Committee approves 23 storey Brant St. condo
Public’s anxiety isn’t warranted. The future is in tall buildings, councillor says
Last week Burlington’s planning committee approved a 23-storey condo across from our eight-storey City Hall.
It has ground level retail, and above that, one floor of office space. The rest is highend condos.
The meeting, highly unusual, began with a statement by City Manager James Ridge on the merits of the proposal. Traditionally, the city planner describes the application, followed by delegations, then council discussion. Ridge usually stays in the background, unless he has authored a report, like the safety issues on Burlington Transit.
Why didn’t planner Kyle Plas do the introduction? He outlined the details after Ridge’s comments.
Ridge told committee this was a desirable project, bound by current Official Plan rules, and that developer Carriage Gate Homes had cooperated with staff, and was prepared to include enhancements more in line with the draft “mobility hub” guidelines.
Further, the proponent had foregone taking the city to the Ontario Municipal Board on time deadlines. And, he said, “as of right” (not requiring zoning changes) 12 storeys could be built, but it’s better to have 23 storeys that are architecturally interesting than have a 12-storey bland building, Ridge said.
Burlington has sought citizen input for months on what mobility hubs should look like, and has drafted a downtown mobility hub plan. The “Brant Main Street Precinct”, between Pine and Caroline, is “to retain a pedestrian-scaled character” along Brant, with three storeys adjacent to it, and up to 11 storeys back from Brant.
The draft contains a special policy area at Brant and James, where 17 storeys could be allowed if buildings were set back significantly, with “sight lines to key civic features, and creation of new public space at the corners to serve as a public extension of Civic Square.” The ink isn’t even dry on this draft, and something different is being approved.
The 23-storey building has a four-storey podium (base), not the three in the draft, and it is 23 storeys, not the 17 maximum. It includes a 16 metre by 16 metre publicly accessible space that “would contribute to the extension of Civic Square and the War Memorial.”
Delegate Gary Scobie was concerned about height. The 22-storey Bridgewater (being built on Lakeshore) was to be the city’s landmark building but every tall project approval forms the minimum for the next application, he said. Downtown will be unaffordable for young people, he added.
Eighty per cent will be two-bedroom units or larger, and selling prices have not been established yet. Councillor Paul Sharman mused that affordability in Burlington is a mirage.
The transportation department has at last decided that one parking spot per unit (as proposed for the Adi OMB hearing) isn’t enough. The downtown standard — lowest in Burlington — is 1.25. It’s requiring 1.2 per unit, and Director Vito Tolone said the project would not add appreciably to Brant Street traffic.
Only Marianne Meed Ward and Mayor Rick Goldring voted against it. Goldring said he could support 17 storeys, but not 23, which he said would end up as the standard for the south corner. Marianne Meed Ward was at her best. They can’t build 12 storeys “as of right”, she said, because less than half the property is zoned for 12 storeys. Further, even if they had 12-storey zoning, the city’s tall building guidelines kick in over 11, so they couldn’t build a blob, anyway — it would have to meet design guidelines. And, we’re actually getting less new retail and office space than exists now.
Rick Craven moved approval, stating that things change, and the public’s anxiety over height isn’t warranted. The future is in tall buildings. Paul Sharman called the project absolutely fantastic. Blair Lancaster said councillors have to view everything from a high level, and the developer did reduce the height from the initially proposed 27 to 23 storeys.
Many Burlingtonians disagree with council’s vision of the city’s future, and are aggravated by the regular ignoring of city policies. They have told council over and over that they love Burlington. It’s not Toronto, and they don’t want Toronto.
This goes to council Nov 13.