Milton Development Proposal
Office Park

NRU
Nov. 29, 2017
Dominik Matusik

A proposal for an office building in Milton is causing controversy due to its intensity and unique siting: in the middle of what is currently a park. 

Currently home to the heritage-designated Ruhl dwelling—the former residence of Austin Wilmott, a member of a prominent Milton pioneer family—the development site is located in the middle of Sunny Mount Park in south Milton. In 2015, Milton council, unable to find tenants willing to refurbish the heritage structure, approved a zoning by-law amendment to permit development, and declared the property at 155 Ruhl Drive surplus. 

Ward 7 councillor Rick Di Lorenzo told NRU that he had always envisioned the town would use a public-private partnership to repurpose the heritage building. 

“We were always looking for some type of private-public partnership,” he says. “...We were thinking a developer could come in and repurpose that heritage building for a daycare or an artist’s studio. There’s a list of possible uses for that building. But it was envisioned that there would have to be some type of upgrade to that building, either to make it wheelchair-friendly or to add in more washrooms or, if it was a restaurant, to add in a kitchen. So that’s why there was a zoning change to allow for that building to be expanded.” 

However, the property was purchased by 19450587 Ontario, which submitted a proposal significantly more intense than what is permitted under the zoning by-law. 19450587 proposes to construct a three-storey, 2,500m2 office building, a 506m2 addition to the heritage building and 131 parking spaces, both underground and surface. 

Di Lorenzo explains that, while he is not against development on the property, he has issues with 19450587’s proposal which he says merely uses the heritage building as a “sidenote” to the office building. 

“I had some issues with the original application that [19450587] had brought forward to town council,” he says. “It was outside the zoning restrictions that we currently have set for the property. I think it was three times the size that was actually allowed for that property. So I had some issues with the developer coming with an application that  was just so far out of bounds of what the current zoning is for that property.” 

Milton planning and development commissioner Barbara Koopmans told NRU that staff has raised numerous concerns with the application. 

“The proposal does not fully conform and it’s not fully consistent with applicable policy,” she says. “We’ve identified a number of concerns... They relate to the scale of the proposed development, traffic impacts, impacts from vehicle access, impacts to the use of the park, the adequacy of the parking that’s proposed, impact to the heritage dwelling and the cultural landscape.” 

Koopmans says that she anticipates a revised application being submitted, with the potential for mediation, but does not rule out the possibility of a full Ontario Municipal Board hearing. 

19450587 Ontario has appealed the application to the OMB, and a prehearing is scheduled for June 4, 2018.