It has taken over a decade to assemble seven homes on the south side of Plains Road East from the Seasons Condominium east toward Birchwood Avenue. Now, the developer and the city are moving ahead with a formal public meeting to discuss a plan to replace the homes with a nine-storey building.
A virtual statutory public meeting has been set for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 14 to discuss the proposal. Anyone may speak at the meeting whether pre-registered or not.
Infinity Developments wants to amend both the city’s Official Plan and its zoning bylaw to permit the new building. The structure would contain 360 residential units. Driveway access would be off Plains Road at the intersection with Cooke Boulevard. There would be 424 parking spaces consisting of 14 visitor spaces at grade and 410 spaces within two levels of underground parking.
The rear of the building will step back, from the fourth floor up, in an attempt to protect the privacy of the neighbours to the south.
The building is unusually long. It would stretch 123 metres across the Plains Road streetscape.
“While the length of the proposed building exceeds the length provided in the guidelines, the building is designed to break up the massing with a 1.5 metre wide and 6.6 metre setback in the middle of the building. This design element allows the building to feature like two separate buildings.”
The statutory public meeting is sure to renew neighbourhood opposition, especially on Fairwood Place East, south of the proposed development. Previous informal neighbourhood meetings revealed a variety of concerns including height, shadowing, wind tunnel impact, privacy, traffic concerns, and lack of retail space on the first floor.
On Friday, August 27, the city will release a background report on the development proposal. It is expected to confirm the negative comments already on file at City Hall.
The developer is sticking to his plan.
“The intensification of the subject site with a mid-rise residential building is in keeping with the policy directions articulated in the provincial policy statement, the growth plan, the Halton Regional Official Plan, the in-force Burlington Official Plan and the applicable urban design guidelines, all of which support and promote residential intensification of the site.”
Infinity emphasizes that its location is only about 700 metres from the Aldershot GO Station in an area already designated for high density development.
Aldershot Councillor Kelvin Galbraith commented on the proposal earlier this summer.
“This is exactly where I would expect intensification to occur as this property is on Plains Road and within the new boundary of the Major Transit Station Area. I will not comment on the building itself as I will await the staff review and recommendation report before I will comment on those details.”
The Infinity public meeting is the second recently called by the city that will impact Aldershot. A meeting regarding a proposal to build four towers up to 35 storeys, just east of Aldershot near Mapleview Mall, has been set for Tuesday, September 7 at 9:30 a.m.
