Mayor’s Monday Mailbag – Jan. 22, 2024 – What's Happened at the Empty Lot at 515 John St.?
Welcome to the Mayor’s Monday Mailbag, an initiative Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and the Mayor’s Office launched to share weekly answers to questions from the public we’ve received through our main email inbox at mayor@burlington.ca or the Mayor’s social media platforms.At the end of the month, we publish a roundup of those most pressing questions we’ve received in the weeks prior.
Mayor’s Monday Mailbag – Jan. 22, 2024QUESTION:"What has happened at the empty lot at 515 John St., on the southeast corner of John and Caroline streets?”ANSWER:The site at 515 John St. was the subject of a development application that was approved in 2009/2010 for a 17-storey condo, and a 6-8 storey garage, with 6-8 storey medical building. The 17-storey condo was built and is occupied, however, the balance of the block was never completed. There is currently no timeline for the remaining portions, and the City of Burlington has no mechanism to compel construction to begin on those pieces.The site had recently been used as a construction staging area for the building being finished at Brant and John streets. The construction staging is no longer required.Community members have expressed concerns about the unkempt nature of the site, and the surrounding sidewalk, the hoarding blocked parts of the sidewalk, and the elimination of on-street parking. Those issues have been addressed with the removal of hoarding.For now, until such time as development occurs on the site, and in an attempt to clean up the site and make use of the area, it has been converted into a temporary paid parking lot. Starting in January 2024, this lot is now a paid lot that the City's Municipal Parking Operations Team will administrate through the Honk Mobile (the City's pay-by app).
The City's parking officers check if vehicles have paid for parking by checking the license plates, since there is no pay-parking machine and no paper permits to place on a vehicle's dashboard. Drivers can extend their parking permit using the HONK Mobile app on their phone if they need to park for a longer period of time.Paid parking is in effect from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Parking is free after 6 p.m. and on weekends and holidays. For more information on where to park in downtown Burlington, please visit: https://www.burlington.ca/en/roads-parking-and-traffic/parking-in-downtown-burlington.aspxCity staff are also looking into applying some beautification to the area around the temporary parking lot, including potential planters and/or trees to be installed in season.To view more details and information about the John Street development, please click/tap here: https://mariannemeedward.ca/council-update-john-st-development-tall-building-guidelines-budget-2018-1million-jobrant-museum-living-wage-study-active-aging-plan/
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