OPA 2 Adopted by Burlington Council & Community Planning Permit System Bylaw Approved in Principle

At the Regular Meeting of Council on June 18 (see agenda), Council voted unanimously to adopt the Official Plan Amendment (OPA 2) and approve in principle the Community Planning Permit (CPP) System By-law. Council also directed staff to make the necessary refinements to the CPP By-law, including any changes to reflect any modifications as a result of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing approval of OPA 2 and to report back at the July cycle of Committee of the Whole regarding the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) terms of reference as it relates to the City’s unit mix endorsed in the Housing Strategy.

OPA 2 Approval Process 

Official Plan Amendment 2 for the City of Burlington will be submitted to the Region of Halton and to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Pursuant to subsection 17 (36.5) and (38.1) of the Planning Act, where the approval authority is the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing the decision is final and not subject to appeal.

As prescribed through Bill 185 (Cutting Red Table to Building More Homes Act, 2024), which received Royal Assent on June 6, 2024, as of July 1, 2024, the Minister will become the approval authority for the Official Plan Amendment. As the approval authority, the Minister may approve, modify and approve, or refuse to approve the Official Plan Amendment. 

CPP By-law Work Plan  

Council has directed staff to continue to work with interested and affected parties over a defined time period to address a core set of remaining issues limited to the following:  

• Land Use Compatibility; 

• Class 1 and Class 2 Permit Structure; 

• Facilities, Services and Matters; 

• EV Parking requirements; 

• Site specific issues and, 

• Implementation considerations, including monitoring, reporting, partnering, education, communication and fees and process maps.  

Staff will report back to Council in the Fall with an update on the resolution of these issues.

My Take

This is an exciting time for Burlington as we chart our course for growth over the next 25 years and beyond, as this planning work could serve as a template for other municipalities as they plan for how their Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) will take shape. This is trailblazing work because other communities aren’t yet exactly where Burlington is, which is that we’re built out, and we have an absolutely firm commitment — and have for many years — not to expand our urban boundary and not to grow into the half of our city, by landmass, that is rural. We need to protect those farmlands and conservation areas and green space.

If we can get this landed with the building industry, our MTSAs and the CPP will be a template for other communities to use once they experience build out and as they plan around their GO stations, which work is already starting now in many municipalities.

This plan has actually been in the works in Burlington since I was on council back in 2014-2015, when we still called MTSAs ‘mobility hubs’ around our GO stations -- Burlington andAldershot are closest in terms of their build concepts. Appleby is a bit different, with slightly smaller density targets because the north side of the station is heavy industry and will stay as heavyindustry, which is different from Aldershot and Burlington, which have a mix of commercial and housing on both sides of the tracks.

While the OPA ensures that significant growth and development will occur in close proximity to our city’s three GO train stations, having a clear framework and vision to shape development is integral in ensuring Burlington grows in a responsible and sustainable way. I have always said that this is where our height and density should go, not in our established neighbourhoods, and not far away from transit. This is exactly where this should go. But if we just build housing and these aren’t complete communities, we’re going to end up with vertical suburbs and traffic nightmares. So, our plans from the very beginning have always contemplated parks, retail, community amenities, to make sure that this isn’t just about the housing.

So, now when we start to see applications come in for these MTSAs, we’ll be looking for all of those things that make a complete community, because we’re going to have tens of thousands of people in a small area, which is completely doable if you have all the other elements alongside of housing.