Burlington doesn’t need another Wal-Mart

I walk past a pleasant green space every day from Burlington Station. I’ve seen deer, groundhogs, Canada geese and even snow geese on this land. It’s pretty.

But Wal-Mart Canada wants to build a huge ugly store on it. The area is zoned for properties up to 5600m², but this store is more than twice that, at 12000m² — and yet city staff are recommending approval.

This is craziness, especially since the project will have a parking lot of at least the same size as the store. Who is going to manage the water runoff from that? There will be extra sets of traffic lights, making Brant Street even more stop-go. This is supposed to be a mixed-use development, yet a single behemoth store doesn’t make for much mixing.

The Burlington Downtown Business Association opposes the Wal-Mart proposal, as do many other locals. Burlington has a fine downtown, and it doesn’t deserve a wage-lowering, opposition-closing cheapo crap emporium in its midst.

There will be a a public meeting on May 17, 2005 commencing at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Level 2, City Hall, 426 Brant Street to discuss the proposal. Be there, or be stuck with a big grey box.

Here’s the council letter about the Burlington Wal-Mart proposal. It includes diagrams. Full text of it is in the ‘read more’ section.

Tel: 905 335-7600 Ext. 7812
Fax: 905 335-7880
lagzdinsm@burlington.ca

Subject: Public Meeting Concerning a Proposed Official Plan Amendment and Rezoning
Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
2055, 2075 and 2085 Fairview Street, 915 Brant Street
FILE: 505-09/02 and 520-27/02

April 14, 2005

Dear Sir or Madam:

The Community Development Committee of City Council will hold a public meeting on May 17, 2005 commencing at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Level 2, City Hall, 426 Brant Street to consider a proposed Official Plan Amendment and rezoning under Sections 22 and 34 of the Planning Act.

The City of Burlington has received applications from Wal-Mart Canada Corp. to redesignate and rezone property located east of Brant Street and north of Fairview Street as shown on the attached Location/Zoning Sketch No. 1.

The purpose of these applications is to permit the development of a large retail warehouse, with approximately 12,000 m² of floor space, as shown on the attached Detail Sketch No. 2. The property is presently zoned MXR – Mixed Use Corridor Retail, which permits a wide range of retail, service commercial, financial, office, entertainment, recreational and medium and high-density residential uses. Retail warehouses are permitted with a gross floor area between 1800 m² and 5600 m². A large retail warehouse, defined as “a building where a single user occupies a minimum gross floor area of 5600m² and where the principal use is the sale of products displayed and stored in one and the same area, is prohibited.

City staff have reviewed these applications in conjunction with all comments received from the area residents and various public agencies, and will be recommending approval of the amendments.

The staff report containing the proposed Official Plan Amendment and zoning amendment, as well as additional information concerning the proposed amendments, will be available to the public for inspection at any time on or after May 3, 2005 and may be obtained from the City Clerk’s Department on the Main Level, City Hall. In addition, the staff report will be contained in the Community Development Committee Agenda, which will be available on the City’s web site two weeks prior to the meeting, at http://www.burlington.ca, under “Meeting Calendar”.

If you require any additional information regarding these applications, please contact me at the above number.

The aforementioned public meeting will be held in two sessions; commencing at 4 pm and 7 pm. We encourage you to make advance arrangements if you wish to appear as a delegation. You may state a preference for either session you wish to attend. Please call Mariana Iglesias, Committee Clerk at (905) 335-7600 Ext. 7865 to schedule your delegation. Delegations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes each. In accordance with the Procedural By-law of the City of Burlington, groups or associations are encouraged to appoint a spokesperson to represent the views of the group, for the purposes of expediency.

Written submissions with respect to the proposed amendments may be made to Mariana Iglesias. Please remit any presentation material prior to the meeting to allow distribution and review by all members of Committee. If you wish your written submission to be included in the Committee Agenda, please submit your correspondence prior to April 29, 2005.

A copy of the proposed Official Plan Amendment is available for inspection at the Clerk’s Department, 1 st floor, City Hall, during regular business hours. If you wish to be notified of the adoption of the proposed Official Plan Amendment, you must make a written request to Mariana Iglesias, Committee Clerk, City of Burlington, City Hall, 426 Brant Street, P.O. Box 5013, Burlington, Ontario, L7R 3Z6.

If a person or public body that files a notice of appeal of a decision of the City of Burlington in respect of the proposed Official Plan Amendment does not make oral submission at a public meeting or does not make written submissions to the City of Burlington before the proposed Official Plan Amendment is adopted, the Ontario Municipal Board may dismiss all or part of the appeal.

If a person or public body that files an appeal of a decision of the City of Burlington in respect of the proposed by-law does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or written submission to the City of Burlington before the proposed by-law is adopted, the Ontario Municipal Board may dismiss all or part of the appeal.

Yours truly,
Marilyn Lagzdins
Senior Planner

426 Brant Street * P.O. Box 5013 * Burlington * Ontario L7R3Z6 * www.burlington.ca

FILES: 505-09/02 and 520-27/02 – 2 – April 14, 2005