More Development Changes Could be Coming to Burlington
Published March 15, 2019 at 4:39 pm
On March 5, 2019, Burlington city council voted in favour of a staff report that recommend
On March 5, 2019, Burlington city council voted in favour of a staff report that recommended an interim control bylaw (ICBL).
“An ICB puts a temporary prohibition or limitation on the development of certain lands while the municipality is studying or reviewing its land use policies,” reads a blog post on Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward’s website. “The initial ‘freeze’ can be imposed for one year, with a maximum extension of one additional year.”
The lands included in this study consist of the Downtown Urban Growth Centre (UGC) and lands in proximity to the Burlington GO Station. The purpose of the land-use study, as noted in the blog post, is to look at the role of existing transit, transportation and land use in the city’s Urban Growth Center and to align future decisions with Burlington’s Strategic Plan.
However, this is not the only change that the city could see in regards to development.
In another blog post on Meed Ward’s website, it was noted that the Department of City Building recently announced that it will be piloting some changes to the city’s development application process.
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Currently, there are six steps in the development application process. These steps, as noted in the blog post, will stay the same; however, the order could be changing.
It has been proposed that neighbourhood meetings for new development applications, that are received this year, should place before the city receives a formal development application.
This is an initiative that Meed Ward sees as a good one.
“This is great news for Burlington residents as it will increase the opportunities for community engagement and feedback early on in the development application process,” Meed Ward noted in the blog post. “By moving the neighbourhood meeting earlier in the process and before the submission of formal applications, developers will also get a chance to hear from residents first-hand sooner and have an opportunity to incorporate some of that feedback from residents and the Burlington Urban Design Panel into their plans.”
This new approach will require the applicant to arrange a meeting in order to share the development idea with the local neighbourhood and receive feedback. Applicants will also be required to recognize and address feedback, from the public and the Burlington Urban Design (BUD) Panel, before submitting a formal development application.
Do you think proposed order change could be effective?
Graphic is courtesy of Meed Ward’s website.
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