By Pepper Parr
November 20th, 2021
BURLINGTON. ON
If you haven’t made your plans for the afternoon – you might want to join Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns on the walkabout she plans in the southern part of her ward.
Hear what your ward Councillor has to say about this development – it will replace the Waterfront Hotel.
She has invited anyone to join her while she comments on the development proposals that have been grandfathered by the Minister of Municipal Affairs; which means that they will probably clear the Ontario Land Tribunal.
The Mayor has said little and is reported to have done as much as she can to get the members of Council not talk about what the Ministry has done to the city.
You owe it to your self to spend an hour on the walking tour.
Starts at 1:00 pm – gather at the foot of Brant Street at Lakeshore.
Frank,
Did Councillor Kearns indicate which of the developments were grandfathered and would be built when you were on the tour?
It seems that the development application for the redevelopment of the Waterfront Hotel went into City Hall on October 26th, prior to November 10th when the Minister signed off on moving the boundaries of the UGC.
Your question is an excellent one. Perhaps you should ask this question to Councillor Kearns and the Mayor?
Liberal spin tour ………sorry I missed it
I don’t think that there’s a better way to be introduced to your new City’s downtown than a guided tour by a Counsellor and staff (sorry, I forget his name). I want to thank Counsellor Kearns for a very informative tour and the fold-out reference map that was provided was a great help. It was well worth the time I spent. I still have a few questions. I didn’t ask them at the time because the size of the group and the wind made it very hard. If I’m not mistaken Councillor Kearns said that in hindsight it was a mistake not to try to move the UGC and the other things when they took office but most of them were new, except the mayor, and they really didn’t know the history. Also, they received advice from legal counsel that they needed to do studies and a new plan before they tried to change things. She felt that with current events they probably should have done things differently. I found this admission to be very honest and heart-felt. The other thing that was not clear to me was whether the proposal for the new Waterfront Hotel was part of the grandfathered projects or not.
Thanks for this comment Frank. We were unable to attend. Your comment provides the first acknowledgment of the delayed action that has resulted in the grandfathered projects provided by the Minister. Speaking out at Council in early 2019 that those elected were reneging on their promises and publicly asking why, was not too much to expect of the 5 new councillors and especially Kearns given it is her Ward. When we cast our votes we beleve those we elect are the decision makers as set out in the Municipal Act if there is a legal opinion being expressed after election that contradicts the promise not being in the public interest it needed to be heard by the people from the council table. It’s called transparency and is a requirement of the councillors new or not who we have elected as our decision makers. We have that privilege thanks to the sacrificial giving of those we continue to honour. Removing the privilege does nothing to honour those sacrifices, all of which affect every one of us.