By Pepper Parr
May 14th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Being in a situation where every event that takes place to advise and inform people has to be virtual, ward Councillors have to struggle to get some attention. Some Councillors seem to have given up.
Galbraith meeting with constituents shortly after being elected. Councillor says he will be running for a second term.
Last night ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith put on what turned out to be a packed agenda.
I fully expected the event to be short – not more than an hour and not all that much in the way of new information. I was wrong.
It went for two hours and there was no shortage of new information.
Earlier in the week we got a media notice from the city on some traffic limitations on Waterdown Road while hydro poles were moved on the east side of the road.
There is a lot more than hydro pole relocation work going on.
Tentative Timelines
Enbridge Gas Relocations: Complete
Minor Hydro/Bell Relocations
Advanced Works: Ongoing – Summer 2021
(East side Retaining Walls & Tree Removals)
Hydro Pole Relocations: Mid May 2021 to Summer
(Buried Hydro Duct at South Hydro One ROW) 2022
Halton Region Advanced Watermain Replacement: Summer to Fall 2021
(Regional Reservoir to Flatt Road – approx. 360m length)
Road Construction Public Meeting : Q2 2022
Main Construction Contract: Fall 2022 to 2024
The original budget for the work came in at $14.8 million – it has since ballooned to $30 Million. The road on the west side will include a 2.5 – 3 metre multi user path that will allow bicycles.
The road will eventually become 4 lanes.
The reservoir that is being upgraded is shown bottom right.
The ongoing work comes at a time when the Regional government is holding a public meeting (virtually) on a review of the Region’s Official Plan that is to include a meeting focus on North Aldershot and the Eagle Heights development that has been in the works for decades.
Much of Aldershot doesn’t have the the tree canopy coverage other parts of Burlington has – but it does have the only recognized heritage tree in the city. The oak tree is one of the markers for the original land grant given Joseph Brant.
During a Forestry meeting earlier in the week residents learned that each household will be given a free tree that will be planted on city property outside their homes.
New business model to be approved by Council on Monday
Galbraith brought his constituents up to date on the plans for the Tyandaga golf course but slipped up on any mention of the tax payer being asked to pick up part of the cost for a location that used to be completely supported by fees. There are some capital costs that the current business model can’t handle. Galbraith was very good at taking questions at the close of the meeting – and the questions kept coming and coming.
It was when asked directly that The Councillor explained what the new financial outlook was going to be.
The North Aldershot meeting takes place on Monday the 17th in the evening. There is a link to the event on the Regional website: halton@ropr
Tom Muir, a well-informed Aldershot resident on the North Aldershot lands, which are outside the Burlington urban boundary, points to the growth in the permitted level of development going from 400 in in 1996 to 665 in 2001, to 870 in 2010to a total of 100 in 2020 – without as much as a shovel in the ground.
A White Oak tree in Burlington that is at least 300 years old has been given a heritage designation by the province. The city-owned, 30-metre (100-foot) high tree has a circumference of nearly 500 centimetres (16.7 ft.) and is quite likely one of the oldest and largest Quercus alba specimens in Canada, according to the Burlington Historical Society. Located at Allview Avenue, a short street on the north shore of Burlington Bay, the White Oak was part of an historic boundary line for nearly 250 years. Before 1957, it also marked the starting point of the border between Burlington and Aldershot. According to the historical society’s website, “In 1789, the Allview White Oak was a surveyor’s benchmark for a treaty arranging the purchase from the Mississauga First Nation, for the British Crown, of a block of land that soon afterwards became the 3,450-acre parcel of land known as Brant’s Block.
The lands border on Waterdown which is part of Hamilton which is why the city of Hamilton is paying 95% of the cost of the reservoir that is being upgraded.
Galbraith told his constituents that he had nothing he could add about the ownership of the LaSalle Park property other than to say that talks were still taking place.
The park is in Burlington but the land is owned by the city of Hamilton. Complex. The city owns the infrastructure and covers all the operating costs and pay Hamilton rent of $1 a year.
Links to related stories:
How Burlington got the deal of a lifetime – LaSalle Park rental for $1 a year.
New business model for Tyandaga Golf Course
