Burlington Infill: stormwater, height top concerns

NRU
Nov. 12, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

A proposed redevelopment proposing two towers built behind a shopping centre in Burlington is raising concerns with residents, not only about height, but about potential stormwater impacts.

First Capital (Appleby) Corporation has submitted plans to turn a parking lot at 5551 New Street - which currently serves the Appleby Village shopping centre - into two mixeduse buildings of 12 and 17 storeys with 324 residential units.

Ward 5 councillor Paul Sharman said that this application faces a tough uphill climb with him and residents.

“[First Capital is] proposing one 12-storey and one 17-storey building. So it’s a lot, they’re tall, they’re going to be right on this collector road, right in a parking lot, overshadowing a development of townhouses really close by, in an area that’s already highly congested. There are schools in the area, lots of children walking by in peak hours. It’s a development that looks likes Toronto.”

Particularly concerning for residents, said Sharman, is the impact this development may have on sewer and stormwater infrastructure. The city saw massive flooding on August 4. Sharman said the rainfall combined with water flowing from the QEW south caused significant damage in the area.

“What [this flooding] demonstrated to us is that we don’t have control of our stormwater. And it penetrates our sanitary sewer system, so we had huge numbers of houses flooded on August 4, especially in the area of this proposed development.”

Sharman added that the city has hired AMEC to review its stormwater infrastructure. He says the city needs to see its report before it looks to approve intensification projects such as the First Capital development.

“There’s no way we can be responding to a highly intense project that has the potential to add more sewage, more risk of flooding into an environment that’s already pretty congested.”

First Capital planning consultant Glenn Wellings (Wellings Planning Consultants Inc.) said the building site is an underutilized property and ideal for redevelopment. He said the proposed development would support the adjacent commercial properties and transit in the neighbourhood.

“Burlington has no greenfield lands left with the exception of a few small parcels north of Alton...so [it is] relying on intensification and infill development, and that’s the reality in the City of Burlington.”

While Sharman told NRU that this is not an area where the city is seeking to direct intensification, Wellings said that a 2008 city-led intensification study identified regional malls and community shopping centres as having the potential to accommodate over 16,000 new residential units. However, he said, as an infill project it will be a challenging development, although high-density development already exists nearby.

“There are to the east, three-existing apartment buildings of 12 storeys each. So there is some high density in the area... [and the] local official plan permits 12 storeys [on this location].”

Wellings said that stormwater and basement flooding issues go well beyond this application.

“In the case of this application, what you have is a hard surface parking lot where these proposed buildings will be located. It’s a hard surface now, it’s going to be a hard surface when development happens,” Wellings said. He added that he’s not trying to take away from the significance of the event, but does not see how this application would make flooding issues worse. “I think this city is going to have to respond to the broader [flooding] issues.”

City planner II Michael Crough said that this is a unique application.

“It’s the first [application] where we’re seeing the commercial plaza proposed to stay and some new residential proposed to go in. We don’t have anything like that. There’s lots of mixed use in the city, so it’s not like that’s new. It’s the combination [of uses] in this particular fashion we haven’t exactly seen.”

Crough said that the city does anticipate some intensification on this site. Staff has not yet reviewed the First Capital application, but Crough said staff would be examining it in terms of traffic concerns, compatibility with the surrounding neighbourhoods and servicing capacity. He noted that the proposed height of the 17-storey building may be an issue.

“The [official plan designation for the First Capital site] talks about medium and high density residential to a maximum height of 12 storeys, subject to evaluation of site-specific criteria. Those are standard stuff like traffic, environmental factors, etc... [The official plan is] careful to not just [give] outright permission [to build 12-storey buildings] across the board.”

Crough expects the statutory public meeting to be held sometime in the new year, at which time an information report will be presented. Meanwhile a public meeting is scheduled for November 17.