Public gets a birds eye view of what might take place in terms of development in the downtown core - they now get a chance to make some recommendations.

By Parr

June 9, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The objective was to put the citizens, developers and the planners all in the same room and see what could be done.

It was an initiative that came out of Marianne Meed Ward’s imagination and it caught a spark.

The first of the four planned sessions was a hit – the Lion’s Hall room was close to capacity and there were a more than respectable number of developers in the room. The less than critically acclaimed ADI Group didn’t show for that first meeting and while invited no one really expected Paletta International to show either.

Meeting number two was held at the Performing Arts Centre where the audience was smaller but not by that much. What was quite different was the developers that did show up. The ADI Group had four people in their entourage who took part in some of the discussion.

Robert Molinaro was there for the second meeting and Jeff Paikin of New Horizons, the company that will build the Bridgewater project on Lakeshore made an appearance – selling the units is going to be the challenge there.  Paikin didn’t take part in any of the table discussions.

The developers’ appear to have come to the conclusion that this was perhaps a safe place for them.

The focus for the second session was on specific properties that had been assembled and where plans were not yet firm.

The Molinaro’s have two pieces of property on the west side of Brant either side of Ghent and they worked at a table with a group of people listening to what they thought could be done with the property.  The conversation was certainly animated with ideas being tossed around and, for the most part, the developers listening.  The Molinaro’s appear to have learned that it is better to work with the city than to try and buck the rules.  Their Paradigm project on Fairview south of the GO station and east of Walmart has proceeded smoothly because early in the game Meed Ward convinced them to meet with the community and hear their concerns.

Meed Ward did the same thing with the renovation to Burlington Square Plaza on the west side of Brant at Ghent, where a major change is to be made with the way the existing Brant Square relates to the street and replacing the existing two storey structure with a four storey structure and adding units into what is now an outdoor parking lot.

If the plans the developer talked about do make it to the construction stage Brant Street could have a significant commercial anchor where outdoor patios would fit in very well – the Downtown Destination could end up being quite a bit bigger.

The Wellwyn Interests had two land assemblies that they appear to want to add to; the largest is on Burlington Street – the location of a lot of history in this city.  They have assembled three properties on Lakeshore Road that are contiguous and four on Burlington Avenue that are not all contiguous.

Townhouses and a condominium on Lakeshore with something between 12 and 16 storey’s got mentioned – but there were few specifics coming from the architects who were at the table.

Any change to the look and feel of Burlington Street would be significant no matter what was done.  The development is in the St. Luke Precinct; a part of the city that is close to ferocious when it comes to protecting their community.

The land assembly on Maple Avenue, while outside the downtown boundary, was on the table for the public to comment.  It would appear to amount to some intensification in a part of the city where it would fit quite well.

The Welwyn Interests have in the past focused on rental accommodation and are reported to have significant holdings.  Townhouses would add to what they already rent and manage.

The next Downtown Destination meeting takes place at the Lion’s Hall on Wednesday the 10th of June.  This meeting will be to put forward recommendations for the best use of the properties.  The public listened to the plans the developers had or came up with ideas of their own – now they get to formalize what they think.

This approach is something very new to practice in Burlington however it is not a new idea.  During his first term of office Mayor Goldring brought in a number of speakers to talk about different ways to look a problems.  Ken Greenberg, one of the best planning thinkers in the country, told a Burlington audience that there was a better way to build a city and he urged city council to work with the developers and for the developers to work with the community right at the very beginning of a project.

Mayor Rick Goldring explains an idea to a resident during the first Downtown Destination workshop put on by Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward.

Has Meed Ward picked up on what Ken Greenberg suggested the city do three years ago?  Or has she gone in a new direction and wants to give the citizen’s a sense of the kind of Mayor she would be when she runs for that office in 2018?

Make no mistake here – Marianne Meed Ward will run for the job of Mayor in 2018 – every move she makes is part of the election plan.

Councillor Meed Ward has always been good at listening – is her Downtown Destination series of Workshops the kind of thing the city needs more of – will they be seen in the other five wards?

Meed Ward has shown that she is a considerably different political animal than the rest of council.  She asks questions and she isn’t afraid to step outside the box – and she certainly riles those members of Council with a significant Conservative bent to their thinking.

When Rick Goldring ran for the office of Mayor in 2010 the city didn’t know what it was getting – it had decided it didn’t want then Mayor Cam Jackson any longer and chose Goldring as the best alternative.  It took a first term in office to see what Goldring can do and what he can’t do; where his strengths are and what his weaknesses prevent him from doing.

The next civic election will have a candidate that we have had a good look at – we will at least know what we are getting.

Relevant articles:

Planner explains to Burlington how it can be done.