Tall building design guidelines to be debated next week were produced with a degree of immediacy - wonder why?

By Pepper Parr

September 6, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

What are the rules that a developer has to follow when they decide they want to put up a tall building? And do they have to follow those rules?

The Planning department commissioned a document, at a cost of $20,000, and have come out with a decent document (we aren’t qualified to say if it is a good document or an excellent document) that is well illustrated.

The placement of a tall building and its relationship to the street scape is set out in the Guidelines. Many will wonder if the ADI Development Group’s Nautique at Martha and Lakeshore Road meet these guidelines.

The document is described as Tall Building Guidelines – prepared by the Brook/McIlroy organization that has done a lot of work for the city during the past two – maybe three decades.

They are the group that did much, if not most, of the early design work for the Beachway Park that is in the detailed planning stage.

The development pressures of intensification and tall buildings are becoming increasingly evident. When carefully designed and located, tall buildings become a distinct and defining component of a city’s character, forging a memorable skyline and establishing city landmarks.

Tall buildings are defined as anything over 11 storeys.

Tall building guidelines play an important part in how the City grows. They will help build communities with quality of life and quality of place, and fulfill part of the new Grow Bold strategy by building up, building smart and building beautiful.

Should council endorse these tall building guidelines, they will be implemented immediately and used to evaluate all proposed tall buildings in the city. The guidelines will also be used to influence future tall building policy through the official plan review process. The planners expect these guidelines to become a living document that is updated and amended from time to time to reflect future trends in tall building design.

Design considerations will become an explicit part of all development applications.

Due to the immediacy of preparing these tall building design guidelines, staff were unable to present them at a formal meeting with the the Burlington Housing and Development Liaison Committee (HDLC).  The immediacy of preparing the document as the reason given.  Immediacy and planning are not normally words that appear in the same sentence.

The Tall Building design guidelines serve as an excellent introduction on what the city planners would like to see.

The Planning department has met individually with some tall building developers to discuss in advance of presenting the guidelines to the Development and Infrastructure Committee.

This is a document that deserves public attention – it will be referred to frequently as council discusses development applications.

The complete document is available HERE

It is on the Development and Infrastructure Standing Committee agenda for Tuesday of next week, the 13th – at 1:00 pm. This should have been a matter discussed and debated in the evening to ensure better public participation.