“It’s going to be a nightmare,” predicted Burlington City Councillor Paul Sharman.
He was referring to neighbourhood fears about on-street parking problems on Clearview and St. Matthew’s avenues that may result from a proposal to build two residential towers near the GO station in Aldershot.
Camarro Developments is seeking city approval to construct two high-rise buildings at the southwest corner of Cooke Boulevard and Masonry Court. The buildings would be 30 and 32 storeys high and connected by a six-storey podium. They would include 809 residential units.
At a Statutory Public Meeting this week, neighbours expressed concern that the developer is proposing a parking ratio of only .65 parking spots per residential unit. The city standard is 1.25 spots per unit, although this is under review. The proposed development would be hundreds of parking spots short of today’s standards, causing neighbours to believe cars will be parking on local streets.
“If there’s 800 units going into that building, and each has a spouse, that will be 800 extra cars with nowhere to park. Right now, we are having massive parking problems where we live. If that building goes up then there’s going to be a major parking problem for everyone,” commented one delegate to the meeting.
City staff responded that while the specific parking ratio for Aldershot’s Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) is yet to be determined, the long-term goal of reducing parking and vehicle dependence remains valid.
“We want to reduce car dependence and encourage other forms of transportation. …That work is ongoing as part of our secondary planning work for the MTSA areas.”
While members of the Planning Committee all seemed sympathetic to the potential overflow parking problem, they sometimes referred to it as “transitional.” Aldershot Councillor Kelvin Galbraith was, however, fully behind the worried neighbours, pointing out that people living in the proposed new buildings will absolutely require cars to get around.
“People need cars. There’s not much within walking distance yet of these proposed buildings. The only thing they can walk to is the local dance [strip] club. There’s is no grocery. There’s no variety. There’s really nothing.”
The fear of on-street parking problems was not the only issue raised. The Aldershot Village Business Improvement Area called for more and better retail services in the proposed development.
“Retail and commercial space is only allocated in one of the two towers. The ABIA wants more retail space allocated within the two towers,” said Tiffany Budler.
Camarro’s proposal was also criticized in written comments to the committee. “To even a casual observer, this proposed plan is grossly faulty, driven by profits as opposed to the benefits to Burlington citizens.”
Members of the Planning Committee directed city staff to continue the process of reviewing the development application and to bring back a recommendation. But that may never happen because the developer has the right to appeal to the province as of March 11 and if so, once again, removes the city from the decision-making process.
