OMB hearing into proposed Burlington condo resumes in July

BURLINGTON — The Ontario Municipal Board hearing into a 26-storey development proposal on Martha Street will resume July 17.

The proceeding, which resumed Monday after being adjourned Feb. 27, is set to sit for five days in July. The hearing was adjourned last month because a witness for the city was not available.

On Monday, the proceeding included statements from five Burlington citizens. Each spoke against the revised proposal by the Adi Development Group for a 26-storey mixed-used condominium in the city’s core.

Revisions to the original proposal, The Nautique at 375 and 380 Martha St., included a reduction in height from 28 storeys to 26, but an increase in residential units from 226 to 240. Burlington city council opposed the application last fall.

Tamra Belontz, general manager of Martha’s Landing Retirement Residences — adjacent from the proposed development — cited the impact on the quality of life on the approximately 61 residents, including a shadow created by the tower, which is fives times the height of Martha’s Landing. She also mentioned the safety of residents walking outside and trying to access Lakeshore Road and the downtown; parking troubles; traffic congestions and delays in the delivery of essential and emergency services to the residents.

Belontz noted emergency services would not be able to access the Martha Street entrance, as that would be a construction site for months, which, in turn, would end up tying up traffic along Lakeshore Road.

Adi counsel Denise Baker asked Belontz if she had reviewed the traffic study done on the site.

“I’m there (at Martha’s Landing) about 14 hours a day, I think I’m a pretty good judge of the traffic in that corner,” Belontz said in response. “We have emergency services on our site on a weekly basis,” she noted.

Other residents, some not directly affected by the Adi proposal, stated if the application was approved, it would “up the ante” and set a new precedent for “ever-higher” buildings in the downtown.

The hearing will resume July 17 at 10 a.m. in room 247 at Burlington City Hall, 426 Brant St.