Burlington budget - planning shift

NRU
Jan. 25, 2017
By Leah Wong

Following the approval of a new strategic plan last year, the City of Burlington’s planning and building department is creating a new planning framework to shift the city’s focus from greenfield development to intensification.

“It’s a transformative and historic year for the City of Burlington with the work we’re doing on an official plan that positions us to grow through intensification and our mobility hubs work,” Burlington planning and building director Mary Lou Tanner told NRU. “We’re most excited that council made the decision to grow when it adopted its new strategic plan in spring 2016.”

On Monday Burlington council approved a $2.812-million operating budget for the city’s planning and building department. This reflects a 5.4 per cent increase over last year, which is related to salary increases and the funding of a mobility hubs team.

The creation of a new official plan and area plans for the city’s four mobility hubs are the two most significant policy initiatives being undertaken by Tanner’s team this year. She said planning staff is working to distribute the city’s new official plan for consultation within the next few months so that council can consider approval before the end of the year. Council will also determine the land use vision and options for the city’s mobility hubs-Aldershot GO, Burlington GO, Appleby GO and Downtown Burlington.

The department’s budget includes $75,000 in onetime funding to retain a land economics consultant to assist with development proposals. Tanner said the need for a consultant comes from the city’s shift from building new greenfield neighbourhoods to growing through intensification.

“The economics of development for those two different models are so fundamentally different,” said Tanner. “We as an organization-council and staff-need to understand the economic drivers and how our policy and development standard decisions impact building through intensification, infill and redevelopment.”

Council also approved a 4.42 per cent increase to the city’s portion of property taxes. This results in a 2.56 per cent overall increase when Halton Region and education taxes are factored in.

Mayor Rick Goldring told council that the low assessment growth anticipated in 2017 has led to a higher tax increase for the city this year. Projected to be 0.15 per cent, assessment growth in 2017 is much lower than in the last five years, which has averaged around 0.9 per cent. This lag in assessment is due, in part, to the fact that the city has yet to benefit from the impact of new development.

“It is an anomaly in our assessment growth,” said Goldring. “Staff are projecting four times the assessment growth than we are expecting this year going forward. And depending on the development that happens, that number could very well be higher in the future.”