Two virtual public meetings critical to how the city develops are taking place: On the 19th and on the 25th

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

November 17th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

The dates and Zoom participation information is at the end of this article.

What began as the core and defining issue during the 2018 municipal election has become a review of the Region’s Official Plan.

The people that supported candidate Marianne Meed Ward were not in favour of the kind of development they were seeing take place in the city.

In the 20 months since winning the election the Mayor has worked to bring about two important objectives.

Meed Ward H&S profile

Marianne Meed Ward was always crystal clear on what she wanted to achieve.

She did not believe that the John Street bus terminal was an MTSA -Major Transit Station Area and she did not believe the boundary in place for the Urban Growth Centre was the right boundary for the city.

The bus terminal situation was almost funny. Most kitchens in decent sized homes are bigger than the bus terminal – how it got the label of an MTSA attached to it was never really clear.

nautique-elevation-from-city-july-2016

The Nautique – a condominium under construction at the intersection of Lakeshore Road and Martha Street.

That terminal and its labeling as an MTSA is basically the reason the Nautique is now under construction at Martha and Lakeshore Road.

There is a sad tale to be told about how all that came about. There are still planners out there arguing that the existence of the bus terminal, with its designation, is justification for building more than 20 storey’s in height.

The Mayor worked every angle she could find to rid the city of the John Street bus terminal designation and to get the Urban Growth Boundary moved.

She is close to getting what is the biggest part of her election platform

Curt Benson, the Director of Planning for the Region delegated to Council last week explaining what the Region is doing and the role the public can play in helping to arrive at a decision.

He covered a lot of ground and answered a lot of questions. Surprisingly three Councillors didn’t say a word: Councillors Bentivegna, Nisan and Stolte didn’t ask questions. Stolte was chair of the meeting but that has never stopped her from asking questions in the past.

Sharman hand up

Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman

Councillor Sharman was very pointed with many of his questions.

The Mayor was as supportive as she could be but made a point of asking the kind of question that supported her long term political objective.

If what Meed Ward set out to do when running for the office of Mayor is achieved it will become a significant part of the development history in the city and result in a major shift in how the city grows and where the growth takes place.

Curt Benson +

We tend to see elected and administrative people on video screens. See here are Mayor Meed Ward on the left with Regional Director of Planning Curt Benson and Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan

What Curt Benson had to say to Council will be covered in a separate article.

What he said that is important to people who follow this kind of municipal stuff is the two Public Information Centres (whoever came up with that name) that are taking place.

One is on the 19th of November and the other on the 25th.

Both are virtual.

The information you need to take part in these virtual events is as follows:

November 19, 2020
Time: 1 p.m.
Call 1-855-703-8985 (Toll Free) or 647-374-4685 or 647-558-0588 to listen or join via Zoom
Meeting ID: 965 8371 6047
Passcode: 930488

For Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Time: 7 p.m.
Call 1-855-703-8985 (Toll Free) or 647-374-4685 or 647-558-0588 to listen by telephone or join via Zoom
Meeting ID: 980 8592 6459
Passcode: 930488

The same material will be covered in each event.

This is important stuff and Curt Benson is a good presenter.
GO station area

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1 comment to Two virtual public meetings critical to how the city develops are taking place: On the 19th and on the 25th

  • Penny Hersh

    Too little, too late. The current mayor who sat on council had the opportunity in 2016-2017 to undesignated the John Street bus terminal as an MTSA. At that time when questioned she did not see this as an issue. The ability to move the MTSA came from Metrolinx when communities who had not finalized their Official Plan ( which Burlington had not) were given the opportunity to make this change. I know this for a fact because I spoke to an engineer working with Metrolinx.

    ECoB from the very beginning, way before the last Municipal election was advocating for the un designation of the bus terminal and also moving the Downtown Urban Growth Area. Interesting that the Council at the time didn’t see the value of this until now.

    At this point in time if indeed these two requests are allowed what real difference does it make?The downtown core has building applications for developments based on the current Official Plan and developers will be taking the City to LPAT for approval to go ahead.

    Past Councils failed to maintain our waterfront as something to be proud of. Instead we will have multiple high-rises destroying the view. Too many people in one small area, with inadequate public transit, parking, and lack of services to be able to shop without leaving the area.