By Staff
October 20th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
A place to shop for food.
Essential.
So what are the long term plans for the No Frills on Brant, north of Caroline?
Decent product selection – and lots of parking space. What does the future hold for the location?
The graphics that appear on Planning department maps suggest some changes.
Caroline Street is at the bottom of the map. Where is the supermarket?
In order for the Planning department to create a map like this one would expect there would be some discussion with the owners of the property. When is there going to be a discussion witth the people who use and rely on the No Frills supemarket?
DO WE DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS NOW HAVE TO FIGHT TO KEEP OUR ONLY FULL SERVICE GROCERY STORE!
I spoke to the store manager recently. NO FRILLS is unique in that it services our changing demographic… small enough for those who drive there for a quick grocery shop after work plus adding “Whole Foods type” and organic products, vegetables, fruits, etc. It HAS NOT raised its prices on the basics, so important for seniors, people on a strict budget or just wanting the best deal on quality groceries.
AND we can, walk, bike or take the bus there! NO FRILLS is our community grocery store and vitally important to the downtown residents.
Years ago, there used to be two full service grocery stores downtown- on Elizabeth at Lakeshore and Maple Ave. at Maple Crossing Blvd. What replaced them you ask- council and planning allowed developers to build two high rises!
Smaller markets in smaller locations? Really?? Higher prices, less choice, less quality, no sense of community. Totally absurd.
My impression was that a grocery store had to be included in any redevelopment of that plaza. I felt good about that, but now, maybe a fool.
This was added, as I recall, the way Penny describes it – as a last minute change.
Now it appears that the semantics of the language means that we have to go back and see exactly what is written and what it means.
This plan is as Greg says, madness economics, meant to do as he says – overwhelm the economics of the existing profitable commercial usage with maximum condos, no parking, and the throwaway retail space tossed in so as to say it’s mixed use.
This is called “good planning” in Burlington. I love the ash-can metaphor.
We are told we will all walk, bike and bus in this new world, but walk to where? Highway 5?
This is all being driven by the unthinking stupidity of doubling Halton and Burlington populations by 2041 – from about 500,000 in 2012, to 750,000 by 2031, and about 1,000,000 plus by 2041.
To get there, this is what you have to do, everywhere, as Greg says. Burlington has already achieved the target for 2031 according to the Regional Plan for population from 2012.
You have seen the Plan, what it means for downtown, and that’s what this election is about.
That’s the plan being sold in Grow Bold. It has already opened the floodgates of applications in speculative anticipation. Too many to handle is the word out there.
Can you imagine?
No Frills is not protected in the O.P. Per Chapter 8 below, note the use of, “food store function” versus “food store” that is open to interpretation. So much for our complete community concept, but don’t despair, if NF is replaced by residences and the proposed park, your nearest “mobility hub” will get you to the nearest full service grocery store.
Chapter 8 Land Use Polices S.8.1.1(2) General Policies
l) In Urban Centres, development proponents considering the development of a
site that contains an existing food store should retain the food store function
as part of the overall development, to ensure the appropriate provision of
day-to-day and weekly needs to current and future residents and employees
in the surrounding area.
An excellent question. This is an important matter to bring up with the new council and mayor.
Hopefully a new council will understand that to have a downtown not dependent on cars or transit there needs to be a full service grocery store in the redevelopment of that Plaza. When the city planners were explaining at a council meeting in the afternoon the proposed development of this site there was no mention by them of any grocery store. This question was brought forward by some of the delegates, interestingly enough the planning department in the 6:30pm session on the same day included a grocery store. Would a 7/11 classify as a grocery store. We need a full service grocery store. There was also the idea floated around that the municipal parking lot could be a green space…If that area becomes a green or community space there is no way that a full service grocery store would be included in the developers plans. Not enough parking – no grocery store. It was quite obvious that the planning department had not thought this through.
It is for this reason that residents have to be a stakeholder at the table when developments come into the City. If the planners don’t live in the core how could they possibly know what is essential to have a walkable city. Where do they expect us to shop for essentials if no provision is made for them. Oh and a Whole Foods is not the answer.
Penny
I sometimes question whether the city planners even live in Burlington. It would be an interesting question to ask.
There are even east Burlington residents that travel downtown to shop at Food Basics. Do our planners even think of this.
It’s hardly fear mongering Ted. The city is working a plan which pretty much excludes this type of larger supermarkets from the community. This is by design. The idea is that “smaller markets” that people walk to will be created in smaller locations. It’s madness as far as I can tell because it ignores the commercial reality of customer choice, but I digress.
People keep trading what “could be done” with what IS being done. We could all agree on some sort of hybrid mixed-mode building could be developed in this location. However when it’s redeveloped its goes over an already profitable mall – so the profit must overwhelm the existing usage. That’s why the proposal will be for nothing but condos as high as possible and 12 foot deep “throw away commercial” units. Because to overwhelm the existing usage and get development imense profits must be generated and those profits cannot be generated by somehow retaining the existing quality of commercial space an parking.
All we are doing is ash canning the zoning code that kept businesses in local locations – building condos and moving those businesses to highway 5.
Greg Woodruff, keep teaching! Don’t stop.
Again, more fear mongering. The owners of the plaza has private property rights enshrined in our constitution. It is up to the city and the owners to consult with the public as part of the process. Why stoke fears? Especially when this significant downtown property could be developed as a new crown jewel for the city and the community .
Editor’s note: Not fear mongering – it is asking a legitimate question.
Sadly, Ted, property rights are NOT enshrined in our constitution.
It is absolutely a legitimate question and one that should have been addressed by the city’s “planning” department.