By Pepper Parr
February 15th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The Ontario Municipal Board decision to allow the ADI Development at Lakeshore and Martha isn’t the only thing going on in the city.
Having said that, Gazette readers are proving to be quite vigilant on this issue; one brought to our attention a piece we published in 2015 when the city was doing its best to recover from the failure to respond to the ADI application within the required 180 days.
Neither the current City manager or the current planner or the current Deputy city manager can be blamed for that mess.
Tom Muir, who has been described as an “acerbic” city hall critic asked Meed Ward what happened. The dialogue between the two of them is instructive.
It points to some of the reasons why this development and the opposition to it went off the tracks before the train got out of the station.
Another thing I dislike is the ease with which the planners fill their public presentations with “Artists Conceptions” like this one – glossy towers surrounded by trees, a wide plaza and a “transit stop”. But check out the actual site – barely enough footprint on the lot for a decent gas station, other buildings on all sides, with a two-lane road in front! Of course, this is a “mobility hub” so I guess it will be OK.