A proposed 26-storey building for downtown has raised the ire of many hell-no-sayers from Burlington’s neighbourhoods.
Adi Development Group is currently trying to erect a modern condo building at 374 Martha St, which is currently an empty parking lot. They’re seeing a lot of resistance from local residents, as well as City Council.
The area currently has a billboard that states “Nautique – Coming Soon,” while many in the community are doing everything in their power to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Back in 2014, over 100 members of the public turned out to a committee meeting about the proposed building. Many of them booed and interrupted the presentation along the way.
“I can’t help but feel this proposal doesn’t show very much respect for the city of Burlington, the staff of Burlington and the residents of Burlington,” said John Pearce, who lives in a 12-storey building across from the proposed site.
“It is tantamount to a monster home on a small building lot and we know what people think of monster homes… I can’t see how you can justify building such a monstrosity”
The 26-storey condo building was originally proposed as a 28-storey building, and the original 192 residential units have been scaled back from the original 226. However, that hasn’t changed City Council’s stance.
“The revision of 26 storeys does not address the concerns that were raised in the original report on the 28 storeys,” said Meed Ward earlier this month.
Committee members voted unanimously to oppose the revised proposal, and there will be a meeting with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on Mar 14th at City Hall.
Away from the downtown area, Adi Development also isn’t making any friends in the Alton community. They also have a new development proposal for north of Dundas Street. They are asking for 691 units (343 per hectare), including two 19-storey condo buildings inan area that allows between 100 and 185 units per hectare, with a height allowance between four and 10 storeys.
This raises a lot of interesting questions. The City recently announced that it’s long term plan is to expand without urban sprawl. This will assume building “up” not “out.” However, many of Burlington’s residents seek to protect the area’s smaller-town-charm. They also feel these buildings would devalue the existing structures.
Not everyone feels that way, however. Adi told the Post that there had been a lot of interest in the Nautique condos and more than 3,000 people were already registered to receive more information.
How do you feel about such aggressive expansion in Burlington? Let us know on Facebook in the comments under the blog post.
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