By Pepper Parr
January 8th 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Strategic plans are by seldom an easy read. They are however important – they set out where the politicians you elected want to see growth take place.
There was a time when Burlington had acres of farm land that was developed over time – the two malls we have were once very productive farmland at a time when Burlington was known around the word for the quality of its produce.
The city – then a town – was once a produce garden known around the world. We grew and we now need a strategy to guide the growth,
We shipped so much fresh fruit and vegetables that the railway had two tracks coming into what was then a town.
That was then – developers bought that farmland and put up a parking lot and added some stores along the edges. The old Burlington began to change and the downtown core that once was a place where people did gather began to wither.
Strategic Plan is based on four strategic directions.
The city believes it needs a Strategic Plan and spends a considerable amount of time and significant financial resources putting a document together and looking for public comment.
The draft version of the Strategic Plan that is now ready for public comment has four Strategic Directions: a city that moves; a city that grows; a healthy and greener city; and an engaging city.
This report takes material from the draft report and adds comments to put what the draft Strategic Plan is saying in context. See the draft plan as a piece of sales literature with one side of the story. The Gazette has added comment based on its five years of covering this council and attendance at all the meetings for the 2011 Strategic Plan and most of the meetings for the plan that is ready for public comment. The commentary is set out in bold italic.
Everything your city council wants to have happen in Burlington as it grows – and the city has to grow because the province says we must – is pinned to the four strategic directions. There was no public input on the choice of those four strategic directions. They came out of discussion and debate and wordsmithed by the consultants.
First strategic direction is related to growth. That growth is identified as coming about as the result of – economic development, intensification and smart population growth.
Each of these has a list of strategic initiatives the city will undertake and then a list of progress indicators telling us what real progress has been made.
Council wants to promote economic growth. Local incomes have risen and Burlington continues to be a prosperous city due to the co-ordinated action of the city, region, province, educational institutions and industry. The very significant increases in the selling prices of housing has made a difference as well; a recent report had the increase at the 9.2% year over year level.
More people who live in Burlington, work in Burlington and targets for employment lands have been met (15,000 new knowledge-based jobs by 2025) through the creation of an employment lands vision to unite the community, developers and industry.
An empty lot on the North Service Road at Walkers Line was to be the home of a new IKEA – that didn’t work out but a six storey office building got built a couple of hundred yards away.
The development community has been banging away at council to let quite a bit of the land set aside for employment be converted and used instead for housing – which is a lot more profitable.
The draft report claims that employment lands are connected to the community and region and include transportation links and options that are easy to access and contribute to a sustainable and walk able community. That statement is more than a bit of a stretch. A report earlier this week in the Spectator said that those who attended the Pan Am games didn’t make much use of public transit – and there is nothing wrong with the GO service.
Burlington hasn’t taken to the idea of public transit yet. When a significant number of seniors find that they can’t drive or find the traffic too congested to drive – they will make their concerns known to council and then watch how quickly city council comes onside and starts spending the gas tax rebates on transit – which is what they were intended for.
Small businesses contributes to the creation of complete neighbourhoods. Commerce aligns with land-use planning goals so that residents are close to goods and services.
Innovative, entrepreneurial businesses have settled or developed in Burlington. The city has helped create the technological support, business supports, infrastructure and educational environment to attract start-ups and growing businesses.
The people who write these reports keep saying things that are just not true – they seem to feel that if they say something often enough it will become true.
This just isn’t a vibrant downtown – the site has been sold with yet another condominium being planned for the site – right opposite city hall.
Two statements that need to be dealt with honestly – Burlington’s downtown is vibrant and thriving with greater intensification. The downtown isn’t vibrant – hasn’t been vibrant for a long, long time. Better minds than mine may know how to make it vibrant – but we aren’t there yet.
Much of the rural property is in the hands of speculators who limit what can be done with the land. There are farmers north of Dundas that would like to grow different crops but the owners of the property limit what they can grow. The City of Burlington’s rural areas will be economically and socially vibrant, producing commodities and providing unique recreational activities for the city.
How will Burlington make the growth wanted actually happen?
These are some examples of actions and measures of success:
Create an employment lands vision that drives investment and growth in the Prosperity Corridors.
Getting the people who own the land to work with the city and develop with long term viability is the first step – some of the plans on the table for the land around the Aldershot GO station leave a lot to be desired.
Develop and put in place a redevelopment and intensification strategy for the Prosperity Corridors
Build one economic development brand for the City of Burlington that reflects the city’s economic development vision
Develop a holistic strategy for Burlington’s rural area. This strategy will consider economic, social and environmental factors in support of the rural community, agricultural industry, natural heritage and water resources
Develop a post-secondary attraction strategy.
Something along these lines was planned for Burlington’s downtown core – but McMaster stifed the city when a nicer deal came along.
There was a time when the DeGroote campus now on the South Service Road was going to be downtown on land that is currently the Elizabeth Street parking lot. That on got away on us. There has been some rumbling about perhaps getting some of the Mohawk College courses delivered in Burlington. Mohawk president Ron McKerlie says that isn’t going to happen. The one post-secondary institution we did have pulled up their stakes and moved on.
Develop a business-friendly environment that attracts investment. The real issues is to find investors who look for long term returns and not the getting in and getting out to turn the fast buck. There is a project in the west end that the developer wants to get approved that doesn’t include very much, if anything in the way of amenities. There are developers building forms of housing that are not built that often. And at the same time there are developers prepared to work with city hall and the ward Councillors and not grab every last square foot of density available. There is a developer currently building what will amount to a new community that will house more than 2000 people.
Create and invest in a system that supports the start-up and growth of businesses and entrepreneurship. There are a lo of people who would love to know what such a system would look like. The role of government is to create the conditions needed for economic growth and then stay out of the way and let business people do what they do best. Keep the taxes low – provide services that people need fix the pot holes and keep the snow off the roads and sidewalks.
Progress indicators:
How will we know we are getting to where we want to get to?
• Median household income will rise
• Labour force by industry will tell us ho we are doing
• Industry location targets will be clearly identified
• Income distribution will be known to track inequity
• Percentage of families with low income will be lower
• Rural economic health indicator will exist
• Number of hectares of farmland under active cultivation
• Year-over-year employment land absorption
• Jobs per hectare in the urban boundary
• Percentage of the community that does not work in Burlington
• City’s gross domestic product
• Employment and unemployment rates.
There is a bit of a problem with this list of data – the city does not have a demographer on staff and without one it will be very difficult to report on any of the above. There was no mention made of hiring a demographer during the strategic plan discussions.
Intensification:
Growth is being achieved in mixed-use nodes and corridors, including mobility hubs and urban centres.
The city defined four possible “mobility hubs” They appear to have settled on the Aldershot location.
Mobility hubs are developed near each GO Station and in the downtown.
Aging plazas are being redeveloped and transformed into mixed-use neighbourhood hubs.
New/transitioning neighbourhoods are being designed to promote easy access to amenities, services and employment areas with more opportunities for walking, cycling and using public transit.
Older neighbourhoods are important to the character of Burlington and intensification will be carefully managed to respect this character.
Energy-efficient buildings and other onsite sustainable features are the norm, thereby improving Burlington’s environmental footprint. Existing buildings are being renovated to improve efficiency.
Intensification is planned so that growth is financially sustainable and supported by appropriate funding and service delivery.
Burlington has an urban core that has higher densities, green space and amenities, is culturally active and is home to a mix of residents and businesses.
Architecture, sustainable buildings and urban design excellence are being achieved through a commitment to creating public spaces where people can live, work or gather.
The city will create and implement an awards program to recognize and celebrate excellence in architecture, urban design and sustainability in all developments.
Waterdown Road was recently widened from Hwy 403 to Plains Road. As part of an intensification exercise the planners prepared visualizations of what that Road could look like if there were some commercial development. This is what they thought possible.
This is what Waterdown Road north of Plains Road looks like today.
How will Burlington make this happen?
These are some examples of actions and measures of success:
Strategic Initiatives:
The city will focus intensification to mixed-use nodes and employment corridors by updating intensification targets and co-ordinating infrastructure to achieve growth objectives. The city will incorporate revised intensification targets into its Official Plan. The city will demonstrate its commitment to growth management by preparing an intensification plan to manage projected growth and its related impacts. This will be complete in two years but will not limit prioritizing/directing intensification in the shorter term.
Through policy, the city will influence the redevelopment of aging plazas and transform them into mixed-use neighbourhood hubs.
The city will work with Halton Region and other partners to develop a servicing plan for intensification areas.
The city will conduct and implement an intensification plan that will include a specific focus on the Urban Growth Centre, and will develop a strategy for the downtown core that will promote residential and appropriate niche/boutique office development
The city will develop energy and sustainable site feature guidelines to require new/ renewed buildings to promote energy-efficient technologies.
The city will complete a city-wide fiscal impact analysis of all forms of development
The city will put in place the recommendations of Core Commitment in the downtown and extend, where possible, recommendations to other urban centres.
The city will create an independent capacity study to understand and comment on real estate economics and trends.
The city will create a design review panel and put in place an awards program to achieve excellence in architecture, urban design and sustainability.
Progress Indicators:
Percentage of aging commercial plazas that have redeveloped
Percentage of mobility hubs that are developed
Intensification (Jobs/people per hectare) for mobility hubs, urban centres, urban corridors, commercial plazas and urban employment areas.
Smart Population Growth:
Burlington is an inclusive city that has a higher proportion of youth, newcomers and young families and offers a price range and mix of housing choices.
Seniors are supported by a strategy that promotes health, recreation, transportation and aging in place.
How will Burlington make this happen?
These are some examples of actions and measures of success:
Strategic Initiatives:
Fairview was seen as a street with people walking and lanes for cyclists. That’s not what it is today.
Future development will be higher density, walkable, accessible and transit- oriented. The city will become a leader in walkability scores in the province, and will be fully aligned with provincial strategy and goals.
The city will prioritize one mobility hub, and will work with partners to ensure resources are available to allow the development to proceed in a timely way. The prioritized hub will be included in the Official Plan and Transportation Master Plan. Stakeholders will be consulted to help gain consensus.
Within two years, the city will develop a strategy in co-operation with other levels of government to support young families:
Housing supply will allow young families and newcomers to locate in Burlington
Infrastructure will support the economic, social and community goals of youth, young families and newcomers.
Within four years, the city will develop an economic migrant outreach and liaison office to attract investor/entrepreneur class immigrants, while remaining a destination of choice for all immigrants, including refugees.
An Age Friendly strategy for seniors will be developed within three years to ensure sufficient seniors’ programming space is provided throughout the city.
The city will improve its ability to monitor, track and understand Burlington’s demographic growth trends and profile.
If you give them enough rope – they eventually hang themselves – what’s with all the “within” dates? Do your best and try not to set yourselves up for failure by attaching a specific date to something you may have little control over.
Progress Indicators:
Walkability score applied to intensification and population growth
Population by demographics
Median age
Immigration numbers and percentages
Household size
Median housing price
Mix of available housing types.
More data is always nice – the capacity to make decisions is what taxpayers both look for and expect.
The remaining three Strategic Directions will be detailed in a follow up article.
There are three more public information sessions on the draft Strategic Plan; January 13 and January 18th.
