Statutory Public Meeting for Proposed Corley Developments Inc. Development at 284 & 292 Plains Rd. E. on Feb. 1

ADMINISTRATOR'S UPDATE (Feb. 16, 2022): Council approved the below staff recommendation at the Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 regularly-scheduled Council meeting:

Direct staff to continue to proceed with the processing of the submitted application for Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment for 284 & 292 Plains Road East, including evaluating and incorporating any/all comments received by Committee and public at the Statutory Public Meeting, as well as the comments received through the ongoing technical review of this application by agency partners and internal departments.

For the full Council Feb. 15 Meeting Minutes, click here: Post-Meeting Minutes - Regular Meeting of Council_Feb15_2022MAYOR MEED WARD'S TAKE:Thanks to all the residents who have attended the meetings and raised important considerations -- your input has already led to a height reduction that fits with our new Official Plan. There remain some areas to be reviewed, including how to protect boundary trees on neighbouring properties, and including more 3-bedroom units, particularly in the townhouse units at the front. Greater setbacks for the building from rear yards may help. I do think with a little more attention to the "pain points" we heard of from some of the community during delegations, we could have a really good development here. I look forward to seeing staff's recommendation.

•          •          •          •          •

A statutory public meeting with recommendation report will take place at the virtual Community Planning, Regulation & Mobility (CPRM) Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. for a proposed development application in Ward 1 at 284 and 292 Plains Rd. E.

Click here for the public mailout

Click here for the:

• Staff report: PL-01-22 - Statutory Public Meeting and Recommendation Report - 284-292 Plains Road East
• Appendix: PL-01-22 -Appendices A-B - Maps and Public Comments

The applicant, Corley Developments Inc., is proposing a 6-storey apartment building with:

• 117 residential units, including 2-storey townhouse units and amenity area on the ground level;
• 147 parking spaces, combination of underground and surface parking areas;
• bicycle parking; and
• rooftop amenity area.

How to Obtain the Staff Report:The staff information report which provides a description of the application and updates on the technical review that is underway and public comments received to date, will be available for public review on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.The purpose of the report is to update all members of Council about the development proposal and recommend that Council direct staff to continue to review and process the application. The report will be available on the City’s website at www.burlington.ca/calendar by searching for the meeting date for the Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee. If you require a hard-copy of the report, please email the Clerks Department at clerks@burlington.ca to arrange pick-up.Delegating at the Meeting:Residents who wish to will have the opportunity to delegate at the meeting. Since this is a statutory public meeting, you do not have to register in advance in order to speak. However, if you wish to arrange in advance to speak at the public meeting, please register online at www.burlington.ca/delegation. If you have presentation materials, they must be submitted to Jo-Anne Rudy, Committee Clerk at Jo-Anne.Rudy@burlington.ca no later than noon (12 p.m.) one business day before the meeting to allow its distribution and review by all members of the Committee. The content of all submissions is considered to be public and will be posted to the City’s website.Speakers are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes each and are webcasted online.You can access the dedicated City of Burlington webpage here (burlington.ca/284plains) for any additional information about the application, including the supporting materials and technical comments available for the public to view.

•          •          •          •          •

WHY DOES THE CITY HAVE TO CONSIDER ALL NEW DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SUBMITTED? When the City of Burlington receives an application for a new development, we are legally bound to process any development applications and provide the developer with a decision on the application within 120 days of the application being deemed complete.All of these applications are assigned a planner who reviews the documents and feedback from residents and presents a recommendation to committee and Council on how the application should proceed — that recommendation can either be denying the application, approving it, or approving it with certain conditions.Should the City fail to provide a decision to the developer within the 120 day time frame, the developer has the right to approach the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), previously known as the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT), to request them to make a decision on whether or not they are allowed to proceed with their plans.On June 1, 2021, the LPAT was amalgamated into the OLT — an independent tribunal whose members are appointed by the cabinet of Ontario to hear cases in relation to a range of municipal planning, financial and land matters. These include matters such as official plans, zoning bylaws, subdivision plans, consents and minor variances, and other issues assigned by numerous Ontario statutes.When this happens, it will not only cost the City money by means of legal fees and representation at the OLT, but it also takes the decision-making process away from the City and City Council – in other words, projects that are not acceptable to our residents and City planning officials could go ahead and our residents would be very limited in their ability to provide input on how their neighborhoods are structured.It is the City’s obligation to its residents to ensure we are able to provide them with opportunity to be a part of the planning process for the neighborhoods. Planning affects all of us as it determines where we live, work, play and raise a family, and that is why the City encourages residents to get involved in this process.If a member of the public believes that a planning decision should be re-examined, they can appeal the decision to the OLT. The OLT has the authority to refer a decision back to Council for reconsideration. If a subsequent appeal of the second Council decision is made, then the OLT has the authority to approve, change or refuse the application and override the decision made by the municipal Council.There are currently 10 major development applications at the OLT, 4 appeals of Committee of Adjustment decisions, as well as 31 appeals of our changes to our Official related to GO station policies, and 44 appeals to our new Official Plan.The Mayor doesn’t provide a position on a development application until staff review and share their expertise and a recommendation in order to protect the process and residents.To learn more about the Planning Process, please visit the dedicated Burlington Planning Process page on the City’s website.—*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor’s Media and Digital Communications Specialist