By Staff
February 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Millcroft Greenspace is an early, state of the art example of Green Infrastructure for stormwater management in Burlington, Ontario.
The floodplain, known as the Millcroft Golf Course, is currently designated as Major Parks/Open Space and was engineered to integrate creeks and naturalized ponds, allowing natural drainage from the nearby escarpment. The greenspace acts as a buffer before runoff continues through southern Burlington to Lake Ontario. The fairways are designed to be 2.5 metres below the rear lot lines of the neighbouring homes, which now benefit from decades of tree coverage and vegetation growth to slow the flow through the channels.
The concern for the community is that should the proposed development proceed the millpond will disappear which changes significantly the way storm water will flow through the Millcroft community south to Lake Ontario passing through other communities where the damage could be severe.
Burlington has already seen what severe flooding does to individual homes.
Managing of the storm water is a very real problem.
The community argues that if the storm water management infrastructure is changed it may not be possible to handle the flows they way they are now managed.
The community has been struggling to convince the province that a Ministerial MZO (Ministerial Zoning Order) should be put in place. Mayor Meed Ward has said, frequently, that she is working with the provincial government to bring this about.
The water comes very close to the edge of the house; the drainage system (seen in the bottom left in the picture on the right) works very well.
Most recently the area MPP, Effie Triantafilopoulos met with MPP Matthew Rae (Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing), Hannah Anderson (Director of Stakeholder and Caucus relations) in an effort to get the issue before Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs who is kind of busy dealing with the fallout from Greenbelt scandal.
MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, the MPP for the Millcroft community would like to see the Minister of Housing, issue a Minister’s Zoning Order to stop the Millcroft Greens development on the Millcroft Golf Course lands, or, alternatively declare a provincial interest at the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing starting on March 5.
The two organizations have made the point that the seat Triantafilopoulos holds in the provincial legislature could be at risk
The meeting was via a Zoom call, not the best circumstances the press an argument.
The Ontario Land Tribunal is scheduled to hear the Millcroft Greens, the developer that has appealed a City Council decision.
There are two community groups opposing the development; both are raising funds – about $70,000 each, to cover the cost of professional witnesses. The focus of the arguments being put forward by each group are not the same: one MGA is focused on the storm water issue while the other is focused on the 98 homes the developer wants to build.
The community is concerned that the City has not made all the information it has available which means that it is not likely to get before the OLT hearing
The OLT hearing is scheduled to begin March 5th – the sound of the clicking clock is getting louder.
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Community relationship with City Hall has nor been all that healthy
Anyone who plans on buying a home on this flood plain is bonkers.
Exactly so why fight to build them. Hopefully Effie will get the Minister to see how totally ridiculous this is before community cash is flushed that could be better used at this time in the city’s history.
Anyone living below the escarpment is theoretically in a flood plain since water will always run downhill to the lake. The reason we aren’t living individually in flood plains is because previous councils and developers built into the developments storm water planning, just like this project and every other project the Burlington Post NIMBY’s oppose do.
How about the usual suspects who are anti every development start posting a development project they do favour? Bateman…not this gang,
Nautique, nope, waterfront hotel, nope, across from city hall, not this crew
How about Aldershot, nope same gang posting here how wrong it is
Where the heck do you think people will live besides the tents popping up
That’s not quite true, Bob. With respect to the Waterfront Hotel redevelopment, Citizen’s PLAN B engaged an urban planner & did propose an alternate design, hence the name PLAN B. It was presented at several City planning meetings, featured a design guideline called The Thin Red Line, and eventually morphed into Preferred Concept 2022 in the Waterfront Hotel Planning Study (which we supported). We have always sought a win-win solution.
A win win would be to get shovels in the ground and stop hindering housing.
Hey Millcroft Greens, we have a green belt, and do not need a water belt. Something is broken here and needs fixing.