Burlington Council Approves Moving Forward with Requesting Adjustments to Downtown Urban Growth Centre and Removing Major Transit Station Area Designations

Downtown & Waterfront
Written By

*Please see a media release below issued by the City of Burlington.Burlington, Ont. – Aug. 25, 2020 — On Aug. 24, 2020, Burlington City Council unanimously approved requesting the Region of Halton through its Municipal Comprehensive Review of the Regional Official Plan (MCR), to adjust the boundary of the Downtown Urban Growth Centre (UGC) to generally align with the lands in proximity to the Burlington GO Station, and to remove the Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) designation from the Downtown.Earlier this year, the City of Burlington received a joint letter from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Ministry of Transportation stating that the Region of Halton, working together with the City of Burlington, can remove the identification of a mobility hub and the MTSA designation in Downtown Burlington.

"There is a strong rationale for removing the Downtown MTSA designation and adjusting the boundary of the UGC. The Downtown MTSA designation is not commensurate to the role, function, and the transit service level provided at the John Street bus terminal. The UGC has done its job in its current configuration; adjusting the UGC boundary to lands in proximity to the Burlington GO Station will enable sustainable and transit-oriented growth for future generations. This is supported by Provincial Policy, the letter from the Province as well as the directions and findings of completed planning initiatives such as the adopted 2018 Official Plan, the Scoped Review of the Official Plan, and the ICBL Land Use Study." --  Heather MacDonald, Executive Director of Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility, City of Burlington

The Council approved recommendations are based on conclusions of recent planning studies undertaken by the City. The Interim Control By-law Land Use Study focused on assessing the role and function of the downtown bus terminal and the Burlington GO station as MTSAs, and scoped re-examination of Official Plan policies that focused on the Downtown.The City is requesting the Region to remove the Downtown MTSA designation and to adjust the boundary of the UGC through its current MCR process based on the following:

  • The John Street bus terminal does not currently function as a major bus depot and is not anticipated to be more than the intercity transfer point in the future;
  • Adjusting the Downtown UGC boundary to align generally with lands in proximity to the Burlington GO Station will enable provincial, regional and city objectives to be met by focusing population and employment growth and amenity and infrastructure investment in an emerging transit supported area.

NEXT STEPS:The City will work together with the Region of Halton through its Municipal Comprehensive Review of the Regional Official Plan, to remove the MTSA designation from the Downtown and to adjust the boundary of the Downtown UGC to generally align with the lands in proximity to the Burlington GO Station.The final decision regarding adjusting the UGC boundary rests with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. 

"We look forward to continue this work with the Region and the Province to update Burlington’s Mobility hub designations and Major Transit Station Area designation for downtown Burlington. This is great for the residents of not only Ward 2 but for all residents of Burlington. I commend the staff and residents who spent so many hours in delegation and undertook hard work to make these changes come to fruition. These changes show that we can work together as council, staff and community to make significant changes which will affect how our downtown will evolve in the coming years. With these changes in hand, staff will have a policy framework for sensible growth and to manage over-intensification; a policy for which so many voices made clear was what they wanted for our downtown." -- Councillor Lisa Kearns, Ward 2, City of Burlington

MAYOR MEED WARD'S TAKE:This is another milestone towards community-led control of development in our downtown and one more step to help us better manage growth in our city as a whole. It’s not the last or only step, but a significant one as we continue moving forward towards ensuring our next stage of growth goes where it should.LINKS AND RESOURCES:

--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist

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