Greenspace, height limit concern for waterfront hotel plan

— There’s still no clear indication of what residents want at the site of a proposed waterfront hotel and development in downtown Burlington, even after a presentation of a preferred development concept held earlier this month.

“There was no consensus from the residents on the proposed development concepts. Residents expressed their angst over the proposed height and the potential development on our waterfront,” said Mayor Rick Goldring.

“Staff will be presenting their report to council in November. There is a lot of work to do on this project, but it’s clear that there are concerns from many people about the type and magnitude of development.”

Two public workshops were held at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Sept. 14 to present to residents the findings of an online survey held in August on three potential development concepts for the area.

The workshops are part of the Waterfront Hotel Planning Study, which is meant to guide property owner Burlington 2020 Lakeshore Inc. in any redevelopment plans.

Some major themes have emerged over the series of workshops and public meetings that have already been held this year to gain feedback from all interested parties, including residents — both in the downtown and across Burlington.

“People want buildings scaled back from the lake and park. They want more green space added to the park and not a ‘canyon of towers’ effect along Lakeshore with tall buildings on both sides of the street,” said Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward.

“They want public amenities in the redevelopment (of the site), including things like restaurants and cafés facing the lake and park, and public washrooms. And I agree with all of that.”

Highlights of the preferred concept, presented Sept. 14 and which attempted to amalgamate feedback from the three concepts presented in August, include:

two buildings on the property (towers on a podium), with a wide, privately-owned, but publicly-accessible corridor of green space in between (similar to the design of the Bridgewater development further east of the site);

the buildings align with John Street in an effort to preserve a view toward the lake;

the height of the west building would be between 14-18 storeys, with 20-25 storeys proposed for the east building;

all vehicular access would be off Elizabeth Street;

the south part of the property would feature a “stepped amphitheatre” along the width of the entire property to account for grade difference and provide potential seating for programming on the east lawn;

public washrooms and some community space would be included inside the west building at grade level;

shops would face Lakeshore Road.

Meed Ward, who attended both the afternoon and evening workshops, said there was a mix of support for and vocal opposition to (more of the latter) the preferred concept from residents.

“There was concern that with two buildings and no access off of Brant Street, how would access be provided to the west building?” she said, noting there were also mixed views on the heights of the buildings, but a general opposition to 20plus storeys.

Meed Ward admitted she wasn’t a fan of the idea of having two buildings on each side of the site, framing John Street.