By Pepper Parr
June 27th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
It was described as “transformative”; the first public look at what the 1200 King Road property would look like based on architect renderings.
King Road on the right.
Aldershot GO station on the right.
This was an early look at what the site that would house 9125 people when the site has been built out.
A rendering of the park area of the 1200 King Road site. On the right, Mayor Meed Ward meeting with Paul Paletta during the viewing of the plans.
And when are they going to rebuild the King Road bridge over the 403 to deal with the traffic? Traffic already brutal without adding all this extra development.
Why would anyone want to live there? It is not connected to anything. They could have at least tried to connect this community island to the Go station with a lighter than rail transit jitney as Burlington transit does not service the north service road area. Oh and why not locate the arena close to the Go station.
Ok, now that we’ve had all the hoopla about the eyesore at 1200 King Road & every bodies patting themselves on the back as well as the politicians wading in as usual, what about the eyesore on Fairview Ave ->the nursery that closed down<- ??? Yeah that great development of 7 condo towers, how many years will we have to look at that ugly site before anythings done?
After all this time – years and years – of residents having to stare at the eyesore of the Palettas’ burnt out building – thank goodness the employees were all out of office on a training thing the day of the massive fire – NOW Paletta is going to get rid of it and rebuild. What timing – just as they launch this massive project.
Politicians and developers – I’ve had my fill of all of them. And every one of their endless photos with them all together smiling and laughing and playing games while shafting us all, and turning a blind eye to things which those with integrity would instead be calling out.
You have to love developers! Their use of the hyperbolic language to describe their proposed developments is something to behold. Words like “transformative”, “unique”, “extraordinary”, “ground breaking”, or “monumental”. It’s almost as laughable as their lovely artist renderings of their proposed developments. Soaring high rises reaching to the sky with lush landscapes dotted with trees, parkland and green oases. Once constructed though, all that surrounds them is sterile concrete. The only thing sillier is watching the pols cozy up to them at these open houses, and using it to schmooze while collecting photo ops for their election campaigns.
Now…back to reality. Downtown Burlington is butt ugly. Sorry, but it just is. It is quickly becoming a ghost town. It is devoid of stores. It has no vibrant downtown core anymore. Businesses have or are closing. Traffic is a nightmare. There isn’t enough parking. Green space is lacking. In short, the developers have ruined the downtown core, just as they are about to ruin other parts of this city with their hideous developments most of which look like housing projects lifted from some Soviet-era public housing project in Moscow. 9,000 people crammed into this development isn’t a community. It’s a future ghetto!! Moreover, what they are building bears no relationship to what prospective homeowners actually want.
Now, question is: who gets to tell the Emperor (a.k.a. Paletta) that this isn’t what people want? Just because he donated money 20 years ago to preserve McNichol mansion doesn’t give him carte blanche to rip up the rest of the City and re-create it in his own image.
Hear hear, Stephen! Extremely well said.
What is particularly galling is that members of this Council, aided and abetted by our local MPP, continue to talk about Burlington’s “vibrant downtown”. People have eyes. What they don’t have are stores, green space, easy parking/transit and a comfortable, welcoming aesthetic.