West end residents are getting further insight into how the city will design the new neighbourhood around the Aldershot GO Station.
Known technically as a Major Transit Station Area, or MTSA, it generally stretches east and west from Daryl Drive to White Oak Drive and from the south side of Plains Road, north to the GO station.
At a meeting this week, council gave approval for a detailed design exercise that will last for more than a year. Consultants will be involved and public consultation has been promised. The work will build on earlier studies of the Aldershot neighbourhood dating back to 2014. The hope is to conclude the design, known as an Area Specific Plan, by the fall of 2022 and then incorporate it into the city’s Official Plan and zoning bylaw.
All this coincides with the expected confirmation of the MTSA boundary by the Region of Halton this fall.
“I’m very excited to have this work started…It’s a big piece of the future of Aldershot…We have a lot of development interests right now and the sooner we get a plan in place the better off the community will be,” said Aldershot Councillor Kelvin Galbraith.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward encouraged the public to get involved in the planning process.
“We’re building new cities…I know we call them complete communities, but they’re really new cities. We need to think of them that way…It’s not just about tall buildings with condos.”
The Aldershot MTSA is expected to house thousands of people over the next few decades.
Similar studies are being conducted for the neighbourhoods around all of Burlington’s GO stations.
