Bulletin 2015-01-15 (Jan 17, 2015)

Speaking notes for Mayor Rick Goldring

Rotary Club of Burlington Central

Burlington Golf & Country Club

Burlington, Ontario

January 15, 2015

Thank you for that introduction. The honour is really mine, to be here today with all of you.

As a member of The Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore for the past 14 years, speaking to my fellow Rotarians feels like talking to a group of close friends.

One of the highlights of being mayor of this amazing city is having an opportunity to go out and speak to groups like the Rotary Club.

It gives me a chance to connect with you about key issues in our community and hear your ideas over coffee. And in this case, a delicious breakfast.

It is an honour and a privilege to be return to city hall for another four years as mayor of Burlington.

I have five key priorities for the city for 2015:

Intensification
Climate Change
Economic Development
Service Based Budget
Community Energy Plan

When I was out talking to residents during the election campaign last summer, one of the top issues I heard at the door was intensification.

Residents wanted to understand why we are there were so many condominiums being built, how the landscape of Burlington is changing in some areas like downtown and why.

Today, I’d like to take the opportunity to talk about intensification.

I’d like to share with you the federal and provincial policies that are driving intensification and how Halton and Burlington are managing these pressures.

Canada’s Immigration Policy

Key numbers:

The Government of Canada, through Citizenship and Immigration Canada, has set an immigration level of 240,000 to 265,000 permanent residents every year.
This range has been the same since 2007.
While actual admissions change slightly, there have been around 250,000 new immigrants per year.

Notes:

The Canadian government states immigrants will play a key role in the next decade and beyond as fewer people take part in the labour force.
Birth rate going down, more Canadians retiring in coming years
Driven by a better living environment, bigger and more affordable homes in the suburbs, more newcomers are settling in the 905 areas as older immigrant communities matured, moved out of the city and reached a critical mass in certain outlying neighbourhoods.

A report by McKinsey & Company called “How to Make a City Great” discusses how half of the world’s inhabitants – 3.6 billion people – live in cities. By 2030, 60 per cent of the population – 5 billion people – will be city dwellers. The ways in which cities develop and cope with such rapid urbanization are of huge importance to citizens.

Places to Grow

Key numbers:

The province has projected residential and employment growth of an additional 3.7 million residents and 1.8 million jobs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe by 2031.

Notes:

The Government of Ontario released the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in 2006.
Growth plan prepared under Places to Grow Act of 2005, as part of the Places to Grow initiative to plan for healthy and prosperous growth throughout Ontario.
The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe aims to:
Revitalize downtowns to become vibrant and convenient centres
Create complete communities that offer more options for living, working, shopping and playing
Provide greater choice in housing types to meet the needs of people at all stages of life
Curb sprawl and protect farmland and greenspaces
Reduce traffic gridlock by improving access to a greater range of transportation choices.

The Growth Plan defines “intensification as”:
the development of a property, site or area at a higher density than currently exists through redevelopment, including the reuse of brownfield sites;
the development of vacant and/or underutilized lots within previously developed areas;
infill development,
or the expansion or conversion of existing buildings

Halton Region’s Growth Management Strategy

Key numbers:

According to Places to Grow, there will be as many as 780,000 people and 390,000 jobs in Halton by the year 2031.

Rationale:

As a result of Places to Grow, Halton Region developed the Sustainable Halton Growth Management Strategy.
The aim of the regional strategy is to put in place a long-term growth strategy based on healthy communities’ principles.
The regional strategy will serve as a blueprint for building sustainable, complete and healthy communities in Halton well into the future. It will also provide some degree of certainty for the residents of Halton.
For Halton, a complete community is one that promotes and celebrates diversity, livability, physical health and well-being, and accessibility.

What Impact Does This Have on Burlington?

Key numbers:

According to the population and employment distribution at the regional level, Burlington’s population is set to grow to 193,000 by 2031.
Burlington’s designation of new residential units is 8,300 by 2031.

Key question: What does all of this mean for Burlington?

Burlington was cited as the best mid-sized city in Canada in which to live according to the latest MoneySense magazine rating.
Burlington was also ranked the fifth-best city overall in Canada, including the third-best place to raise children, the second-best place for new immigrants and the third-best place to retire.
Our city’s Official Plan guides development in Burlington. An Official Plan is a statutory document required by the Province that sets the policy for the provincial growth and development of the city for a period of 20 years. The province requires that we review the Official Plan every five years. We are in the midst of a five-year review.
The Official Plan review will address the challenges and opportunities of planning and building our future city. The review started in 2012, with an updated Official Plan expected to be completed in early January 2016.
A guiding principle of the Official Plan is to provide a community plan and growth strategy aimed at creating an attractive, livable community that offers a wide range of housing, employment, transportation and leisure opportunities for all of its citizens.
Among other guiding principles are supporting a healthy and sustainable community; fostering a strong community identity; supporting a vigorous local economy and promoting the efficient use of land through intensification within appropriate areas of the city, in accordance with provincial growth objectives.

Where do we intensify? Where do we grow?

Notes:

Burlington is currently completing its last large suburban greenfield neighbourhood – the Alton community.
After decades of unprecedented growth in traditional green field communities like the Orchard and Alton, we have virtually no more room for such development.
The province’s Greenbelt Plan has put a close to continuous suburban expansion. With the establishment of the Greenbelt, the city of Burlington will be ½ urban and ½ rural/natural environment going forward.
Councils both current and past have been resolute in protecting the approximately 50 per cent of Burlington that is rural and agricultural.
Unlike our neighbours in Milton and Oakville, Burlington has run out of greenfield land for new housing projects and has a small amount of vacant land available for such uses as industry and offices.
In a city that is built out, we must build within the existing fabric through infill of vacant spaces, redevelopment of obsolete land uses and intensification.

Downtown

One of the sites slated for intensification is the downtown core.
This was established in the Places to Grow as an Urban Growth Centre.
It is anticipated that most residential and employment intensification will occur within this area.
The emphasis continues to be on revitalizing it as a traditional ‘people place’ downtown.
This involves encouraging retail and office development along the core streets, particularly Brant Street, basing government activities in this area, maintaining good-quality housing stock, and encouraging residential development, re-development and intensification in areas where appropriate.
One of my priorities last term was creating vibrant, walkable neighbourhoods. This remains my priority for the next four years.
Downtown Burlington embodies a vibrant, walkable neighbourhood in every way.

Uptown

This mixed use centre will contain a high proportion of residential land use, tied to commercial development at the intersection of Upper Middle Road and Appleby Line.
In recent years, we’ve seen several condominium buildings constructed near the Upper Middle Road and Appleby Line intersection.

Orchard

The overall housing mix anticipated is approximately 60 per cent low density, 25 per cent medium density and 15 per cent high density.

Alton

The Alton Community is located north of Dundas Street, west of Bronte Creek and south and east of Highway 407.
Alton is intended to be a mixed use community with employment uses concentrated along the south side of Highway 407.

Mobility Hubs

As part of the Official Plan review, we are looking at new opportunities for intensification. One direction coming from the province is mobility hubs.

There are two provincially-designated mobility hubs, including Burlington GO station and Downtown Burlington.

There are also two City-identified mobility hubs, with Aldershot GO and Appleby GO stations.

Mobility Hubs are major transit nodes that play a strategic role in the regional

transportation system. The scope of the mobility hub includes land within an 800 metre radius around a GO station.

They are places of connectivity where different modes of transportation – from walking

to commuter rail – come together seamlessly and where there is an intensive

concentration of places to live, work, shop and play.

The concept of the mobility hub comes from a provincial policy called the Big Move.
The Big Move is the 25-year transportation plan for the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area.

Mobility hub example: Burlington GO

The transformation of the Burlington GO Station into a mobility hub is on its way.
Construction is ongoing at the Burlington GO station, with a completion date set for spring 2015.
Approximately 3,500 customers use the Burlington GO station each weekday.
Meanwhile, the Molinaro Group is moving forward with a significant condominium development scheduled for completion in 2017 adjacent to the Burlington GO Station.
The project features five buildings, consisting of 20, 24, 20, 18 & 18 storey towers with approximately 925 units, as well as commercial and office space located in the two south towers. The first tower is scheduled for completion in 2017.
The average price of a home in Burlington is well over $500,000, so this gives first-time homebuyers, especially young professionals, a chance to enter the market and those looking to downsize a good, price option. It is also in an location that allows transit access to the entire GTA region.

Urban Growth Corridors

Major transit corridors, such as Plains Road and Fairvew Street have been identified for higher intensity, transit-friendly development.
This includes mixed-use areas, as well as employment development.
These corridors include the Burlington, Appleby and Aldershot GO stations.
We’ve seen mixed-use residential growth along Plains Road in Aldershot over past years.

Retail Plazas

As part of our Official Plan review, we are also looking for intensification opportunities at the city’s aging retail plazas.
In a mature community like Burlington, the opportunity exists to merge two settlement pattern components – Major Retail Areas with Mixed Use Activity Areas.

Smaller households

Burlington’s Official Plan outlines that to meet the needs of the changing population, as shown by smaller households, an aging population, alternative family units and a broader range of income, and in response to greater environmental awareness and fiscal restraints, new residential growth will be mainly in the form of more compact housing.

Variety of housing – Intensification has facilitated the creation of a variety of housing, including compact housing options to meet needs of smaller households.

According to data from the city of Burlington’s Planning and Building Department, the residential completions for 2014 for the city as of the end of November were:

Singles: 70
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Townhouses: 77
Apartments: 479
Total: 634

Pembina Institute study

The 2014 Home Location Preference Survey released by the Pembina Institute and the Royal Bank of Canada focuses on understanding where GTA residents prefer to live and commute.

The key findings were:

GTA homebuyers prefer walkable, transit-friendly neighbourhoods to car-dependent locations

When housing costs are not a factor, 81 per cent of respondents would choose to live in an urban or suburban neighbourhood where they can walk to stores, restaurants and other amenities, and where they can access frequent rapid transit.

They would choose these neighbourhoods even if it meant trading a large house and yard for a modest house, townhouse or condo.

Most homebuyers choose a location based on price rather than preferences

Affordability is a primary consideration.

More than 80 per cent of respondents choose a neighbourhood because that is where they can afford a home.

Walkable, transit-friendly suburbs are becoming more popular

When the cost of housing is not a factor, only 19 per cent of respondents would choose a suburban location with a large home and yard, but where a car is required and commuting takes more than 30 minutes.

By contrast, 42 per cent of respondents would choose a modest house, townhouse or condo in an urban or suburban location that is walkable, and where it is possible to commute by rapid transit.

All age groups and family types prefer location-efficient living

If cost were not an issue, all age groups would prefer to live in a location-efficient city or suburb, with 82 per cent of respondents over 60 and 84 per cent under 35 exhibiting that preference.

Seniors and young people would pay a higher price to live in a walkable, transit-friendly neighbourhood, even if it means giving up a larger detached home and yard.

The same is true of families with one child or less.

Only 40 per cent of families with three or more children would prefer a large house in a car-dependent suburb in the 2014 survey, and 51 per cent would choose a location-efficient suburb.

Understanding transportation costs makes homebuyers more likely to choose a walkable, transit-friendly neighbourhood

Homebuyer preferences shift when they are told that they can save a minimum of $200,000 over a 25-year period by giving up one household car and walking, biking or taking transit.

When informed of these savings, 60 per cent of respondents would choose to live in an area with easy access to rapid transit, even if they could only afford a smaller home.

Only 36 per cent of respondents would choose a larger home in an area without access to rapid transit.

Closing Thoughts

The growth targets have been set by the province until 2031. I believe these targets are achievable for Burlington with good planning.
Our updated Official Plan will help council make decisions.
There will always be applications that challenge our Official Plan and zoning.
City staff and council will continue to weigh each application that requires approvals with other important planning considerations, such as the protection of the natural environment, health and safety and, compatibility with existing residential neighbourhoods.
There are occasions where we approve projects that go above and beyond what our Official Plan designates. It is a careful balance between provincially-mandated growth and residents’ expectations. Some requests are too extreme and the city will fight them at the OMB.
I know there are residents who subscribe to the philosophy, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
But Burlington will change and evolve. We must.
The great Greek philosopher Heraclitus (her-uh-klahy-tuhs) said, “The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change.”
There are many neighbourhoods that will remain the same. Others will see changes.
I am committed to maintaining our city’s high quality of life as we grow.
It is also important to remember that Burlington’s best assets – its people – will remain.
Let’s work together to make Burlington the best it can be, for you, for your families and generations to come.