 Keep in touch |
|
|
Heart Lake highrise hearing on hold
December 18, 2009
- Brampton Guardian
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing on a controversial multiple highrise complex proposed for Heart Lake is on hold.
The hearing was to start Jan. 12 in Brampton and six weeks had been set aside. However, a conflict of interest on the developer’s traffic study of the area was discovered and time is needed to re-do the study. The developer’s lawyers asked for an adjournment of the hearing so the work could be done.
In the meantime, the developer’s lawyers also asked for OMB mediation meetings. Those meetings are used to try to come to a resolution of some or all of the issues in dispute. Unlike an OMB hearing, mediation meetings are not open to the public.
“It’s good news to us,” said Kenneth Bokor of the delay. Bokor is co-chair of the Citizens for Managed Development at Loafer’s Lake, a task force of the Northwest Brampton Community Development Association. The group has participant status for the OMB hearing, and Bokor said he hopes it will be allowed to participate in mediation.
“I’m pushing to make sure our group is part of the mediation meetings,” he said.
There is no date set for mediation, and there is no new hearing date set.
Bokor said he believes citizen involvement has helped influence the developer’s decision to seek mediation.
“I would think it has had some influence,” he said. “They know that we have a good groundswell, that we have a lot of surveys coming in.”
He said the deadline for residents to fill out a survey on the development was this month, but because the hearing has been postponed, that deadline has been extended indefinitely. He is encouraging everyone to fill out the detailed survey to let the OMB know how they feel.
Royalcliff Developments Inc. and Lake Path Holdings Inc. want to build a total of 1,443 residential units on the site, abutting the Loafer’s Lake Recreation Centre at Sandalwood Parkway and Conestoga Drive. The majority of those units- 1,396- would be in six highrise towers between 18 and 32 storeys in height. It would bring an estimated 2,189 new residents and 353 visitors to the area, according to the citizen’s task force.
There is strong opposition to the proposal, with residents arguing the project is too large and too dense for the mature single-family residential area.
One of the six buildings proposed, if approved, would be the tallest building in the entire city at 32 storeys.
Brampton councillors and staff flatly rejected the proposal in early September, but the developer had already appealed to the OMB.
The City of Brampton and the Region of Peel are parties to the appeal.
The citizen’s survey is available at http://nwbcda.googlepages.com, or copies can be picked up, completed and then dropped off at two businesses in the Heart Lake Town Centre— Vintners Exclusive Wines and Honey Brown Tanning Salon. The Web site also has several reports, including the developer’s response to the city’s concerns.
The seven-question survey isn’t just a one-line “for” or “against”, and Bokor said he hopes to hear from all sides and all thoughts on the issue to ensure the input is fair.
Comments
|
|
|
|
