More opportunities to provide feedback on Burlington’s proposed new Official Plan: Additional open houses and statutory public meeting planned

Burlington, Ont. - Feb. 12, 2018 - Please note a third open house date has been added on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 15 from 1 to 3 p.m. at City Hall in Council Chambers, located on the second floor.

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Burlington, Ont. – Feb. 6, 2018— Opportunities for the public to ask questions and share comments about Burlington’s proposed new Official Plan continue with two more open house events on Feb. 12 and 15 and a statutory public meeting on Feb. 27.

The most recent version of the proposed new Official Plan (February 2018) contains revisions that were made as a result of feedback the city received at the Nov. 30, 2017 statutory public meeting, the Jan. 23, 2018 public meeting, through written submissions and from directions of Council.

Proposed new Downtown Precinct Plan
The proposed new Official Plan contains the proposed new Downtown Precinct Plan and associated policies developed to date from the on-going Downtown Mobility Hub Area-Specific planning study. On Jan. 23 and 24, 2018, 35 delegations were heard by Burlington City Council at two sessions of the planning and development committee. As a result of the input received from the public at the meeting and through phones calls and emails, amendments to the proposed new Downtown Precinct Plan were made. Some of the amendments include:

• Moving the block at the northeast corner of Lakeshore Road and Brant Street from the Cannery Precinct, where the height maximum is 22 storeys, to the Downtown Core Precinct where the maximum heights are between 12 and 17 storeys.
• Modifying the building heights in the Downtown Core Precinct to 12 storeys for buildings with retail at street level and up to 17 storeys for residential buildings that provide retail at the street level and one floor of office space.
• A minimum tower separation of 30 metres for tall buildings instead of 25 metres.
• Adding the northwest corner of the intersection at Burlington Avenue and Lakeshore Road to the Special Planning Area Precinct, which limits future redevelopment height to a maximum of six storeys.

Open house dates:

Statutory public meeting date:

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Mary Lou Tanner, Deputy City Manager

“We thank residents and businesses for their feedback on the November proposed Official Plan. We've taken these past three months to go through all the feedback and comments and have made changes to update the proposed Official Plan, including updates to the downtown portion of the plan. This week, we will release the third version of the proposed new Official Plan. There is more discussion to come. We believe our shared conversations are valuable and we look forward to hearing from residents at the second round of upcoming open houses and the statutory public meeting.

Quick Facts

• Burlington’s proposed new Official Plan is the city’s community vision and will guide decision-making on how we use land, manage growth and invest in infrastructure to 2031 and beyond. The policies in the plan reflect the key directions in Burlington’s Strategic Plan 2015-2040, approved in April 2016. Through the strategic plan, Burlington City Council has made the decision to grow up in key parts of the urban area of the city instead of growing out.
• Work on a revised Official Plan for the City of Burlington began in 2011. Significant community consultation in the form of more than 35 public events was held between 2011 and 2017 and helped shape the policy directions that appear in the new Official Plan. On April 6, 2017, a draft new Official Plan was released and more consultation took place between April 6 and June 30, 2017.  More than 60 engagement activities and events were held to gather feedback from the public and other stakeholders.
• In the proposed new Official Plan, 50 per cent of the city will continue to be protected rural land; 34 per cent will remain established residential neighbourhoods; and 11 per cent will be land for employment. Only five per cent of the city will see targeted growth. The majority of this growth is targeted in the areas around the city’s GO stations and in downtown Burlington. These areas are called Mobility Hubs.

Links and Resources

• Watch the Ask Grow Bold videos
• Find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about a growing Burlington at www.burlington.ca/askgrowbold
• Learn more about Burlington’s proposed new Official Plan
• Learn more about the proposed new Downtown Precinct Plan
• Learn more about Burlington’s Strategic Plan 2015-2040

Images/Photos

Renderings of future concepts in downtown Burlington

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