The following is a joint statement from Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith with regard to Infinity Development Group’s 12-storey building. Read more on this development in this article by Rick Craven.
“Dear constituent,
Thank you for reaching out with your concerns about the 12-storey application at 40–70 Plains Road.
We appreciate hearing the feedback and concerns of residents and take this into account when making our decisions. We heard many of these concerns over the five public meetings that have been held on this file since 2019 and those are documented in the file.
Regarding your request for council to stop this development, we don’t have the legal jurisdiction to do so. The applicant has appealed to the Ontario Lands Tribunal, and the OLT will be the final decision-maker on the file.
The next OLT hearing is January 23, 2023.
As part of the OLT process, all parties to a hearing are required to present planning evidence in support of their position. Council and the community are represented at these hearings by our legal and planning teams.
Our planning team have reviewed the file and based on the studies provided their planning advice is that the 12 storeys are acceptable. This advice has been publicly released to the community in advance of the hearing.
Council does not have the ability to direct our planning staff to have a different opinion — their advice is independent. To present a different opinion at the hearing, the city would need to find an independent planner to oppose the applications on planning grounds, and as noted, the planning evidence from the city and from the applicant is in support of these applications.
The location of this development is within the new delineated boundary of the Aldershot Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) which has been directed by the Province, the Halton Region and the City of Burlington, to intensify with mixed use residential development. The emerging work through the MTSA planning that is currently being undertaken by the city planning department found here: https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/9c5be73c6c2072077e924aa9c9046aafb3747153/original/1646426570/fd6dfe48f99acfee4ee8595ad1f5a770_Aldershot_RPPP.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20230110%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230110T172043Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a7552b2600d5297c5cc63640f0fc90de6835acd98538a5dce546f9f8ad1fa612
This work has indicated that the Aldershot Main Street area allows for 11 storey buildings but does require transitional considerations to adjoining low density residential developments. This project does meet the 45 degree angular plane which is a requirement of that transition. The 45 degree angular plane is a measure that protects neighbouring properties from view overlook, shadow impacts and more. If a building is within the 45 angular plane, measured from the property line, there is no ability from the top of the building to see into the yards of neighbouring buildings. Additionally, to achieve this angular plane, the applicant increased the setback from neighbouring properties, which will allow for planning and growth of larger trees that will provide privacy screening.
A number of changes have been made to the project since it was first introduced that took into account feedback from the community, council and staff. Those modifications allowed the planning staff to support the application and recommend a settlement at the OLT. The planning analysis and recommendation report can be found here https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/resources/Current-Development-Projects/Ward-1/Infinity-Development-Group—40-70-Plains-Rd.-East/Planning-Analysis—Appendix-B-to-L-50-22.pdf. The hearing date for the settlement is scheduled on January 23rd but this is not a public meeting. Only those that have registered as participants can attend and present evidence as to why they feel the project should not be accepted. If you attended any of the meetings related to this project, or submitted written comments, you are entitled to attend. You can check with the clerk who keeps a written list clerks@burlington.ca.
We at council had concerns about the height and mass of the building and the absence of any retail/commercial space at grade level. The applicant did respond by breaking the building up with a lower middle section to meet our guidelines and added over 1000 sq. meters of commercial space at grade.
Unfortunately, we are faced with the Ontario Lands Tribunal that has historically supported major developments such as this one. City staff have done the best they can to support the community and council concerns by recommending this final settlement to the OLT. Traffic, shadow, wind and many more studies have all been considered and impacts accepted by staff. They can also be found in the file at the link above.
Thank you.”
