Will Burlington Take Over Part of Hamilton?
Published September 18, 2018 at 7:18 pm
If you live in Burlington or Waterdown, some big news that could affect your city has come out of Halton.
If you live in Burlington or Waterdown, some big news that could affect your city has come out of Halton.
If the Mayor of Burlington has his way, the two communities may soon merge into one.
On Sept. 18, 2018, Mayor Rick Goldring and Aurora Mayor Geoffrey Dawe met at Queen’s Park to participate in ongoing discussions with Ontario’s newly elected PC government about amending the provincial Places to Grow Act.
To tackle Burlington-related issues in regards to density and growth, Goldring is asking the province to consider adding Waterdown to the city of Burlington.
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According to Stats Canada, the most recent stats show that the population of Burlington is around 183,314 people.
Both mayors expressed concern about rapid growth in their municipalities.
Together, the two mayors are requesting a hold on the density requirements ordered by the province for both cities.
In addition, the mayors are requesting for local councils to have the ability to control their community development speed, as opposed to the “full-speed-ahead approach” implemented over the last decade.
“Aurora, is reaching a tipping-point in its development, where provincially-mandated growth will exact an unacceptable cost on our environment, our services and the qualities that make our community so attractive,” Dawe said in a recent press release.
“The time is now, for Premier Ford to ‘hit the pause button’ on Places to Grow, so that an objective appraisal of growth targets can be done to help communities manage growth sustainably, and in a manner consistent with the wishes of their residents.”
The Waterdown proposal is a massive game changer for both Burlington and Hamilton.
“Waterdown is isolated from Hamilton and has much more in common with Burlington and Halton Region. For years, growth in Waterdown has directly affected Burlington by placing additional demands on our infrastructure,” Goldring said in a recent press release.
“Adding Waterdown to Burlington will help make local government work better for the people and will be a win-win for taxpayers.”
The ‘Places to Grow’ Act was initially passed in 2005 by the Ontario government. The revised version of the Act can be found here.
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