By Pepper Parr
October 1st, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
It was an eleven hour meeting that went as smoothly as things like this can go.
The result – the city now has an Official Plan that it will soon send to the Regional government where it has to be approved.
They were sworn in to deliver – yesterday – they delivered.
Getting the document to this point has been a massive effort on the part of the people in the Planning Department where many of the people in place now are new to the city.
Alison Enns on a walking tour with a group of citizens.
Alison Enns and Thomas Douglas did a huge job of involving the public and fattened their resumes with some superb work.
Director of Planning Heather MacDonald, new to the city as well, was able to get staff to meet the call every time she asked.
Council deserves credit – they believed a better Official Plan was necessary and they hung together for the most part to see it to the point where it passed through the Standing Committee on a 6-1 vote with Councillor Sharman being the exception.
Councillor Sharman with Councillor Bentivegna – they voted against the 9 Meed Ward amendments – with one exception.
His decision not to support the motion was as much a political move as a vote against what is a good Official Plan. This Council did the work that the 2014-18 Council wasn’t able to get done.
Even Councillor Sharman admitted as much.
Mayor Meed Ward did what she always does – did it her way. She, along with ward 2 Councillor introduced nine amendments to what the Planning department brought forward.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward – she ran on creating a better Official Plan – she has delivered.
Much of the amendments focus was on the eastern side of the city where Meed Ward brought forward reasonable changes. Most people agreed with the Mayor; although the Lions Club would have liked the Mayor to look upon the block sized property they own a little differently.
The specifics of the nine amendments will get covered in future Gazette articles.
The now endorsed Official Plan gets put before a City Council meeting early in October where it will be passed.
Is it the right plan for the city? Only time will tell – what is not in doubt is the size of the effort from everyone involved.
The plan should get through the Regional level – but it looks as if a number of vested interests are going to appeal the document.
The number of letters put on the record by different developers and the legal counsel that have in the past represented the interests of the developers more than suggests the battle isn’t over.
Heather MacDonald talking with a citizen at a public meeting – we used to have events like this.
Is the plan defensible at LPAT is the question on many minds.
Only time will tell.
Heather MacDonald was given the task of hiring consultants to support the work that had to be done. The firm hired –SGL Planning & Design Inc., was her choice – she chose well.
Dear Editor:
Several of us do not agree with your assessment. Rather than belabour the point, we would direct any interested reader to our written submission for a different view. The link is provided below;
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-love-burlington-stop-amalgamation/submission-to-city-of-burlington-re-final-version-of-downtown-op/1043541669444459/
Respectfully,
… Lynn Crosby, Blair Smith and Gary Scobie
Better known to our Ward 2 Counsellor as “Lynn and et al”
Editor’s note: When we became aware of the material (little confusion on just which mind it came out of – but we digress) we published their complete statement.