Plans to re-design the Millcroft golf course and add some housing: Mayor not in the loop at the beginning

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

February 20th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

 

This morning, at around 10:00 am, the Mayor and a councillor issued a joint statement related to some development on the Millcroft Golf course property.  Within minutes of the statement from city hall there was a media release from the public relations people working for the golf course owners.

There is an interesting situation developing.  Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Councillor Angelo Bentivegna jointly said:

Angelo watching Roru

Councillor Bentivegna joined the Mayor in issuing a statement on the development plans at the Millcroft Golf Course.

“Some residents in the immediate vicinity of Burlington’s Millcroft Golf Club have received a notice from property owner Millcroft Greens Corporation outlining an intent to redesign parts of the golf course and develop small parcels of land for residential uses.

“Millcroft Greens is a joint partnership between the Millcroft Golf Club and Argo Development Corporation. The partnership was created with a mandate to continue to operate an 18-hole golf course while introducing select parcels of land for new development.

“The property owner has noted for reasons related to safety and the length of the course, it would like to reduce the size of the playing area.

MMW confused look

The Mayor was not invited.

“It is our understanding that Millcroft Greens met with selected residents earlier this week and that this meeting was an introductory conversation about their preliminary plans with the community. This was an invite-only meeting that I and Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna did not attend.

“Separately, Millcroft Greens met with me and Councillor Bentivegna, along with city staff, to provide an overview of its preliminary concept.

“The City of Burlington has not received a development application from Millcroft Greens for this property and has not even held a per-consultation meeting to discuss a proposal.

“A second neighbourhood meeting with the community will be required by the City before any applications are submitted. At this second meeting, City staff will be able to provide details about application requirements and conditions, and Millcroft Greens will collect feedback that can be used to inform any future development applications. This meeting will be taking place on Monday, March 23.

“Once a development application is submitted to the City, it will trigger a formal process that includes additional public engagement prior to any Council decision.

Miillcroft mill

A well designed community that was started in the mod 80’s

“Any property owner has the legal right to submit an application and the City has a legal obligation to process any applications submitted. City staff review and make recommendations to Council to either approve, modify or deny the development proposal.

“Input from the public is always welcomed and considered throughout the application process.

“We will continue to update the community throughout this process, including once details for a general public meeting are finalized. Formal notice of that meeting will be mailed out to all homeowners in the vicinity of the golf course.”

Minutes later the public relations agency for the land got its side of the story out. KG&A, a corporation the Mayor will certainly know something about, sent the following.

“Representatives from Millcroft Greens, a new 50:50 joint venture between Millcroft Golf Club and Argo Development Corporation, are pleased to announce their intention to redesign and develop select portions of the Millcroft Golf Club. The golf course will continue to operate and offer a new challenging, executive 18-hole experience for golfers.

Miillcroft aerial

The development has a golf course mixed in with the housing.

“Millcroft Golf Club has enthusiastically served golfers in the Burlington community and beyond for approximately 30 years,” says Ed Liptay, owner, Millcroft Golf Club. “However, throughout our history, the property owners surrounding the course have faced numerous challenges including damages directly related to stray golf balls.”

“This new partnership gives us an opportunity to address longstanding issues with the golf course, while introducing a few parcels of residential development that respect the existing fabric and residents of this community,” says Gord Buck, Principal, Millcroft Greens.

“To mitigate property damages experienced by community members for decades, the redesign of the golf course by Millcroft Greens will include complete hole redesigns, changes to course length, repositioning of tee boxes, strategic removal and replacement of bunkers, and additional tree planting, while maintaining an 18-hole course. Based on these golf course improvements, five select areas have been earmarked for residential development, focusing on new, high-quality, single family homes to extend and elevate the existing community.

Millcroft 2

The aerial view of the proposed redesign and development of Millcroft Golf Club, which will improve the course and introduce new, single family detached homes keeping in character with the community

.

“Located between Upper Middle Road and Dundas Street, Millcroft Community is a premium neighbourhood in the city of Burlington. With nearby schools, retail businesses, parks and recreation, and calming natural landscapes, the Millcroft community is connected, convenient, and an attractive option for couples, families with children, and empty nesters.

“The redesign of Millcroft Golf Club is still in the conceptual stage; Millcroft Greens will be formally consulting and then making an application to the City of Burlington in the coming weeks.”

“Millcroft Greens is eager to collaborate and cooperate with the City of Burlington, Halton Region and residents. A public open house will be held on March 23rd at the Burlington Convention Centre.”

Noses are out of joint at city hall for not being invited to those early meetings; the owners of the golf course see an opportunity to do something about the safety issues, and you can never go wrong talking about safety in Burlington, and at the same time put up some very tony and high priced homes in a very desirable community.  These will be million dollar plus homes that will sell very, very quickly.

The corporate web site for the golf course is: www.millcroftgreens.com

Some background:

Launched together with the Millcroft Golf Club course in 1986, the Millcroft project in Burlington was a Monarch Development flagship community for more than a decade.

The 650-acre community already includes more than 2,400 single-family houses and townhouses, which wind their way around the rolling greens of the golf course. And as the community moves toward the 20-year milestone, Monarch launched the final phase of executive, single-family homes in the community, called Classic Greens.

They comprised of 166 houses on large lots. Some will back on to the 18-hole, semi-private golf course, and others will have basement walkouts. Homes will range from 2,051 to 3,778 square feet, and lots will be 50 and 60 feet wide.

Millcroft golf course

A large, safe community with a golf course built into it and now has a superb community centre, high school and library on the northern border.

Bungalows on 50-foot lots start at $422,900 while two-storey homes on 50-foot lots are priced from $427,900. The prices of houses on 60-foot lots range from $475,900 to about $585,900.

Millcroft residents will be able enjoy attractive natural surroundings, and be conveniently close to schools and shops. In addition to golfing, residents will have access to a 32-acre community park, which includes tennis courts, baseball diamonds and soccer fields. A short distance away is the Tansley Woods Recreation Centre.

Square footage: from 2,051 to 3,778

Price: houses on 50-foot lots from $422,900; on 60-foot lots from $475,900

Prices like those haven’t been seen in Burlington for some time.

The Monarch Homes Corporation was purchased by Mattamy in 2015

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19 comments to Plans to re-design the Millcroft golf course and add some housing: Mayor not in the loop at the beginning

  • Millcroft Love

    James, those quoted prices were in 2004!
    See the link below of the Globe & Mail article that discusses Millcroft home prices in 2004.
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/millcroft-tees-up-new-phase/article997393/

    In the late 80s Millcroft homes were sold for UNDER $300k!!
    These new homes going in will be priced at $2 million ish.
    We are 16 years too late haha

  • Kat D.

    I have lived in Millcroft for several decades and love it here, but am greatly saddened by the cloaked encroachment of profiteers on our lovely neighbourhood. Time to let our voices be heard, Millcroft, Alton Village, and Orchard Neighbours!

  • Eddie Connelly

    Alfred you do not know what you are talking about. If this is development land the golf course would never have been built. In the 1970’s the Davis government created a Green belt that runs right through Millcroft and that is the only reason the golf course was built as part of the land is designated park land.. Sounds as if you are a mouthpiece for the xxxxx.

    Editor’s note: If the writer is a spokesperson for someone – they should say so.

  • Richard Guest

    The argument that this is for safety reasons is a complete smokescreen! In Millcroft Greens own presentation the number of golf ball hits is highest by more than 40% on HOLE #18- a hole they aren’t even planning to touch! The number of hits on the 2 holes they want to eliminate and cover with housing have, combined, fewer hits from golf balls than hole #14 ( which they just plan to shorten for no plausible reason!). The 2 holes on which they want to build, partially, (#s1&16) have about 12 hits (TOTAL!) So spare us the phoney rationale- there is ZERO concern for preserving green space, the natural ecosystems in the development, the 400+ trees that are being cut down to build houses. No mention of safety for school children adding another 150-200 cars in an already “traffic calmed”, congested neighbourhood. It’s just another money grab for developers/builders, tax levies for the city, and loss of value for homeowners. No-one should buy Millcroft Green/ Argo Development’s story about “concerns for safety from ball strikes”! If anything, reducing Millcroft to a beginner-type par 3 course will draw beginner golfers and more, not less, errant ball flights!

  • Arthur Arps

    I moved into the neighbourhood and enjoy thoroughly golfing there usually when the rates are correct – it is not a true full length course but enjoyable at the right rate as a proper course. I have duffed the odd ball towards a fence or into a backyard over the years so understand the concern. the redesign altered none of this except taking the exceptional hole #6 away and hole #7, #2 and I think messing with a nice hole #18. 100 homes x $1mill = logic — this business case vs. the lost revenue for a par 70 to an exec par 18 probably makes more sense for the homes but it’s a pity a decent course will be lost for all intents and purposes. Am sure the rates won’t reduce to compensate for the executive course it will become. Saw Whet was lost recently too – so there’s still plenty of proper golf around – wish it wouldn’t change though!!

  • Marcie Jurczyk

    This is terrible news for the community. I live in Millcroft and back onto the golf course; I paid for that privilege and this will wipe out thousands from my property value.

    The safety argument is not reasonable, as a shorter course and denser homes will likely increase the number of balls landing in yards. Secondly, 98 new homes will result in additional vehicular traffic and pollution which contradicts the safety argument.

    I believe that shortening the course will make it significantly less attractive to golfers, thereby reducing the owners profits in the long term. So it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the course is sold and developed. All Millcroft residents should be aware that this is a distinct possibility.

    I agree with the commentators above to form a neighbourhood group. In the meantime, all parties should attend the developer’s open house and write emails, social media posts and letters to the Mayor and their Councillor to tell them that we are against this development.

  • S

    I reside in Millcroft and back on to the golf course. The green space that I currently back onto thrives with an array of wildlife. Are we so consumed in the GTA with destroying whatever few green spaces we have left for the sake of even more residential development? I am absolutely appalled (and so are my neighbours) by this proposal, but especially because it was weakly presented as a ‘safety’ solution. No windows broken, no injuries sustained and only a handful of golf ball collected in my backyard in over 20 years of golf course living – hardly a safety issue. Really Argo Development? Please be transparent and state how much revenue you intend to generate from this for you and your investors. Mayor Meed Ward and Councillor Bentivegna, your leadership and commitment to the Burlington residents who elected you are gravely needed right now to stop this plan for the sake of our community, our city and most of all, our environment!

  • Penny Hersh

    Mattamy has sold this property to ARGO Development.

  • Reg Fortune

    The only thing worse than this proposed partial redevelopment of the Millcroft Golf Course, would be the sale of the property and FULL development of the vacant space. We have to consider if the owners of the Golf Course need this project to maintain their long term investment in our community.
    I agree the reasons stated do not respect the common sense of the Millcroft property owners, who would prefer straightforward language. Not a deal breaker however, in my opinion.

  • Bonnie Beaudry

    I do not live in the Millcroft development, but I have been a member of Millcroft Golf Club since 1995. It’s a challenging, but walk-able course, making it suitable for intermediate and better golfers alike. And, it is the best maintained course in the area thanks to our professional team of greens keepers.

    With the new plan for the course changing it from over 5000 yds to a little over 3000 yds, it will be attractive only to new golfers and weekend duffers. If Millcroft thought window breakage was bad before, wait till this new configuration is put in place. (The developers must be breathtakingly naive if they think we’ll buy that “safety” rubbish.)

    A lot of people I’ve spoken to in our leagues have no plans to continue playing at Millcroft once it becomes an “executive” course. There are many other courses more worthy of our hard earned money. Also, I understand that more than 400 trees are scheduled to be eliminated, which would reduce the canopy and affect wildlife throughout the development.

    Hopefully, Conservation Halton and our own City Council will have robust involvement in the final decisions affecting this environmentally sensitive area.

    B. Beaudry

  • Mo. shahin

    I’m a Millcroft resident and i don’t agree about any changes in the neighborhood whether it affects me or not, this is clearly done for a corporation to make profits and has nothing to do with safety, I don’t think any of the Millcroft residents will allow something like this to happen.

  • Alfred

    Lynn. Just curious. Do you live in the immediate area? Will this development affect you in any
    negative way. Are you under the mistaken impression the golf course is a National Park or Conservation controlled land? Because it is not. It’s development land. No different than the land where you purchased your home in the Orchard. Who the owner is or why they are developing the property? Or how much profit they will make? Really confuses me as to why this could be remotely any of your concern. It appears to me that you don’t like any development anywhere. Quick have the Mayor throw an interim control by-law on the property.

    • Lynn Crosby

      Well Alfred the thing is I absolutely support good development and always have. You, by the way, are a developer, are you not? Of semis I believe? Probably you should mention that. I don’t live in the area but I know it well. My parents and my in-laws did for years. I happen to believe in standing up for what I believe is right even if it doesn’t impact me personally and isn’t right in my backyard. So I guess I’m sort of a non-NIMBY in that regard. Just as people who don’t live downtown still care about it, I also care about areas in the north and I care about things outside Burlington too. And I’m allowed to have opinions on things beyond my neighbourhood and express them. Of course developers can make money. It’s why they are in business. I’d like them to stop pretending it’s about safety or affordable housing or whatever else they come up with though.

      • Stephen White

        Well stated Lynn! Bravo!

        Thanks for the information on our friend “Alfred”. And here we all were thinking he was just a regular guy with no hidden agenda or profit motive expressing a different viewpoint. Hmm!!! So much for transparency! Always suspicious when people fail to self-identify and use their full name. It makes me wonder what else they are hiding.

        I do so love the way developers manage to dodge public scrutiny and circumvent rules and conventions around public engagement by failing to consult effectively with the public. The line about protecting public safety is priceless. Those errant golf balls must really be creating havoc up in Millcroft. Protect the public by building more houses and increasing density.

        Yeah….makes perfect sense …or not.

  • Louise Taylor

    The meeting was “private” only for invited Millcroft home owners affected by the changes. The developer is Argo. The letter sent to us was cryptic and the meeting scripted. There are a lot of very angry residents and the whole of Millcroft need to be informed of this butchering of our beautiful neighbourhood. We paid a premium for our home to back onto a golf course – and we won’t even be on the course of this plan goes through! Hole number 6 and 7 are getting wiped off the map (behind Country Club, Hadfield and Parklane) . My beautiful back yard is getting 33 houses shoe horned in. This is only one of the many changes affecting the whole area. The value of our houses lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in one night. This is only the beginning of a step wise gutting if the golf course. This has all been couched as a safety issue by the course owners when it is truly a plan to jam many more homes into green space area with huge profits for the company – all on the backs of all of the present homeowners. ThIs plan will destroy this area. We need to form a homeowners association to work together to stop this plan. Come to the community meeting March 23 to get more information and bring as many of your neighbours as you can. Strength in numbers.

  • Eve St Clair

    Wow a new developments other than downtown ………Imagine that . Will be interesting to see how Council plays this one out considering it’s in a land Council forgot exists ,north of the QEW. Not sure how adding new homes will increase the safety of existing homes as stated by developers

  • Lynn Crosby

    So this is owned by Mattamy now still? Hard to tell with the new name “Millcroft Greens”.

    Sorry but I don’t buy the excuse that this is about a redesign to the course to protect homes from golf ball damage … you could do that with redesigns and tree plantings without losing more green space. Surely this is about a new Mattamy (?) development of what will be very expensive homes. If it is Mattamy, I’ll say this: I bought a new Mattamy home in Burlington in the Orchard back in about 1997 … Mike Holmes spent quite a bit of time in the neighbourhood and had a particularly fascinating episode which many of us watched with interest… Ontario Proud raised over $500,000 for Ford and his party during the last election, Mattamy donated $100,000 to the cause I believe …

    This will be very interesting to watch – the selected homeowners that were invited to meet with the developer consortium – are they ones which did or didn’t pay premiums to back onto a golf course?

    And more big development with no affordable housing which we keep hearing is a key reason for intensification. Does anyone still believe that all of it isn’t simply about developer profit?

    • Tom Muir

      I was almost stunned that these Mattamy guys had the guile to think that we are so stupid that we would believe this is about safety and protecting people and homes from errant golf balls.

      Hello? Can you try that story again?

      Was the present golf course community not sold as such a thing?

      I didn’t know that there was to be a “final phase”. I was given the past impression that this development was done, and if I bought there I would think the same.

      Adding another intelligence insult that this would be a minor redesign to take out a few kinks for safety sake, but by the way, will make room for another 166 homes really takes the cake.

      Please stop the con. The land is bought and paid for long ago, on the cheap then compared to now, so we really have a $100 million at least in a gross sales windfall for nothing but this fairy tale story.

      Lynn has said the truth of the matter well enough for this venue.

  • James

    Or am I reading that wrong, and those were the prices back in 1986? That makes way more sense than how I interpreted this!