to face 31 different lawyers?
A resident who managed to have discussions with the developers, said that they are very upset and believe they have a strong case. Only time will tell.
 Mayor’s claim “Burlington is Open for Business.” What we do know for certain is that nothing is going to get built inside the boundaries of the Interim Control Bylaw. And that cannot be good for business despite the Mayor’s claim that “Burlington is Open for Business.”
Councillor Kearns asks if the decision to make the Official Plan amendments and the zoning changes “was rushed”.
Her answer is no. Here’s why: “An interim control by-law is rarely enacted by a municipality because of the sheer magnitude of freezing development. Council voted to support Staff’s recommendation to enact this tool in the Planning Act as a response to:
• Growth pressures that continue to emerge for the lands in the study area where multiple pending developments propose intensities that are significantly higher than those anticipated by the 2018 Adopted Official Plan
• The role and function of the John Street Bus Terminal as a Major Transit Station Area (MTSA). Its designation as a MTSA was relied upon by the Ontario Municipal Board in its decision to allow a 26-storey development that was opposed by Council in 2016, citing that as a MTSA, the terminal could support intensities well in excess of those contained in the Official Plan.”
 Everything in that dotted red line is frozen territory from a development point of view. No cranes in those parts of the city. Kearns said: “I continue to stand by this decision and appreciate the strong position Staff bought forward for consideration. In the clearest terms, Staff would have been mandated to continue accepting and processing planning applications that vastly exceed in-force planning permissions. Essentially, it would be difficult to ever conclude a planning application for final recommendation without creating a new planning precedent. This is not an effective way to manage our city’s growth intentions.
“Were appeals expected?” Some yes but the 31 that came in the door in a few days must have been a shock.
“Did the City decide to extend the ICBL?” No, it didn’t. The moment an appeal came in the ICBL was locked and would stay in place until every last appeal is fully heard.
 A great day for all of them – now they get to sweat out the hard stuff. When the amendments were passed on January 30th, “Two scenarios were possible at the close of the appeal period on February 26th, 2020. The first would see no appeals to either the official plan amendments (OPA#119) or the zoning by-law amendment (ZBA 2020.418) that was approved by Council bringing the new policies into effect, and the subsequent lapse of the ICBL on March 5th, 2020.
“At that time, all new planning applications would be reviewed against said policies, resulting in a planning recommendation report either supporting or refusing the development application.
“… the second scenario has taken place. All it took was a single appeal to the zoning by-law amendment (ZBA 2020.418) approved by Council to extend the ICBL until such time the appeal(s) were dealt with by LPAT. The result is effectively extending the freeze on development for the entire land use study area.
The problem with this explanation by Kearns is that the impact of an appeal was never really discussed, unless Council did so in a closed session. The level of risk Council was taking was never detailed.
City staff did work diligently to meet Council’s commitment to complete the work within one year and lift the freeze on the lands within the ICBL boundary.
Here’s what happens next:
The City Clerk will compile the appeal record for all of the appeals filed and send them to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal in order to schedule a Case Management Conference (CMC) at a future date under the LPAT which adjudicates conflicts during the process of land use planning.
Transparency:
“This council has committed to integrity and transparency on all issues, including the ICBL. Significant effort has been made to keep the public fully engaged and aware of each step of the process.” That doesn’t explain why Councillor Kearns published these comments on just her Facebook page.
To her credit she did say something. When asked by the Gazette for comments, Councillors Nisan, Sharman, Kearns, Bentivegna and the Mayor went mute.
 Councillor Stolte – listens and speaks when she knows what she is talking about – fiscally prudent as well. Councillor Stolte did send in a comment saying Councillors were informed of the appeals on the 27th and they were told then what that means – the ICBL would stay alive until all the appeals were heard. Councillor Galbraith said the original Gazette report and the clarification set out his position.
This story is far from over. It will plague council and might take a hunk out of their hides.
We will know more when the city releases the content of the appeals. You can bet that there is a lot of strategizing going on at city hall these days. Know too that the Legal department budget either has or will be getting a major boost.
By Staff
February 26th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
CLARIFICATION: City Executive Director Heather MacDonald said at a council meeting that the Interim Control Bylaw, put in place March 5th would be allowed to expire in March 5th, 2020. That was the intention.
Developers impacted by the ICBL had 20 days after the end of the one year ICBL to appeal the decision that was made in 2019.
More than 30 developers chose to do just that – which meant the city could not repeal the bylaw until all the appeals were heard by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). How long that will take is something over which the city has no control. All the city can do is appear at the LPAT hearings and defend their original decision to put the ICBL in place back in March of 2019.
The announcement that the city was not going to let the Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL) die a natural death on March 5th, surprised many.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward in front of city hall where she is making Burlington a much different city. Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said; “Burlington remains open for business and the city honoured our commitment to complete our work within one year and lift the Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL) that affects 1% of our total land.
The appeals will now extend the ICBL. We will fight vigorously to defend the policies we have created. They are founded on sound planning principles based on evidence and a one-year independent consultant study.
They also reflect the vision of staff, council and our residents for the future of our city. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the right development in the right place at the right scale.”
Executive Director Heather MacDonald at a Standing Committee with city manager Tim Commisso on the left and Jamie Tellier, a planner on the right Heather MacDonald, Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility said: “Given the significant level of development interest in Burlington, and in particular the Burlington downtown and lands in the vicinity of the future mobility hubs, I am not surprised by the number of appeals that have been filed. It’s not uncommon for a significant change to an Official Plan to attract a number of appeals.
“After listening to the submissions made as part of the public meeting held on Jan. 14, 2020, staff did work hard to resolve issues raised and make changes to the planning instruments where possible.”
Obviously the work done by staff wasn’t sufficient and they decided to fall back on the ability to extend the ICBL. Hackles will be raised within the development community – and billable hours will rise within the legal community that serves the interests of the developers.
Quick Facts
• An interim control bylaw (ICBL) is a tool available to Ontario municipalities as part of the Planning Act. An ICBL places a temporary “freeze” on the development of certain lands while a municipality is studying or reviewing its land use policies. The restrictions can only be imposed for one year, with a maximum extension of a second year. An ICBL may not be appealed when it is first passed, however the extension of the ICBL to a second year may be appealed.
• Developments in the study area that submitted applications for site plan approval, in accordance with the approved zoning bylaw, prior to March 5, 2019, were exempt from the ICBL study area.
• During the one-year “freeze” on development in the study area, the ICBL Land Use Study:
o Assessed the role and function of the downtown bus terminal and the Burlington GO station on Fairview Street as Major Transit Station Areas
o Examined the planning structure, land use mix and intensity for the lands identified in the study area
o Proposed updates to the Official Plan and Zoning bylaw regulations as needed for the lands identified in the study area.
• On Jan. 30, 2020, Council approved the revised recommendations from the findings of the Interim Control Bylaw (ICBL) Land Use Study, including the approval of the proposed Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw Amendments resulting from the ICBL Land Use Study.
• On Feb. 6, 2020, the public was notified of plans to lift the ICBL and the 20-day window for appeals. Appeals were due to be filed with the city clerk on or before Feb. 26, 2020.
The avalanche of appeals appears to have been the justification for extending the ICBL deadline.
No mention is made of possible exemptions for some of the developments that have been hard hit by the ICBL decision.
By Pepper Parr
February 18th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Part two of that awkward Audit Committee meeting last week.
 City manager Tim Commisso defending staff and the serious problems with the CRM system. Commisso kept coming back to the statement that being a city that understands, accepts and embraces change is where we need to be – adding that “we are not there yet”.
The Mayor said she will want to see regular reporting back on where Change Management is working – she wanted to see that come from the CSRRA committee.
Councillor Sharman then asked what the Customer Service Strategy actually was. Jones said she couldn’t answer that question – she was the Auditor and handed it off to Angela Morgan who was implementing the Customer Service Strategy when the city first committed to CRM.
Morgan explained that the city had hired AtFocus to help create a Customer Service Strategy for the city. With that report in hand the city then went looking for a software solution that would make the strategy a living service.
The City chose a solution developed by Rock Solid Technologies (RSTI), which is specifically designed to address customer relations management within small to medium-sized municipalities and is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics. The solution, containing Customer Relation Management (“CRM”) and Knowledge Base (“KB”) components, is branded as RESPOND and is designed to centralize the City’s customer contact centre.
The city then re-engaged Rock Solid to do the tactical plan for the implementation of a CRM service adding that they will be reporting back to staff on that early in March.
 Councillor Sharman wanted to know ‘who was providing guidance to our team?’ This wasn’t giving Councillor Sharman the comfort he was looking for. He wanted to know who was providing “guidance to our team” saying he wasn’t at all sure there was a Project Management Plan. He didn’t ask Morgan what the difference was between the Tactical Plan she had coming to her and the Project Management Plan that Sharman believed was essential.
Who was guiding the design and the implementation of the design? asks Sharman
Commisso cuts in and explains that “we did have a vendor and we also had some lady working with us.
Fabi Karimullah explained the structure that was used to handle design and implementation issues when they cropped up that involved Business Process Management and Business Process Reviews – all in collaboration with the vendor
Sharman came back with. “I’m still not getting the answers to my questions and asked: Did we have any guidance from the very beginning; seasoned CRM specialists who have done this dozens of times before and would help staff through or did we just make it up?
Jones added that the city had engaged the vendor as an implementer.
Sharman cut in and said: Who would do that?
The room got very quiet.
 From the left: Project Manager Fabi Karimullah and Executive lead for Customer Experiences Angela Morgan Angela Morgan then said there wasn’t the needed buy in at every level – it is a change management situation and we are dealing with it.
She added that there are people in Service Burlington who are really excited and love working with it.
The pause that is taking place is because there was some background foundational work to get done – she didn’t elaborate on just what that work was.
Lisa Kearns told the Audit Committee that this was a very awkward meeting. Kearns wanted to know: How are we going to untangle the buy in problem and the Change Management problems?
As Councillors we were told that we were going to use the system and that people would email us at ward2@burlington.ca in my case and everything would flow from there. The email sent to ward2 never got to me it went somewhere else to be resolved.
“I went along with that. But the experience didn’t feel like the experiences I had when I was procuring CRM services and when I was involved in implementing them.
“I want the city to help me untangle this mess.”
City manager Commisso said he would untangle it for her admitting that it was a mistake to put city Councillors at the front end of the roll out – without all the city departments involved there was going to be a disconnect.
That there was.
Commisso then added that the relationship with the vendor was that of a partner which was supposed to make it all right.
Partners have skin in the game. There is an upside reward for performance and penalties when targets and expectations are not met. No mention made of rewards or penalties for the vendor.
Commisso did say that the city could have put more into it.
The tough part for Commisso is that this wasn’t a situation he created but it is on his desk and he is going to have to work hard to clean up the mess. He thinks he is going to need as much as 18 months to achieve that.
The mess was former city manager James Ridge’s parting gift to the city. He was ushered out the door the day after the new city council was sworn in.
Kearns wasn’t a part of the city council that approved the project – she was a Councillor who had to deal with it and was looking for a level of agility to become part of the corporate culture with no gotchas or looking for people to blame but instead looking for possible positive outcomes.
“We are having a very uncomfortable conversation” she said – “we need to pivot to a more positive place.”
Councillor Sharman was going to close out the meeting with some very tough words for Staff. He wanted to know where the Project Management Plan was, where were the Gantt charts, the time lines. He wanted to see the “who does what when list created by people who have done this sort of implementation more than a dozen times.”
“Change management is part of this but Project management is the core; identifying the roles and responsibilities along with the implementation methodology.
“Where is the Project Management Plan?” asked Sharman. “Where was it, can we see it; was it that complex or did we just start off down a path and stayed on that path?”
 Sheila Jones had just told Councillor Sharman that it would be inappropriate to give him the Project Management plan he wanted. He suggested there may not even be a Project Management report. Sheila Jones was not going to give Sharman what he wanted saying that the transition and the turn over was a part of the problem adding that “it was unreasonable for an Audit committee to hand out a Project Management plan – that would be a “fingers in” approach when what Council should be doing is a “noses in” approach.
Giving the Committee a copy of a Project Management Plan wouldn’t be appropriate or helpful.
“Management has taken the Audit report and taken action” said Jones.
Councillor Sharman’s response was direct and close to brutal: “Ok, so I understand you to be saying it is none of my business.”
The room went suddenly quiet
Mayor Meed Ward moved the report – it was to be received and file.
Council comments followed with Kearns asking: “What is Customer Service to us. People don’t like be treated as a ticket number. Customer Service has to have a community lens and we don’t have that now adding that she has little comfort with where things are now.”
This all comes back to city Council on the 24th. Will council buy the argument that it is a Change Management issue or will they look for deeper systemic problems and hope that with Sheila Jones at the helm and Tim Commisso riding herd on the work Angela Morgan has to get done the problems will get resolved. He wants 18 months to do all that.will resolve the problems. Council will be in the third year of its first four year term. Is this an election issue?
The Audit committee does not include every member of Council; several that we talked to had not watched the web cast.
They have work to do.
An observation: Throughout the two hour Audit Committee meting there was never an occasion when Councillor Sharman, the committee chair was directly in front of the web service cameras. It was difficult to capture decent images of him as he made strong arguments for a different approach. Is the Councillor camera shy? And has he asked the audio visual specialist not to zoom in on him with the cameras?
Related news story.
Part 1 of the Audit Committee meeting on the CRM system.
Below: Sharman at work in council meetings. He can be very effective.
   
By Pepper Parr
February 18th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The Audit Committee heard the report from the Auditor on the problems with the Customer Relations Management (CRM) system that is long, involved and at times confusing. It is broken into two parts. This is part 1.
It started out quietly enough – there were those awkward moments when Council members know they are going to ask some tough questions and staff sit at their spots and wait for the questions about a situation they know is a real mess. Councillor Sharman who is the Chair of the Audit Committee with Councillor Lisa Kearns serving as the vice chair, were facing off with Sheila Jones, the auditor who produced the report. Jones is now the Executive Director, Strategy, Risk and Accountability.
 Councillor Sharman as Chair of the Audit Committee and Councillor Kearns put some tough questions to the city auditor and the city manager. Sharman opened the meeting by saying to Sheila Jones: “I expect you want to speak.” He certainly wanted to ask questions.
Kearns asked Sheila Jones: What promoted the audit?
Jones replied: “The Business lead approached her asking her if she would consider doing an audit.
“I jumped on it” said Jones
During the discussion about the status of the CRM and the audit that was done by Jones the names of other staff were rarely, if ever, mentioned. It appears to be bad practice in Burlington, to actually name the people who did work in the past.
Kearns then wanted to know: What did we learn?
Jones: We looked at the Project Management activities to learn what had been done.
Angelo Bentivegna asked Jones to: Take me through what CRM does. Bentivegna’s understanding of the technical IT side of the municipal sector has always been limited.
 Auditor Jones: CRM is going to help us get to know our customers. Jones explained that CRM was the best way to “get to know our customers”
The program administration started out in the Clerk’s office then he went to a Project management office. There were no timelines in the Auditor’s report making it difficult to pinpoint just when the CRM system configuration went off the tracks.
Angelo asks: The pause now then is to regroup?
How long before we know what happens next?
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward chimed in saying she was a huge believer in customer service and was fine with technology being used but “the challenge with this one” is the way it has been rolled out and that it doesn’t give us what we need, which begs the questions “is this the solution for us”?
Mention was made of the institutional database that would get created and the issues with employee transition.
Do we need to go back to square one, she asked?
At this point city manager Tim Commisso spoke; not something he does all that often and rarely does he speak at length or with all that much passion.
We saw a different city manager last Wednesday, who said at the time that the software the city had chosen was “functionally rich; a platform you can build on”.
He added that he had considerable experience with CRM systems. “They do work” he said and the one we have chosen is amongst the top three on the market.
There will be a portal that people can look in on and self-serve themselves for information he said.
 CRM systems: They do work said the city manager The people behind the CRM service decided that a staggered roll out was best; that meant that for those who were part of the early phase would be working with somewhat limited service.
The decision to make members of city council part of that roll out is one that the Clerk has admitted was a mistake. City Councillors find that they are stuck in the middle of a problem they didn’t create; didn’t have much input on either. They were new to the job of being a city Councillor and then were saddled with a system that didn’t meet their critical needs; that the Clerk’s office chose to use Councillors first is yet another example of the dysfunction of that office.
One of the reasons for the staggered roll out appears to be that the CRM project was not properly resourced and didn’t appear to have strong leadership at the top.
One Gazette reader wrote the city saying:
 James Ridge – former city manager. “It is evident that the senior leadership team and the then city manager James Ridge were not invested in the process from day one. FTE were never fully deployed from the respective departments from what is (sic) sounds like. Like any large scale enterprise change, if there is resistance at the top there is inevitably failure. I am sure the project team had a good rollout strategy that did not include the mayor and council being on the forefront of the bleeding edge of a pilot. That blame will need to sit on the lap of the politicians. They should have been late adopters after process gaps were identified and corrected. But here we are getting Lisa Kearns to tell us all that the staff didn’t get it right. It is a corporate system built for staff to handle the operations of the city through a public lens. There is certainly lots of bashing going around. In a nutshell, overworked staff, a pathetic budget, a non-strategic senior leadership team and a champion now retired and writing books.”
City manager Tim Commisso admits that “we are not there yet and suggested it might be as much as a year to a year and a half before the city is getting what it believes the CRM service can deliver”.
 The CRM mess is something that was well along before city manager Commisso arrived. But it is now his problem to resolve. To be fair to Commisso – the project was in really bad shape before he was brought in as an interim city manager.
He was hired in January of 2019; Sheila Jones produced her report in November of 2019. Commisso was stuck in the middle of a mess that he had nothing to do with – to his credit he is soldiering through it.
Mayor Meed Ward is completely onside with the technology, which she admits she doesn’t understand all that well – she has chosen to trust the man council hired to make things work at the administrative level.
Her question to Commisso, Jones and the rest of the people involved was: “What do you need from council? And how do you help us help you?”
Fabi Karimullah told the Audit committee that the software is not difficult to operate. Previously Commisso had explained that staff do not have to write any code to get the benefit of what a CRM system will do. It does however have to be configured properly. Poor execution on the configuration, no independent support on doing that configuration along with very poor buy in from a number of departments combined, led to the mess staff are now working their way through.
No one appears to have understood just how big an impact the creating of a CRM system was going to have on staff – it meant that a lot of things were going to be done differently but no one did anything to bring staff onside.
Change management just wasn’t something that anyone gave any thought to. Sheila Jones told council that to the best of her knowledge there is just one person on staff who had any training in Change Management.
Jones admitted the subject wasn’t anything she had any experience with other than being aware of the discipline. Jones was the auditor and was doing that job very well. She had succeeded in bringing a higher level of discipline into processes.
When the Business Review process was put in place back in 2014 when Jeff Fielding was the city manager, Sheila Jones spearheaded the introduction of the service and did a fine job of explaining what it would do.
The job she did then didn’t get done with the CRM program -as that became evident during the meeting Councillor Sharman began probing – he had some idea as to what had taken place and how serious the mess was.
 Christine Swenor, the Chief Information Officer, realizes now that her staff are going to be more embedded in working out the CRM problems. Councillors Sharman and Kearns were almost like a wrestling tag team in the way they stick handled the questions they put to staff.
The Information Technology (IT) people realize now that they should have been embedded in the CRM process. They did take part in determining which vendor would provide the service. Christine Swenor said that IT was not responsible for the implementing of any Change Management; she did agree that IT should have been more embedded in the process that was taking place.
One wonders just what the Burlington Leadership Team (BLT) was doing while the problems were getting more and more serious. The BLT is the organization that has representation from every department, usually from the Director level. Apparently there were no red flags raised at that level.
So, a pause is in place. For how long? And what is it going to cost? No one asked that question.
One resident asked the Clerk:
“Did it ever occur to anyone in 2015 when you engaged “citizens, council members, staff and citizen advisory groups” that the public would not want the City to have “their personal information” on record, no matter how “committed the City is to protecting our personal information confidential and secure”. We are well aware that nothing is “secure” on the internet.
“As for the staff who are currently using the new CRM System they seem not to know just what is expected of them. When I go to the Service Burlington desk with my case number after two weeks of hearing nothing and I am told that I have to contact the Mayor’s office, with no attempt at even checking to see if the email ever was received in the Mayor’s Office there is a problem.
“When Councillors indicate that they haven’t been receiving any emails that is a problem. Please explain how this new system is going to streamline engaging with residents “to better serve and respond to customer information and service requests?
“I hope that the Mayor and Council take a very good look at this system and how it impacts communicating with residents, especially since most residents have no idea that their personal information is being kept on file.”
City manager Tim Commisso said “we can see the big picture but we are not there yet.
The resources needed are in place and the Executive lead, Angela Morgan, reports to the city manager. Commisso said: “We are in a good place now and I am comfortable.
Fabi Karimullah, the current project manager, explained that the CRM is more than just the software – we had to determine what the software was going to do and how it would be configured, and also to determine if we were ready for the change.
There were customer relations people in departments whose role was going to change.
Commisso said on more than one occasion that what was needed was stability, focus and execution – none of which appeared to be in place. “We have to explain to people what the service is going to do and then to deliver on that explanation.
Kearns wanted to know what was different now; Commisso responded that the product and the vendor are what is needed to do the job and that there is now a dedicated project management person in place.
Karimullah added that there are still a number of steps to be taken before everyone is truly talking to each other.
The scope of the project has to be determined, she said. Asked if the CRM service will be integrated with other systems Fabi said “if you throw enough money at a program it can be integrated with anything but that may not really serve the customer’.
Christine Swenor added that process efficiency was another serious consideration; there had to be a single source for the data.
 Kearns: Was a Staff Direction needed? Kearns asked if a Staff Direction was needed.
Commisso didn’t think so but suggested that CRM could issue reports that were similar to what the ERP project is delivering.
 Mayors wonders if “internal terror has taken over city hall. The Mayor added that city hall is “both excited and dealing with internal terror”. How are we going to manage that?
Angelo Bentivegna asked about the risk involved: Will we lose everything we have done so far?
Commisso admitted that there is a risk – and that is in developing a culture at city hall that accepts and embraces change.
Sheila Jones added that she was working with Prosci (the Change Management consultants) and that different departments were at different stages of getting on board the need for change. Her immediate target was a state of “structured discipline that is fully understood and embedded in everything that is done.”
So – up to this point we know the planned CRM system is a mess and no one is sure just how the mess is going to get cleaned up.
The report that was “received and filed” goes to city council at the end of the month.
In part two we learn just how deep the problem is and we learn that Staff want council to be “noses in and fingers out”. Sheila Jones basically refuses to give Councillor Sharman what he wants.
The question that hangs in the air is: Is this really a Change Management problem or was it a monumental screw up with no one prepared to take responsibility.
Part two follows;
Related news story:
How Results Based Accountability was introduced in 2014.
Councillor Kearns raises the first red flag the public saw on the CRM problem.
By Staff
February 11th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board announced an historic agreement today with Mohawk College and nine Ontario school boards for a voluntary agreement establishing a large-scale learning partnership offering students opportunities for new skills, curriculum connections and research, as they learn first-hand how to reduce the carbon footprints in their schools.
 Parents listening to how the iStem program at Aldershot was going to work. The second grade 9 class will start in September. The initiative, called Climate Change Leaders, has a potential audience of 270,000 students in the participating school boards, giving young people a more active role in reducing carbon emissions in their schools while helping Canada move one step closer to meeting its obligation to the Paris accord.
In addition, Mohawk College will introduce micro-credits in Climate Change and related topics for students, teachers and staff.
This exciting partnership is exploring enhanced experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM), offering new pathways for students toward co-op placements, apprenticeships and new jobs in a low carbon, circular economy.
To transform schools to lower carbon will require school boards to examine deep building system retrofits for mechanical and electrical building systems. Once most of the energy waste is removed, the next phase is to develop on-site renewable energy systems such as solar, geothermal and battery storage. The investment funding aspiration is to use energy saved from retrofits and energy produced from renewable technologies to fund capital investment. Financially, this will have no impact on taxpayers, while exploring the creation of many new jobs, apprenticeships and student co-ops.
 Stuart Miller, HDSB Director of Education Today, the partners gathered to sign a non-binding, collaborative memorandum of understanding, agreeing that the climate crisis is well documented and the path is clear: we must dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy. Working together, they commit to increase their efforts to help solve the climate crisis and explore opportunities to combine technology demonstrations with experiential learning, while building the capabilities and capacity to transform to a low-carbon community.
Stuart Miller, who was interviewed on CBC Radio earlier on Tuesday said that the MOU between Mohawk College and a number of School Boards in this area is a wonderful opportunity and an example of educational bodies collaborating to address the challenges of climate change.
The school boards represent 250,000 students and it is the synergy of us all working together that will do much to address our environmental issues in this part of Ontario.
By Pepper Parr
February 11th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
There is much more background in a report from the Audit committee that will be going to a Standing committee later this week on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service the city has been struggling to get efficiently operational.
 Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns – saw some serious problems and didn’t see much in the way of solutions. The first the Gazette heard that the problems were serious was when ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns reported to her constituents that she was experiencing problems.
The Audit Committee report provides a lot of background. In their report they provide seven audit findings that are cause for concern.
Burlington has been talking about finding a way to communicate more effectively with people – city hall calls them customers, since 2016 when they hired AtFocus Inc., a consulting firm, to help create a Customer Service strategy for the city. The project was given the working title of Service Brilliance – which unfortunately hasn’t exactly shone.
Add to the CRM was a Knowledge Base which combined, was to improve customer service in city services through greater efficiencies in the management of queries, requests and issues.
Most Burlingtonians wanted to stick with the kind of situation where they can just call their Councillor or a staff member and get answers to their questions. That wasn’t the way city hall saw things working. There isn’t a staff directory on the city web site.
The city chose a solution developed by Rock Solid Technologies specifically designed to address CRM in medium to small sized municipalities and is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics. RSTI uses a cloud based hosting provider.
The project has a Steering committee – 9 department directors and the project manager; the city manager is described as the Project Champion.
The team consists of:
Project manager (project dedicated),
Business operations coordinator (project dedicated),
IT business analyst (originally part-time; now project dedicated),
Business lead (part-time from Clerk’s Department),
Business process coordinator (part-time),
Corporate change management lead (originally part-time, now project dedicated),
Communications lead (part-time
The CRM project has faced a long journey to acceptance within the organization. The idea for CRM was first proposed over 10 years ago.
The project began in early 2016 and its place as a corporate project was established in 2017. Since then, the project has experienced several challenges
The project team was originally established within Clerk’s Department and transitioned to the Corporate Strategy and Projects Office in early 2018.
Project Manager –this role has been filled by 4 individuals since the project started in2016. The most recent transition occurred in May 2019.
Business Lead –This role has recently transitioned to a new City employee. The previous business lead had significant corporate knowledge of the project given their role as initial project manager and their involvement in the RFP, vendor selection and privacy impact assessment.
Project Champion –This role transitioned to a new employee in January 2019. That new employee is the city manager.
Training Lead –This role has recently changed.
Steering Committee –The steering committee was the original Customer Service Steering Committee(since 2015), transitioning to the project steering committee with membership expansion/change in 2018.
Corporate change management lead–this role was assigned to the project, with 20% availability, in early 2018.
Information Technology –the involvement of ITS in the project was limited. While involved in the RFP process and vendor assessment, their involvement in the implementation was focused on integration with existing systems and preliminary security assessments.
The scope of the audit that was done – which is the report being presented to the Standing Audit committee on Wednesday, was limited and specifically excluded the procurement/purchasing process and decision leading to the selection of Rock Solid Technology as the vendor for CRM software and implementation support.
There were seven audit findings.
Governance where performance and responsibility were looked at.
The CRM project charter indicates project oversight by named individuals who are directors of participating departments, managers from partner functions, and the project manager.
Whether a program or a project, clarity of roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority establish the foundation for accountability, improve productivity, save time, minimize conflict and set shared expectations and understanding of the project/program mission and deliverables.
The breadth and depth of discussions, member participation, and meeting frequency are factors contributing to project governance. When any one or all of these factors are not operating as intended, the governance of the project may not be effective.
The current pause in the CRM project implementation provides the opportunity for the steering committee to re-group and consider its mandate and effectiveness including: Definition of broader plans to coordinate and implement initiatives to deliver the Service Brilliance Strategy. Clearly define the roles, responsibilities and authority of the steering committee, project sponsor, and project team members in an updated project charter (or program charter.
Conduct a self-assessment of the Steering Committee’s effectiveness considering quality of information for discussions, meeting attendance and meeting frequency.
Establish a decisions document to track key decisions made by the steering committee, project sponsor, and project manager. This log will also support on-boarding of new steering committee members, project team members and on-going operations.
There is far too much detail in the lengthy staff report for a normal news report.
The problems with the service the city wants to put in place have resulted in a pause until the issues are resolved.
It will be interesting to see what Staff add to the report they want council to receive and what Council has in the way of questions.
The public isn’t happy, staff are not happy; the staff turnover has been alarming.
More once the Audit Standing Committee has met.
Related news story:
Kearns brings up problems with the way constituents deal with the city.
 By Staff
February 6th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
It is not just the traditional and known developers who want to build in Burlington.
Metrolinx operates the GO train system in the province including the three station in Burlington; the GO station on Fairview, the station in the west end in Aldershot and the station in the east end – Appleby Line.
During the council meeting that was deliberating at the “Taking a Closer Look at Downtown report last week, it became clear that the Planning department was quite aware of that Metrolinx had plans for the property owned around each of the stations.
 Entrance on the south side of the Burlington GO station; some are concerned about having to cross that wide roadway with buses coming in one after the other. The focus right now is the station on the north side of Fairview where there are land holding north and south of the railway tracks. Metrolinx has an interest in developing their property.
Jim Young, a transit advocate told the Gazette that Metrolinx will consider development at all its stations where there of profitable potential. They are said to be particularly interested in providing retail space where commuter convenience can be offered.
Metrolinx didn’t spell anything out but is reported to have said that serious consideration being given to additional parking. Currently Metrolinx 77,000 parking spots and plans on adding another 23, 000 system wide …possibly 800 in the Burlington market. It wasn’t clear if this was for all three Burlington stations.
The audience was told that Toronto Star reports that parking fees were in the future were “unsubstantiated and not under serious consideration at this time.
 Electrifying the Lakeshore west line and offering 15 minute service is part of the going forward plan – no dates on either yet. Electrification of the Lakeshore West line is more of a long term plan with no specific dates. The type of electrification has also not been determined. Overhead or diesel/fuel cell hybrid being technically evaluated.
Same with 15 minute service – no specific date; Metrolinx is working with local transit bodies to ensure local support and connections are in place.
Why no Presto scanners on trains like they have on buses? Buses charge per journey. ….. Trains per stop/station.
There was some serious criticism of Wheelchair Access at Burlington GO The distance from Parking to first access ramp and the roundabout route from entry to elevators and back to platforms is a problem issue.
No answer on why old north side bus terminal has 11 bus bays while south only has 6. This causes city buses to drop people on Fairview, on both sides of road with danger of crossing and buses waiting to connect with train causing traffic snags.
 Naming rights for the GO stations – wonder what they will go for? Naming rights for stations is under consideration .. But not committed yet. One wag wondered how popular TD Aldershot or RBC Appleby would be would be after the first derailment or passenger injury on the news at “Named Station”
Related news story:
Metrolinx shows its development hand.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward delivered her second State of the City address this morning to members of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce.
The Gazette has published these addresses for the past nine years.
Good Morning!
How’s everyone this morning?
It’s great to see you out – thank you so much for being here.
I really look forward to sharing with you today, although you’ve gotten some really good highlights already.
I really appreciate you coming and giving the gift of your time to me and to each other to learn about what’s happening here in the City of Burlington.
I’m going to keep our focus sharp this morning – I do want to allow as much time as possible for your questions. Normally I get five minutes of speaking time at Council. I think I have 30 today, so that’s a great gift.
I’m going to cover what we’ve done and what’s ahead.
You will see that we are the “giddy-up let’s go” council.
This is a group of folks that has packed, I think, 4 years’ worth of activity into the first year, so I’m really looking forward to what we’re going to do over the next three years.
But before I get started, I would like to offer some thankyous and acknowledgements.
First of all, I’d like to thank Carla and her team for organizing this event in a brand-new spot and changing it up a little – our wonderful Performing Arts Centre – so thank you Carla for putting this together for us.
We couldn’t do this without our sponsors of course: Cogeco, Bell Canada, Burlington Hydro and Durward Jones Barkwell & Company. Thank you for your support and of course to Cogeco and YourTV for broadcasting this.
I’m also glad to have our City Manager, Tim Commisso here, members of the city’s senior leadership team, as well as representatives from our partner agencies, boards and commissions. Thank you so much for being here.
And of course, my fellow councillors are here with me today.
I will call their names…they can stand and if you can hold your applause until the very end so that you know where they are if you would like to talk to them after.
So, we have Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith;
Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns;
Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan;
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte; and
Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna
 Chamber of Commerce chose the Performing Arts Centre as the venue for the annual State of the City address from the Mayor. I’d also like to thank my husband Pete Ward who is here in the front row, and our three children for another year of outstanding support. I wouldn’t be here on this stage without the support of him and my family and I thank him for sharing me with the community to do the important work that you’re going to hear about this morning.
You, in the community, are why we do what we do.
And I want you to think as we go over what’s happened and what’s coming, think about “Is anybody better off?” “Does any of it matter?”
And you’ll hear the voices of citizens, to answer that question.
COMMUNITY PRIDE
So, let’s start with Community Pride.
Burlington as you know was recognized in 2019 as Canada’s Best Community to Live and to Raise a Family. Now, we knew that already, we all know our city is number one, but it’s very nice to be recognized by others.
Many of you know that I’m not from Burlington. We moved here, my husband and I and our three kids, in 2000 for many of the reasons that we are celebrated as the number one community: we have an amazing waterfront, nature on your doorstep, healthcare, community amenities, great employment and jobs, and arts and culture.
But the very best part of Burlington is you: the people.
One of the privileges I have in being Mayor is meeting the incredible residents who quietly make our city better, from the Gift of Giving Back, Canada’s largest youth driven food drive (and we have representatives here today – they didn’t know I was going to say that and I didn’t know they were going to be here, so thank you), free weekly community dinners at our local churches, fundraisers for clothing, for cancer research, for poverty and so much more.
And as the city’s Chief Storyteller – that is on my business card – I get to tell the stories of the people and businesses that you’re going to hear about today.
Our community events are always a highlight and last year was no exception.
Burlassic Park was an amazing accomplishment and planned in a matter of days to celebrate and cheer our Raptors on to their historic Number 1 championship. I can’t say enough about the staff, many of whom are here today, who put this event together for thousands of our residents to come together and celebrate. And I heard from many people in the community – Burlington residents – that that made them proud to be a resident. I also heard from people who are not from Burlington that were envious of our ability to pull this off.
So, here’s just some of the things our own residents have told us they love about our city:
 Family Room of the Performing Arts Centre where the Teen Tour Band performed the day the building was turned over to the public, The Mayor addressed the Chamber of Commerce at this venue. You love our waterfront and our Teen Tour Band.
All our incredible volunteers throughout the city.
You love how we have everything we need but still have a small-town, friendly, warm people.
You love our trails and green space, our beaches, our festivals, and how family-friendly & inclusive we are.
And you love that we have a safe city full of outdoor programming all year round.
We have so much to be proud of, and one of my main responsibilities is to recognize and honour our businesses and our residents.
In 2019, I launched the Key to the City program after Mike Taylor who was with the Walk Off the Earth band died suddenly, and we had no meaningful way to recognize him. He put Burlington on the map when they travelled internationally.
So, Mike became the first recipient and we announced a new Key to the City program at a remembrance event that we held for Mike in Civic Square that was organized, again, in less than 7 days.
The key features the city crest, and there’s a lot of neat stories about the crest – you can look that up online or ask me about it in the Q&A, but it also features green for the escarpment, blue for the waterfront, trees, and our slogan at the City, which is “Stand By” and that can be taken in one of two ways: Stand by or with me, or stand by for orders – be ready for action.
And I think both are equally true of Burlington.
Residents told me that they were thrilled with the key. It was made here by a local artist. One person told me they thought it had an ethereal look to it, and how it reflects just how magical Burlington is.
A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to present 2020’s first Key to the City to Gordon Schottlander, at his 95th birthday party. He is a veteran of D-Day, landed on Juno Beach, and fought for our ability to gather in peace and freedom and for me to stand here on this stage.
As you can see he is still going strong, dressing like a boss. He plans to learn the piano and play at his next birthday party. I would say Gordon is my 95-year-old goal.
We took the opportunity this past year to honour all our Veterans. I hosted Juno75, a free sold-out event right here in this room, and I was privileged to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day memorial ceremonies in France, with our global ambassadors the Teen Tour Band, local residents, and another one of our D-Day vets, Jim Warford, who sadly, died earlier this week. And we did lower our flags at City Hall to half-mast to honour his legacy to us. Jim was an awesome ambassador to our city and our country and he will be sorely missed by his family, friends and the community.
The Canadian Juno Beach Centre and Museum as some of you may not know is there in France because of Burlington residents. One of our own veterans, Garth Webb, thought of the idea in a basement on Woodward Ave. Every other country had something to honour the contribution of their soldiers on D-Day except for Canada. So he worked with the mayor of Courseulles Sur Mer to locate it there He worked with residents to raise money and get money from the federal and provincial governments. And, of course, it was designed by one of our local architectural firms, Chamberlain Architects. And we’re now discussing a potential twinning relationship with Courseulles Sur Mer, to continue to honour and solidify our connection and the legacy our veterans gave us.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE? WHAT’S AHEAD?
So what have we done at City Hall, and what’s ahead for us in 2020?
We took a 25-year strategic plan and we broke it down into what we can accomplish in the four years of this term of council, called Vision to Focus, or V2F for those who like acronyms.
A key mandate for this council has been controlling the pressures of overdevelopment – particularly in the downtown. We have always been open for business and we want to ensure the right development, in the right place, at the right amount, and enshrine your community vision for our city going forward.
So last year we launched two studies: one was to review the Major Transit Station Area designation downtown and at the Burlington GO station and the second to review height and density downtown that was in the Adopted Official Plan approved by the previous council. This MTSA designation was used by the provincial land tribunal to overrule city council and the community and allow a 26-storey building in a 4-8 storey zone. So we knew we had to do something.
We instituted a one-year development freeze downtown and at the Burlington GO Station to study the MTSA. That study found that our Burlington terminal, ticket window, as some would say, and shelter, does not function as an MTSA, and that the bulk of new population growth is going to be around our three GO stations.
So, later today, right after this we’re going into a meeting to approve new policies in our Official Plan that reflect the difference between the downtown MTSA and the Burlington GO MTSAs and will limit the pressures we’ve been experiencing of overdevelopment. And we’re on track to lift the development freeze by March 5, as promised.
The other study was a review of the height and density in the Official Plan that was adopted by the previous council. This (current) City Council approved a new concept earlier this week that limits height in a number of areas including Brant Street, Village Square, and nearby established neighbourhoods, and it does direct height further up Brant Street where the community asked for it to go.
So we are planning to update our new Official Plan with policies that will come back in April and then send that to Halton Region for final approval this spring. And at the end of this work, we will be approaching the province to review the MTSA and the Urban Growth Centre designations downtown, which have contributed to some of the over-development pressures we’re experiencing. And the studies and work we are currently doing will position us well for those conversations.
In the meantime, Burlington has remained open for business. The Interim Control Bylaw development freeze affected 1% of Burlington’s land. The purple on the map shows all the current projects that were happening across the city last year, and we get more applications every week. We are, and we remain, open for business.
So, is anyone better off? Here’s what one resident told us:
“I’d like to say how impressed I am with the work that you and your staff are doing, especially with fighting the downtown overdevelopment. Dillon’s report sounds very promising and I’d like to encourage you and your staff to keep going and prevent the beautiful downtown from becoming a tall concrete jungle. Your efforts are much appreciated.”
ENVIRONMENT & GREENSPACE
Protecting our environment and our greenspace was also a key deliverable for this council.
In 2019 Council declared a Climate Emergency to ensure that all our decisions consider the impact on the environment. And we also repeated that at Halton Regional council and some of our Mayors are here today.
This week we implemented an urban private tree bylaw – after 9 years of debate! Over those years it has been a very divisive issue, but this council worked hard to hear the community and come up with something we all could support and the vote ultimately was unanimous. We also successfully advocated to the province to back off of plans to open the Greenbelt for development last year.
Our Cityview Park Pavilion will be net carbon zero using solar panels and we’ll be redeveloping the Skyway Arena to be a low carbon operation with initiatives like geothermal heating. We already have 29 electric vehicle charging stations on City of Burlington property with more on the way thanks to the 2020 budget. And we’ll continue to contribute to the Bay Area Climate Change Council with our partners at Mohawk College and the City of Hamilton.
And we’ve invested more money in each of our budgets in tree planting and are starting a task force this year to partner with citizens groups, agencies and corporations to invest in more tree planting.
So is anyone better off?
One resident sent me this note about the Climate Emergency Declaration:
“This is a great strategic imperative for our city and I appreciate the update on some of the tactics and future plan.
Proud of my city and appreciate your leadership.”
TRANSIT & TRANSPORTATION
We are also looking at ways to ease traffic congestion, and one of the best ways is to increase transit use to get more people out of their cars. This is a very transit-friendly council, and in the last two budgets, we’ve added additional funding for more buses and more drivers.
We also brought in free transit for seniors at off-peak hours, for low income residents, and for students under 12. And this year we are talking to school boards about partnering on free transit for high school students. And it’s great to see the Chair of the Halton Board here this morning and at least one of the school trustees.
So is anyone better off?
Well this led to a 34% increase in senior ridership, an absolutely outstanding number, and overall a 10% increase in transit use in less than a year.
One resident said this:
“I wanted to thank you for the bus program that you guys have given people on fixed incomes allowing those using Split Pass to ride for free. It has opened up my life and allowed me to travel a little more than I normally would have. Thank you so much. When you live on fixed income it is hard to do much of anything but this program helps so much, you have no idea…thank you again.”
And about a week ago I was here in this room for Chinese New Year celebration and a woman approached me who was so appreciative of how the free seniors transit programming is enabling her and her friends to get around town easier that she made me this amazing piece of art personally and gifted it to the City as a thank-you.
BUDGET
So let’s talk about budgets. We actually passed two budgets last year, the first delivered the lowest tax increase in 8 years at 2.99% on the city-portion which is about a third of your bill, and more recently our budget was 3.99%. When that is blended with the Region and Education taxes it delivers an overall increase in line with inflation, at 2.44%.
Our budgets are focused on community priorities: investing in infrastructure, tree planting, more transit, a new community centre at Skyway Arena, and more. And we’re always looking for ways to save money. Each year staff find about $1million in savings. We also applied for and received funding from the province’s Audit & Accountability fund to review and find savings in several areas of the city, including the city fleet, and our planning department.
So…Is anyone better off?
I got this note recently:
“I am proud how well Burlington is trying to stay within budgets and cutting wasteful spending. Too many politicians use taxpayer money as a personal piggybank to fulfill their frivolous fantasies with little regard to whether the people want or need them. I’ve lived in Burlington since 1942 and love this town. I think our new mayor is doing a great job.”
COUNCIL & CITY HALL
We set a goal of fostering respect and civility at City Hall – we can disagree about issues without being disagreeable. We respect diverse voices and experiences, and we want every voice to be heard, around the council table and in the community. And we’ve delivered.
This council works together with each other and with the community, and here’s just a few examples:
I’ve partnered with Kelvin Galbraith on the Red Tape, Red Carpet task force, and the Tyandaga Quarry community council.
I’m working with Paul Sharman and Kelvin Galbraith on the review of BEDC, TechPlace and consider a potential Municipal Development Corporation.
I’m working With Rory Nisan and Shawna Stolte this year on the free student transit.
I’ve worked with Lisa Kearns on downtown overdevelopment.
And of course with Angelo Bentivegna on countless flag raisings and fundraising events.
We are committed as a team to working together for the good of our city and we’ll keep doing so in the years ahead.
And right away, people noticed a change.
One of the first comments I got after a council meeting last year was this one:
“The difference in how council, committees and staff work together is palpable at city hall and throughout the city. Citizens at city hall and council meetings are not only respected but are heeded. Thank you council and staff for listening and adapting to a whole new mindset so quickly and graciously.”
COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
We’re also building collaborative relationships with fellow mayors through my membership in the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario, and with our local representatives at the provincial and federal level to advance the interests of Burlington. We had the Prime Minister visit us last year, and in the near future will hope to welcome the Premier of Ontario for a visit.
We’re also building global relationships through our twin city partnerships with Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, where I’ll visit this May with councillor Nisan, and Itabashi, Japan which we both visited last October. Those twin city visits occur once every five years.
The goal of twinning is to build bonds of friendship and peace, increase our understanding of other cultures so we can welcome diversity in our own community, we learn from other cities how they tackle major issues and advance our economic interests. We learned that we have much in common: from dealing with flooding and the impact of climate change, to affordable housing, transportation and building a global economy. Most of you know I love seafood, especially fish, and I learned new ways to eat fish! It was in my sake, and that’s a true story, and I even ate it on a stick at a local festival, which was wonderful!
I got this note on social media during my Itabashi trip:
“I really admire how you and delegates are not doing just fun “tourism” stuff, how you are all deeply going into areas and history of devastating parts of Japan as well – which will help move forward with understanding and knowledge on how to better promote friendship, peace and camaraderie between both communities and cities and countries!”
AWARD-WINNING BUSINESSES
So I want to take a minute now to update you on business activity over the past year and what’s ahead – so many great things are happening in our community and our businesses often operate very quietly. Last year I had the pleasure of touring some of our unique and award-winning businesses that are putting Burlington on the map globally.
I toured Samuel & Son company and they make steel so if any of you drive a Tesla it might have some local steel in it.
I went to PV Labs in Burlington who recently got an investment of $4M US from Lockheed Martin and they also made the gimbal – which is a housing for cameras – that was used in the Marvel film Black Panther and have won both an Academy Award AND an Emmy for their technical contributions to movie-making – that’s amazing!
I met local businessman George ‘Sandy’ Thomson from Thordon Bearings when receiving the prestigious Elmer A. Sperry award in recognition of a new technology that they developed in the 60’s, this is an oil-less water-lubricated bearing for ships. What it means? It has prevented millions of litres of oil from polluting our lakes and oceans.
We also have a local business, Precision Records, that did the vinyl pressing for Kendrick Lamar’s album Damn, which won the Pulitzer prize ever for a rap album, and they’ve also pressed records for other groups like The Tragically Hip.
And I toured Hunter Amenities so if you’ve ever washed your hair in a hotel room, you’ve probably done it with Hunter shampoos, anywhere in the world.
MAYOR’S RED TAPE RED CARPET
At last year’s State of the City address I announced the formation of the Mayor’s Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force, that was co-chaired by my fellow councillor Kelvin Galbraith. Burlington Economic Development was also a key partner as were city staff. We spent six months listening to our business community and heard a few things about what we were doing well and we heard about what we needed to do better.
The result is 22 recommendations that were unanimously passed by Council and are already being implemented. You can follow our progress of all 22 recommendations on the website that is up on the screen and continue to give us feedback there as well.
So, is anyone better off yet?
Let’s hear from our businesses:
“I am so impressed, not just by these recommendations but by the team, the process and the time-line that produced them. Our Mayor and Council should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished. I look forward to seeing all of these recommendations implemented, and to the fruit they will bear, particularly in the Rural Area.”
One of the recommendations that we made was to create a role focused on liaising directly with business owners to remove obstacles and challenges – that’s the “roll out the red carpet” piece. Mike Greenlee at the City has been doing a great job, stepped into that role immediately and I know from personal experience that he has helped dozens of situations and quickly gotten people the answers they needed and helped move business forward.
ONE BRAND LAUNCH
Another of the Red Tape Red Carpet recommendations was to create a stronger value proposition and branding for Burlington and…you heard it here first…watch for the launch of Burlington’s One Brand – an initiative that came out of the city’s 25 year strategic plan to create one unified message that speaks to one city, one story, and can be used equally by residents, businesses, and City staff. It will better position Burlington to compete for investment, talent and tourism, as well as build local pride. A project team comprised of Burlington Economic Development, City Hall Corporate Communications, and Tourism Burlington has been formed to create the brand.
A GREAT TEAM TO WORK WITH
In closing, none of this would be possible without a great team to work with on staff and council, so I’d like to leave you with their words about what they are most proud of this year or looking forward to and maybe a few little-known facts about them.
Tim Commisso, our new City Manager is already proud to be part of our strategic leadership team, and in his words, he works for a visionary and passionate Mayor and Council. So thank you Tim. His goal is clear and aligned with our #1 Community ranking: to be the Best Run municipality in Canada based on achieving Council’s approved customer experience and strategic outcomes. My goal, and Tim’s is this: if you could choose a city hall across the street to do business with, we want you to still choose us.
Little known fact – if you have a morning meeting with Tim, he’ll always bring coffee. And maybe also a scone.
Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith says that as a business owner himself, he really enjoyed the experience of working on the Red Tape Red Carpet initiative because business owners and entrepreneurs contribute so much to our growing economy and local employment. He found that hearing their concerns and helping to address them proved to be a very rewarding experience and helped ensure Burlington is very much open for business!
Little known fact: Kelvin is also a great source of fitness tips which are always handy this time of year! And he has the record number of kids on council at SIX! True story. Check his Instagram feed.
Councillor Lisa Kearns said the highlight for her has been the sense of possibility that runs through our city and that she is elated with the path we are on together. She’s proud of the Vision to Focus workplan, the efforts to bring a community vision to downtown, and the amazing progress we’ve made on matters that make us the best place to live, run a business, raise a family or age in place.
Little known fact about Lisa: her big smile and heart are part of her proud Newfoundland heritage thanks to her grandparents.
Councillor Rory Nisan was proud to bring forward the climate emergency declaration for Burlington, one of the first in Ontario, now being followed up with a climate action plan. He’s also noticed that since joining city council he has become an instant expert on…everything?
The highlight for Councillor Shawna Stolte in 2019 was the people: the enthusiastic, engaged residents of our community, the dedicated and hardworking staff of the city and the great group of passionate and committed Councillors/Mayor that she has the pleasure of working with every day. That’s a mutual feeling. Little known fact – although the secret may be out – Shawna is our official tree hugger, and the only thing Shawna loves more than trees is her three daughters, and the soup that she newly discovered from Saigon on Brant!
Councillor Paul Sharman from Ward 5 told me the most important moments and defining aspect of the last year was the huge learning process experienced by everyone and the degree to which our whole council has come up to speed.
Little known fact although some of you might know it well: His nickname around City Hall is “data guy.”
And finally, Councillor Angelo Bentivegna of Ward 6 told me about a few key phrases he now uses on a regular basis:
No, I don’t have all the answers
Sorry, but I can’t have your street plowed first
Please don’t ask me for a favour, and
Yes, I’ll be late for dinner
And a little-known fact about Angelo is that he will often bring you treats from the business he and his wife Diane have run together for years, Mrs. B’s Gifthouse. My personal favourite is the chocolate covered licorice. If you haven’t had it yet, you are missing out!
Like I said, this is an amazing group of people working together for your city and for you and I’m so proud of the work we have accomplished, and I truly look forward to the next three years.
I want to thank you again, so much, for your time and attention and for being engaged in what is happening in our City, for the support you offer our staff and council, myself – and each other.
— Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
Mayors’ 2019 State of the City addresses:
 By Staff
January 30th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
 Wow!
The words were barely out of her mouth and then there they were – in the land of tweets.
These appeared in the Mayor’s tweet account during the Special City Council meeting that took place after her State of the City address earlier in the day.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward had her Media and Digital Communications Specialist gathering what the Mayor had to say and sending them out to her twitter followers – the volume ranked right up there with the president of the United States – and look where THAT got THEM.
Here is a portion of the content.
 • For clarity, any policies that reference growth in the MTSA’s should also include reference to the overall MTSA typology which differentiates the characteristics between downtown and the GO station MTSA’s
Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility to consider the following modification to the proposed Official Plan Amendment:
Approve the proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendment as amended attached in Appendix E (https://burlingtonpublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=38757
) to supplementary staff memo dated Jan. 30, 2020 to community planning report PL-01-20; and
Approve the proposed Official Plan Amendment as amended attached in Appendix D (https://burlingtonpublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=38756
) to supplementary staff memo dated Jan. 30, 2020 to community planning report PL-01-20; and
3/8
 As the Mayor speaks her words are captured and sent out as short tweet bursts of data. Receive the Interim Control Bylaw Land Use Study report prepared by Dillon Consulting as amended and attached as Appendix B (https://burlingtonpublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=38753
) to supplementary staff memo dated Jan. 30, 2020 to community planning department report PL-01-20; and
The motion on the floor for vote follows:
Deem that no further notice is required in respect of the proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendment in accordance with Sect. 34 (17) of the Planning Act concerning a change to a proposed bylaw made after the holding of the public meeting; and 1/8
“… This is merely another step we are taking in this process and we have a lot of miles still to go.” 5/5
“… We saw from the consultant’s report our downtown bus terminal doesn’t function as an MTSA like our Burlington GO station & it won’t, no matter how many transit upgrades occur. This is a transit-friendly council & we will continue improving transportation in our downtown. 4/5
“… That’s our next step, and the consultant’s report positions us with solid planning rationale for these conversations with the Region and Province… 3/5
“… These policies will help us better manage growth in the downtown. There is also an outstanding staff direction to review the appropriateness of the downtown’s Major Transit Station Area & Urban Growth Centre designations at the end of the ICBL/OP review studies…. 2/5
Mayor Meed Ward comments: “This is a really historic moment and I want to thank staff, Council, all members of our community and the consultant. This is a significant milestone for the City in getting a community vision for our downtown & controlling overdevelopment… 1/5
Here is a link to a copy of the ICBL Land Use Study done by Dillon Consulting and revised January 2020: https://burlingtonpublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash
This is a classic example of what is wrong with the tweet world – no context, just a collection of phrases thrown up into the air hoping they will land somewhere.
Responsible, public leadership meets with media regularly to answer not just questions but follow up questions and is available for clarification. Burlington doesn’t have that level of municipal political leadership.
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.
By Pepper Parr
January 28th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
In the world of politics keeping clear communications paths is vital.
It means being nice nice to people you may not have a lot of time for.
A number of people have commented in the Gazette and asked: why doesn’t the city do whatever has to be done to move the boundaries of the Urban Growth Centre (UGC) which is a boundary the city must have – province says so. However, it appears where that boundary line is drawn is something the city can influence.
When the UGC was created Burlington either didn’t realize they could influence the boundaries or was satisfied with what the province handed down.
As you can see from the map below – that boundary covers all of lower Brant Street which many people don’t believe that’s where the city’s growth should take place.
The precincts that are shown are out of date. The city council elected in 2018 took a much different view and made some tough decisions. They drafted and passed an Interim Control Bylaw which froze development within the UGB – which really upset the development community.
Council also decided to re-write parts of the adopted but not approved Official Plan. That process is close to complete.
Burlington MPP Jane McKenna has written the Mayor offering her services to help with anything the province needs to do. In her letter to the Mayor there were some less than parliamentary comments. The two women have never really gotten along all that well.
Mayor Meed Ward responded to MPP McKenna in a letter dated January 13th.
It starts out politely enough.
Read on.
Dear MPP McKenna,
Thank you for your interest in the Official Plan Review matters detailed in my January 2020 newsletter. We’re honoured to count you among our readers and subscribers!
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward in front of city hall. We’re gratified that you have found the information useful, as have so many of our residents, and that the newsletter has prompted further dialogue about issues in our city, which is one of its purposes.
Please allow me to take the opportunity afforded by your correspondence to summarize the journey we have been on, where we are at, and next steps in the process of reviewing our Official Plan and vision for downtown.
Our current Official Plan was created in 1997 and has been updated more than 100 times since. Our current plan has enabled the city to be recognized at the Best City in Canada, and the Best City to Raise A Family, as well as achieve – 12 years early – our city-wide population of 185,000 by 2031.
We are also well on our way to surpassing our population and growth densities for the downtown of 200 people or jobs by 2031.
Nevertheless, in 2016, the previous council chose to develop a new Official Plan rather than continue to update the existing one. That led to the 2018 Adopted Official Plan, which the current city council is in the process of revising to better respond to the community’s vision for our city, particularly downtown.
To support the review of both the current and the Adopted Official Plan, council initiated two studies in early 2019: the Scoped Re-examination of the Adopted Official Plan related to the downtown policies, and an Interim Control Bylaw to conduct a land use study to consider the role and function of the downtown bus terminal and the Burlington GO station on Fairview Street as major Transit Station Areas and as well to examine the planning structure, land mix and intensity for the lands identified in the study area.
That work kicked off last February, and the one-year Interim Control By-law expires March 5th of this year.
Given the MTSA and UGC currently exist in Regional and Provincial policy and did so at the time we began our review, our work to update our Official Plan was required to conform to the existing designations.
 The transit station on John Street, which was once up for demolition as a cost saving measure, is defined as a Major Transit Service Area. Nevertheless, council and the community are keen to discuss the appropriateness of the designations. As a result, last year, council also directed staff to, at the conclusion of our studies, to review the designations for the MTSA and UGC downtown.
The ICBL land use study has just been completed, with the report released to council and the community in late December 2019. Discussion of this matter is happening at committee on January 14, 2020. The scoped re-examination of the Adopted Official Plan policies is expected to be completed and considered by council in April 2020. After completion of both studies, staff will report to council in May 2020 on any proposed changes to the Urban Growth Centre and Major Transit Station Area designations applicable to the Burlington’s downtown and the Burlington GO that could be recommended as a result of any proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments arising out of the studies.
Over the past year, the City has consulted with the Region on the status and process steps related to the ICBL land use study and the scoped re-examination of the Adopted Official Plan policies. The City will continue to work closely with the Region of Halton and the Province on any further changes that might be proposed regarding the Urban Growth Centre and Major Transit Station designations as the result of the report directed to be brought forward to Council following completion of the studies. It is expected that the process to seek any changes to provincial legislation will be complex. While a formal request to Province would ultimately be required, there would be several steps that would first need to be completed including reporting back to City and Regional Council for required approvals.
The sequencing of steps is to ensure that our discussion on all planning matters, including these designations, is grounded in good planning analysis, policy and principle. This will be particularly important should the City ultimately seek any amendments to the provincial Growth Plan.
 Burlington MPP Jane McKenna was first elected to the provincial legislature in 2010 , lost the position to Eleanor McMahon in 2014 and regained the seat when she defeated McMahon in 2018. We believe the analysis provided by both studies will be immensely helpful to the Province, Region and City of Burlington as we move into the next step of discussions together about the MTSA/UGC designations downtown.
We welcome and will need your involvement and assistance in this next step and appreciate the offer in your letter to work with myself, the city manager and council on these matters.
I look forward to the next step in this journey and am grateful for your continued assistance in these matters.
Signed The Mayor of Burlington.
When it comes to pecking orders – MPP’s trump Mayors. The city is required to work with the local MPP. Meed Ward does not have the best of relationships with the current MPP nor did she have a particularly strong relationship with the former MPP, Eleanor McMahon. Based on this observer’s experience the chemistry between the Mayor and the MPP’s just wasn’t there.
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.
By Pepper Parr
January 27th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
How did city council spend an afternoon and well into the evening hearing what Director of Community Planning Heather MacDonald had to say about the process being used to review the material prepared for the Scoped Review of the Downtown portion of the adopted but not approved Official Plan and get to the point where they received and endorsed the document?
Staff presented its report, explained what they did to get input from the community; council then asked Staff and the consultants that were hired to come up with ideas as to how the downtown could be developed – those ideas then had to be codified – put into language that became the rules used when development applications were being considered by the planners.
 The cover of the report sets out the challenge: pictures of the Burlington that is – with a building site ready for a construction crane. Getting input from the community was no small matter. Planner Alison Enns went more than that country mile coming up with ideas that were interesting, innovative and did aide in getting a clearer picture of what the public wanted.
This time Planning Staff did the work – the public could have done more. Burlington has a small stable of people who delegate and comment – that stable could be a lot larger.
Enns is reported to have spent her Christmas holiday writing and revising so that documents were ready in time.
The Planners were first asking that the report could be received – it could have been deferred.
They then wanted endorsement of the report – which Enns explained wasn’t approving everything in the document but it was telling the planners that they were going in the right direction.
However before the endorsement was recommended by the Standing Committee there were a number of amendments that came from Mayor Meed Ward and ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns who had spent all of the weekend prior to the Thursday meeting going over the recommendations in the SGL report; combing through them precinct by precinct and writing up the changes they wanted to make.
The Staff report they were working with was titled: Taking a Closer Look at the Downtown: Preliminary Preferred Concept“, January 2020.
The first step was to:
Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation, and Mobility to consider the following during the development of policy modifications to the adopted Official Plan:
appropriate built form;
enhancement of transition provisions in the Downtown East Mixed-Use Precinct, to ensure an appropriate interface with the areas to both the east and the north;
enhancement of provisions to protect the existing character and streetscape of the Downtown East Mixed-Use Precinct, with particular attention to the pedestrian experience on Elizabeth Street;
appropriate built form in the V2 area of Village Square Precinct, with appropriate performance standards to avoid or mitigate potential impacts from new development on the existing low-rise buildings on Martha Street and existing low-rise buildings west of Pearl Street;
policy or mapping-based solutions to acknowledge, protect, and enhance existing community institutions or other private organizations that provide public services or amenities; and
Recognize the need for a transportation corridor through the Mid-Brant Precinct without presupposing that it must be a road, to allow consideration of the appropriate function of the new transportation corridor during the block planning exercise; and
 Upper Brant Mixed Use precinct. The numbers refer to the different height limits that were being proposed. The hope was that there be some form of parkland as well. Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility to consider, during the development of policy modifications to the adopted Official Plan, enhancement of transition provisions in the Upper Brant Mixed-Use Precinct north of Ghent Avenue to ensure an appropriate interface with the established neighbourhoods to the east; and
In order to send the recommendation to council the Standing Committee first had to pass them.
Direct the Director of Community Planning to prepare detailed modifications to the Adopted Official Plan to implement the recommended concept as discussed in community planning department report PL-02-20 and in the report titled “Taking a Closer Look at the Downtown: Preliminary Preferred Concept“, January, 2020, prepared by SGL Planning & Design
CARRIED
Amendment
Moved byMayor Meed Ward
Endorse the recommended concept in PL-02-20, Appendix A, subject to the following modifications:
Exclude from endorsement, subject to the considerations in 2, the recommended concept for the lands identified as:Village Square Precinct V2 sub area; and
 Mayor Meed Ward worked through a weekend with ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns on crafting amendments to a staff report on what the changes to the approved but not adopted Official Plan would permit.  Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns worked with the Mayor during a weekend to craft amendments to a Staff report. Baggy gym pants were the dress of the day according to Kearns. Downtown East Precinct located east of Elizabeth Street and south of Lions Park, and the block bounded by John Street, Maria Street, Elizabeth Street, and James Street; and
Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation, and Mobility to consider the following during the development of policy modifications to the Adopted Official Plan:
appropriate built form;
enhancement of transition provisions in the Downtown East Mixed-Use Precinct, to ensure an appropriate interface with the areas to both the east and the north;
enhancement of provisions to protect the existing character and streetscape of the Downtown East Mixed-Use Precinct, with particular attention to the pedestrian experience on Elizabeth Street;
appropriate built form in the V2 area of Village Square Precinct, with appropriate performance standards to avoid or mitigate potential impacts from new development on the existing low-rise buildings on Martha Street and existing low-rise buildings west of Pearl Street;
policy or mapping-based solutions to acknowledge, protect, and enhance existing community institutions or other private organizations that provide public services or amenities.
CARRIED
Amendment
Endorse the recommended concept subject to the following modification:
 Mid Brant precinct Recognize the need for a transportation corridor through the Mid-Brant Precinct without presupposing that it must be a road, to allow consideration of the appropriate function of the new transportation corridor during the block planning exercise.
CARRIED
Amendment
Moved byMayor Meed Ward
Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility to consider, during the development of policy modifications to the adopted Official Plan, enhancement of transition provisions in the Upper Brant Mixed-Use Precinct north of Ghent Avenue to ensure an appropriate interface with the established neighbourhoods to the east.
CARRIED
There was concern over what was going to happen to the heritage structures in the Downtown which resulted in a Heritage study staff direction. They resolved that as well.
 The red sites are designated heritage properties. The blue are on the municipal registry Moved by Mayor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of Community Planning, in consultation with Heritage Burlington, to assess the heritage value and appropriate protections (including possible Heritage Act designations) for the potential built heritage resources and potential cultural heritage landscapes identified by ASI in their September 2019 “Cultural Heritage Resource Assessment of the Downtown Mobility Hub”, with funding source to be determined, and report back to Council with the assessment and associated recommendations by Q4 of 2020.
CARRIED
The concern over the development that was taking place at the Lions Park. staff direction
Moved by Mayor Meed Ward
Direct the Executive Director of Legal Services, working with the Executive Director of Environment, Infrastructure, and Community Services, to report back with options for the future of Lions Park.
With the recommendation motions put on the table, voted upon (all the votes were unanimous) the city was days away from having a bylaw that significantly modified an Official Plan pushed through by the previous council, despite a clear signal from the community that the plan did not meet the desires of a very significant community voice.
Was that group of people a majority? The election results suggest there was a majority – there was certainly a group of people who paid attention and advocated for a change.
Appeals are possible of course and something might come “out of the blue” at the Special Council meeting to take place on the 30th of January, but in the words of Standing Committee Chair Shawna Stolte “we are bringing it home” and those of the Mayor who said “we are close but we are not there yet” the city had an Official Plan that they believed met the immediate future needs of the city, gave the development community enough for them to be able to work with the city and was defensible should it get taken to the a Local Planning Area Tribunal (LPAT)
Some would say when and not should.
There are reports of up to three appeal applications to LPAT for non-decision on the part of the city.
By Pepper Parr
January 27th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Metrolinx sent the city a letter outlining their concerns with “the materials presented on January 14, 2020 for the Interim Control By-Law (ICBL) Land Use Study and the related proposed Official Plan (OP) and Zoning By-law (ZB) Amendments being considered by Council on January 30, 2020.”
Metrolinx’s interest is related to the proposed OPA and ZBA on the lands at and surrounding Burlington GO Station within 800m of the station and within 30m of the rail corridor.
Burlington GO station – south side “Burlington GO Station is served with regional rail service, which will be increased to headways of 15-minutes or better under the GO Expansion program by 2027. To capitalize on provincial investment in regional transit and to realize the intended benefits, Metrolinx is undertaking transit oriented development at and adjacent its stations to increase ridership, improve the customer experience and to offer more choices in modes of travel. Transit oriented development is, at its essence, mixed-used high density development well integrated with transit and all other modes. These objectives are consistent with the policies of the Growth Plan (2019), and 2041 Regional Transportation Plan.
“With regard to the proposed Burlington Official Plan and Zoning By-Law Amendments arising from the ICBL Land Use Study, Metrolinx requests the City:
• retain existing land use permissions and not approve the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments for the study area at this time;
• undertake additional analysis to demonstrate that the proposed land use and height permissions, at a minimum, support the Growth Plan density target of 150 people and jobs per hectare for the Burlington GO Major Transit Station Area (MTSA);
• consider greater densities within the MTSA, in order to incentivize transit oriented development and support the massive investment in regional transit currently underway as part of the GO Expansion program; and
• further engage affected stakeholders and landowners, including Metrolinx, in detennining the proposed land use framework for the ICBL study area, prior to presenting a revised proposal for City Council’s consideration.
More detailed comments on the ICBL Land Use Study and proposed OPA and ZBA are below.
Scope
Metrolinx’s comments on the ICBL Land Use Study and proposed OPA and ZBA are focused on our lands located at 2101 Fairview Street and 2120-2144 Queensway Drive, and those lands adjacent to and/or within 30 m of the active rail corridor where Metrolinx has an interest to ensure safety, operational, and policy compliance.
Comments have also been provided on proposed policies that may impact how future and recent GO customers access mid use Burlington GO Station.
 15 minute service by 2027 – imagine? Land Use
• Metrolinx supports the conclusion in the ICBL Study that the highest and densest buildings be located closest to the GO station. The study however, effectively down-zones lands in the M’I’SA at a time when the Province is-promoting transit oriented development that can leverage the benefits of the significant capital and operating investment in regional transit. This is of great concern to Metrolinx.
• Analysis should be provided by the City to demonstrate that the proposed height and land use permissions, at a minimum, allow for achieving the Growth Plan minimum density target of 150 people and jobs per hectare within 500 to 800 metres the Burlington GO station, which is a designated MTSA.
MetroLinx understands that the exact boundary of the MTSA will be determined through Halton Region’s Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) and that an interim boundary may be required for the City’s analysis. The boundary used previously in the Burlington GO Mobility Hub Study should be considered until the limits of the MTSA are confirmed by the Region.
• Metrolinx encourages the City to consider permitting densities above the minimum established in the Growth Plan, taking into consideration:
o the surrounding community context, including the existing land uses and block structure which provide any opportunity to transition between tall buildings on underutilized sites at the core of the MTSA, to lower density residential neighbourhoods:
o the frequent rail service being provided to Burlington GO Station;
o the Provincial interest in incentivizing transit oriented development to support the massive investment in regional transit currently underway as part of the GO Expansion program.
 • In addition, and with regard to the specific permissions proposed in the OPAs, we note the following:
o Recommendations in Section 14.2 of the Dillon Land Use Study and in Part Ill, Section 7.2.3 of the proposed OPAs in Special Planning Area “A'” significantly constrain feasible development on Metrolinx lands. When combining proposed public space allocations, maximum building floor plates, mid-block public right-of-way, and associated setbacks with existing rail corridor safety standards and setbacks, it becomes difficult to implement transit supportive development. A more fulsome investigation and analysis of the net result of these recommendations, coupled with rail safety standards needs to be undertaken.
o We note that the draft outputs of the on-hold Mobility Hub Study did not restrict development to 24 storeys and that the Mobility Hub Study conclusion was reached through extensive consultation with Metrolinx staff, other landowners, agencies, and the public. Until further consultation and analysis is completed, the existing height permissions should be retained.
Connectivity and Circulation
• Metrolinx supports conclusions in Section 6.2.1 of the Dillon Land Use Study relating to improved mobility and connectivity to Burlington GO Station and between the station and Downtown. Through the 2016 GO Rail Station Access Plan Metrolinx has identified several complementary recommendations that would integrate well with the ones proposed in the Study. It is encouraging to see that sustainable and active travel modes are being prioritized to move people within Burlington and to the station.
 Metrolinx wanted quite a bit more height than the Planning department is proposing. • Metrolinx also supports recommendations in Section 6.2.2 of the Dillon Land Use Study that support improvements to the local transit network and its operations; particularly the implementation of bus priority along Brant Street as this is also identified in the 2041 Regional Transportation Plan.
• Map 4 (Schedule M-1 MTSA Special Planning Area) from the proposed OPAs and Diagram SA from the proposed ZBAs note a new mid-block, public right-of-way running east-west between Fairview Street and the rail corridor. Metrolinx does not support this road bisecting the existing bus loop at the Burlington GO Station. If this proposed road were to be implemented, significant impacts to bus operations could be expected and bays, which are already at a premium, would be reduced. This concern was previously shared with City staff from the Integrated Mobility Team so it is concerning to see the road included in the proposed amendments.
Process
• In Appendix A, the overview and timeline details activities between 2006 and 2022. The anticipated future schedule of the Burlington GO Mobility Hub Study is requested to be included as it is understood the forthcoming Secondary Plan for the Burlington GO Station area would replace the ICBL recommendations.
• Metrolinx requests to be included in the Technical Advisory Committee and Landowners’ Group when the Burlington GO Mobility Hub Study (as well as Aldershot and Appleby GO) resumes.
• Metrolinx also requests further consultation on the delineation of the Burlington GO MTSA boundary and identification of height permissions and density targets through City of Burlington secondary planning and Region of Halton Municipal Comprehensive Review process.
One hopes that the GO trains run on a better schedule than the letter sent to the city. The public meetings on this issue are all but complete – they go to a special session of city council later this week.
At least Metrolinx is on record with their position.
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