Here are some of the developments in the Bronte area:
Want to know where these places are? Please click here to view map.
To view a map of all developments (approved and proposed) click here
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Fireworks by-law
The Town has created a new Fireworks Bylaw which was presented at the January 29/08 Administrative Services Committee meeting. This bylaw puts restrictions on the use of and sale of fireworks. It will only allow personal fireworks to be used on Victoria Day and Canada Day.
For more info see:
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/agendas-asc-2008/08jan29asc-item1.pdf
August 2008 update:
The Fireworks By-law has been broken down into two pieces of legislation. The licensing of those places that sell fireworks and the prohibition on mobile sales of fireworks is contained in the new Comprehensive Licensing By-law which will be before Council this fall.
The Oakville Fire Department is currently working on legislation to deal with regulations on setting off of fireworks. It is not known what the time frame is to enact that portion of the legislation.
For more information see: http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/by-laws/DraftCompLcnsngBy-law08June08.pdf or contact JBarry@oakville.ca.
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2177 Lakeshore Road A developer is planning to construct 9 townhouses on the property east of the Bronte Athletic field on the North side of Lakeshore Road . Local residents and the BVRA are opposed to this development as it will be very close to the existing houses. Council denied this application, the land owner has appealed the matter to the OMB. The OMB session is scheduled to begin on Dec 10/07 at the Town Hall.
Just prior to the OMB hearing the Town and the developer came to an agreement to build 4 single family homes on this property. This decision was satisfactory to all participants including local neighbours.
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3047 Lakeshore Road
A developer has just submitted (June 07) a proposal to the town to build 24 townhouses on the land on the north side of Lakeshore Road just west Triller Court across from the Veterinarian office. The current zoning allows for up to 12. Initial discussions between the developer and the BVRA did not result in a proposal that was acceptable for both sides. The BVRA does not want anymore than 12 units as outlined in the Town's Official Plan. The developer was made aware of concerns regarding traffic, tree loss and, loss of the creek that presently flows through the property and the lack of compatibility the development has with the existing neighbourhood. In order for this number of building to be constructed on this property the developer plans to fill in the valley and remove all of the trees in the valley.
For further information see http://www.oakville.ca/12138.htm
BVRA members are encouraged to contact Michelle Innocente, Town Planner, at 905- 845-6601, Ext: 3041 or email her at minnocente@oakville.ca to ensure your concerns about this development are heard.
The Planning Department is presently waiting for further engineering studies to be done by the applicant prior to proceeding with its recommendation report which will be presented to council. The date for the report is presently unknown. The tentative date that this application will be presented to council is Sept 8 th . More details will be provided as they are made available.
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Amica Retirement Residences on Bronte Road
A developer is proposing to build a 143 Unit, 8 storey retirement Residence on Bronte Road just north of Lakeshore Road on the West side. The BVRA has been heavily involved in discussions with developer from its inception.
For more information see: http://www.oakville.ca/12057.htm
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Bronte Butterfly Park
Initially envisioned as a millennium project, the Bronte Butterfly has been raising money toward the construction of a 210-metre winter skate way - essentially a skating pathway that could accommodate three people across and which follows the shape of a butterfly - along with an interactive butterfly park.
The hope is that the project, to be located at the foot of Bronte Road along Ontario Street , will attract more than 60 types of butterflies, as well as tourists and local residents, to the Bronte area.
The Bronte Butterfly Foundation has been given until Dec. 1/07 to come up with all the money it needs to finally make the dream of the Butterfly Park and winter skate way a reality.
A memorandum of agreement signed with the Town last year had called on the foundation to raise 75 per cent of the $3.61 million needed for the project by the beginning of 2007, and all of the money required by April 1, 2007. This deadline has since been extended until Dec 1/07. If the above goals are met the Town will contribute $500,000 from its cash-in-lieu-of-parkland reserve fund toward the project.
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Bronte MAG (Mayors Advisory Group)
The mayor has created a Bronte MAG to help determine what should be included as part of the revision of the Official Plan for the Bronte area. The committee consists of the BVRA, BIA, BDAC, Historical Society, developers, town planners and some members of the public. It is chaired by Ralph Robinson and Allan Johnson. The BVRA has been very disappointed so far with the lack of direction of this committee.
The final report was produced in early 2008 and has been presented to the mayor. The BVRA has not been privy to be able view this report even thought they were part of the committee. Top of Page
Bronte Village Revitalization Study
The Bronte Village Revitalization Study (BVRS) is taking place. The purpose of the BVRS is to seek input and feedback on draft revitalization options being considered by the Town of Oakville for Bronte Village . This study is being conducted by the Town Planning staff that is responsible to create the new Oakville Official Plan. Members of the BVRA and public are invited to attend any of the meetings. Public meetings have been held in May, June and July of 2008.
The next BVRS meeting has been scheduled for September 17 at 7:00 p.m. at
the Bronte Legion ( 79 Jones Street ).
For more information on the BVRS see:
http://www.oakville.ca/livable-bronte.htm or contact lgillwoods@oakville.ca
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Bronte Rd/QEW interchange As you may have noticed the work has begun on the interchange of Bronte Road and QEW. The changes include a new overpass for Bronte Road as well as 4 new high-rises up to 14 stories on the NE corner of the intersection. For more information see: http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/Planning_Justification_Report_5Jun07.pdf
Pages 5 and 6 of this report have some good diagrams to explain what is occurring in this area.
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Bronte Quadrangle
The first phase (heritage issues) of the OMB hearing for the Bronte Quadrangle is completed. On February 7/07 the OMB has approved that both Glendella house and the Post office can be moved to different locations on the property to allow this development to proceed. The decision also requires that the developer (Birchgrove Estates) restores these buildings. The Town of Oakville is appealing the fact that the Provincial government failed to appoint a Conversation Review Board (heritage expert) member to the joint hearing OMB panel and therefore the importance of these heritage buildings were not properly assessed.
The second phase of the OMB hearing was scheduled to begin in Sept 07 (which was to focus on the developments design and its height). The developer wants a 6 storey building on Bronte Road and a 12 storey building on the Jones Street side.
On June 25/07 the town of Oakville and Birchgrove Estates signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the Quadrangle site (agreeing to 10 storeys and 275 units). This agreement ended the requirement for the second phase of the OMB hearing. The town council voted to approve this MOU on July 3 rd .
On Oct 1/07 the Towns planning committee agreed to accept the MOU and will allow the Quadrangle to proceed. Demolition of the existing Bill Hill's grocery store will begin in a few weeks.
Below is the Town's planning staff report on the Quadrangle. It provides a history of what has happened from a planning point of view. Of note see pages 32 to 38 for the site plan to see what this building is going to look like.
Here is a summary of the building: 10 stories high, tiered from 6 stories (plus an additional 2 stories for the mechanical equipment and a swimming pool), nine 3 storey townhouses, 10 live/work units and 9000 sq feet of retail space. No addition parking will be added for the retail units.
Bronte Quad Staff Report Sept 28 07.pdf
For more information see:
http://www.oakville.ca/brontequadrangle.htm
Bronte Quad - MOU - June 07
The sales office is being constructed during the summer of 2008. Top of Page
Bronte Youth Centre
A new youth centre for Bronte is expected to open at Bronte Village Mall in the fall of 2008.
This proposed space is intended to be a welcoming environment for youth to take part in a diverse range of specialized programs, services and positive recreational activities. The goal is to offer youth an opportunity to socialize in a designated and supervised “youth only” setting that also provides such integrated services as education and career counseling.
For more information, please contact Susan Fanelli at 905-845-6601 ext. 3155, sfanelli@oakville.ca or Ray Chisholm at 905-845-6601 ext. 3151, rchisholm@oakville.ca.
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Burloak/Great Lakes Blvd/Rebecca parcel of land The triangular piece of land north of Rebecca and west of Great Lakes Boulevard behind the Shell gas station is also involved in a development dispute. The land is zoned for light industrial but the owner has applied for a zoning change to allow residential development. The Town has denied this application due to a lack of “employable lands” in Oakville . The BVRA agrees with the Town that the Official Plan should be followed for this parcel of land. For more information see the town of Oakville website using reference PL040151.
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Burloak Water Purification Plant
The advisory committee on which the BVRA was represented has completed its work, and the Burloak Water Purification Plant is expected to be on stream by May 2008, with the tunnel work being completed by November 2007.
Update as of September 2007- The design-build contract for the Burloak Water Purification Plant Intake Tunnel is proceeding as scheduled. The on-land portion of the intake tunnel is complete. The marine work is currently at 90% and is scheduled to be completed in November 2007.
For further information see the following website - www.halton.ca/BurloakWaterPlant
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Citizen's round table to discussing transit issues in our community
The following email was received by the BVRA in July of 2008. If anyone is interested please contact Harvey:
Greetings
I am writing you to ask if anyone in your community association is interested in joining me and several other Oakville citizens in a citizen's round table to discussing transit issues in our community.
By way of introduction, I research transportation and transit issues at University of Waterloo, and l am a long time resident of Ward 2 Oakville.
Several of us are hoping to get together with Oakville citizens like you to discuss transit issues of interest. After several meetings, this group could develop a pro-transit voice in our community to focus on several achievable transit policies for our town, with the support of diverse interest groups, neighbourhood groups, and ordinary citizens from across Oakville .
Please let me know if any of your Oakville members are interested in joining us, and please ask others who are interested in public transit issues in Oakville to contact me.
Regards
Harvey Rotrand
Modertor, Citizen's Round Table on Public Transit
Oakville, Ontario
905 338-6838 Top of Page
Duskywing Way Development The Duskywing Way proposed application for development of 100 units of rental apartments or 100 units of stacked townhouses in the Lakeshore Woods Subdivision - was presented by Daniels Corp on March 3rd, 2007 to a packed crowd of concerned neighbours at Walton United Church . The BVRA was represented at the gathering by Vice President, Laurie McGinn. Daniels indicated that both proposals adhere to the current zoning on the property. Daniels was seeking opinion on the preference of the community and their reaction to the proposals. Many present at the meeting were shocked to learn that the proposals meet current zoning and requested Daniels to change their plans. They expressed concern about proliferation of traffic problems in the area and felt deceived when they purchased their homes - in that they were given the impression through signage that only 2 estate homes were planned for that location. There also was strong opinion expressed that the plans were not in character with the existing community.
Laurie McGinn addressed Daniels to advise that the BVRA position was that of adherence to the zoning provisions of the property and that we support the smallest 'footprint' for development thereby reducing impact on existing trees. Ms. McGinn expressed interest to Daniels that we would be happy to discuss their plans further.
Laurie McGinn also commented to the assembly that given our experience at the OMB, that the argument that the development would not be in character with the community was not in keeping with the current professional planning interpretations and would not be a strong argument against the development proposal proceeding.
Many members of the community expressed desire for Daniels to down-grade the density of their plans and sought the lowest level of the range of medium density units allowable - 65 units, not 100 units as planned. The BVRA supports this concept however, believes it extremely unlikely that Daniels would opt for less development that allowable. Daniels representatives did not respond favorably to this suggestion.
The BVRA continues to support its mandate to adhere to the Official Plan and existing zoning provisions.
Site Plan approval has to be granted on this property. The area trees have been removed and a sales office is being erected.
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Interim growth management policy (OPA 275)
The Town of Oakville is proposing to implement an “Interim Growth Management Policy” while the Town Planning department conducts studies to allow it to properly prepare a revised Official Plan for areas of Oakville . This plan calls for development limitations to be put on the Bronte area for up to 3 years during this process. The proposal can be found at http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/pda041107item7.pdf .
At a public meeting held on May 2/07 the BVRA delivered its comments on this proposal to the Town's Planning department. See the link for “BVRA presentations” for the full report.
The Town council accepted this policy on June 12/07. Some of the changes that the BVRA requested where included. The Bronte area is now defined as South of Sovereign to the Lake and between Bronte Creek and East Street.
A group of developers have appealed this interim growth management polices (also called Official Plan Amendment 275 or OPA 275) to the OMB. Very little is known at this time about the hearing. We will keep you updated. BVRA members may have received notice of this hearing from the OMB in the mail. This letter was very cryptic and hard to understand. The BVRA has written a letter to the head of the OMB regarding the clarity of these notices.
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Lakeshore Road Improvements
The section of Lakeshore Road West from Mississaga St to Burloak Rd. needs to be upgraded. Some meetings have been held to invite public input. The BVRA has been attending these meetings and providing our comments. Here are the presentations from the first two meetings:
Presentations from June 20/07 Public Information Night:
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/General/LakeshoreRdEA_PIC1_PresMaterial.pdf
Stakeholders Group meeting #1 – August 29/07
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/engconst/LakeshoreEA-StakeMeet1-Pres-07aug29.pdf
For further information contact: Dave Johnson at the town of Oakville DJohnson@Oakville.ca
A Public Information Centre (#2) was held on Oct 11/07 at the Sir John Colborne Center to discuss issues related to this project.
For the most up to date information see – http://www.town.oakville.on.ca/12305.htm
For the full report see - http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/agendas-csc-2008/01-29-08csc-item_3.pdf
Construction will begin on the Burloak to Great Lakes Blvd section August 25 and last until December 2008. During this time the bridge over Sheldon Creek will be replaced. A pedestrian tunnel will be constructed under the bridge when it is replaced. In 2009 the section between Great Lakes and Mississaga will be upgraded.
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2355 – 2379 Lakeshore W. Moldenhauer Developments
Moldenhauer Developments has recently applied to build an 8 storey building on the north side of Lakeshore Road (between Jones and Nelson) on the property which presently occupies by the abandon Spa/hot-tub building and the strip mall just east of it. The building would contain open retail on the bottom floor with Retirement residences on the upper floors.
The BVRA does not support this development as it not compatible with the area.
The BVRA membership voted on its position on this development at the 2008 AGM. The BVRA membership does not agree with this development due to its height and massing.
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Oakville 's Transportation Master Plan:
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/Final_Report_TMP_revised.pdf for the Transportation Master Plan itself and
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/pda042307item6.pdf for the staff report
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Official Plan
For further information see the Current Issues item on the Bronte Village Revitalization Study.
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Other
The BVRA will continue to keep its members updated on progress of these projects. If we missing an issue that concerns you and your family? Send us an e-mail: BVRAonwaldie@cogeco.ca Top of Page
Other developments
Land has been acquired on the West side of East Street wrapping around to the west on the south side of Sovereign. The developer is looking at building 4 storey Town Houses.
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Palm Place MAG (Mayors Advisory Group)
At the 2007 BVRA annual general meeting the mayor announced that he would like to create a Palm Place Advisory group (set up by the BVRA) to:
- determine factors that contributed to the outcome being contrary to the Official Plan, general consensus of public desire and Council recommendations; and
- To provide the Mayor with recommendations for future development application process which may prevent similar outcomes for the community.
The mayor has promised his full support of this group.
The scope of work, methodology and timelines will be produced by the end of October 2007.
The cover letter
Palm Place MAG Report Final To Mayor.pdf
As of early April 2008 the two deer are still on the property. Top of Page
Petro Canada
The dismantling of the Petro Canada Refinery continues and should be completed by the end of 2007. We are happy to report that 2006 marked the last year of “land farming” at the facility, which was a main cause of odours from the facility. The BVRA continues to encourage Petro Canada to remove the large smoke stacks once the refining equipment has been removed.
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Reichmann Seniors Housing Complex
A four story senior residence is proposed on the property directly west of Coronation Park . This development is outside the Bronte boundary but has been included for information purposes. The local residents association ( Coronation Park Residents Association) opposes this development. It is expected that the final Public hearing date will be Sept 10/07.
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Shell House Lands Development (a.k.a. Palm Place)
In November 2003, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) received a re-zoning application and Official Plan amendment appeal to allow the construction of 1,000 units of high rise condos on the 10 acre Waterfront property located south of Lakeshore between Great Lakes Blvd and Burloak Drive in Oakville .
The BVRA is strongly opposed to this outrageous proposal and worked closely with government officials to represent the community opposition.
After a 7 week fight at the OMB, the hearing officer elected to allow 3 eight storey buildings on the West end of the property for of total of 300 units and create a park on the East end of the property. Even though the BVRA was very disappointed with the OMB's decision we continue to be involved with the issues surrounding this development. Meetings continue with respect to layout, traffic control, truck/construction access etc. These issues will impact our area greatly so the BVRA remains engaged in all discussions.
One major item that caused the OMB to allow the development to occur was a last minute addition to the agreement between the Town and the developer of the Lakeshore Woods subdivision which said the Town would entertain an application from the developer for up to 300 units on the Shell House land. The BVRA wants to know how this item was allowed to be included in the agreement, with no attempt to inform residents as to the potential future consequences, and who was responsible. We are presently involved with the new Mayor and Councilors to ensure that this issue is addressed.
Even though the “Shell house lands” will be developed our involvement is not over. Meetings continue with respect to layout, traffic control, truck/construction access etc. These issues will impact our area greatly so the BVRA remains engaged in all discussions.
On May 22 a staff report was presented and accepted by Council attempting to answer the questions that were asked by the BVRA as to what went wrong with the OMB hearing and how can we prevent this from happening again. This report was accepted with no questions or discussion by the council. The BVRA executive was not notified of this meeting and therefore was not able to attend and ask questions about the report. We are very disappointed with this report as it did not directly answer the questions we had asked. To this end the executive has met with the Mayor and he will be creating an “ad hoc” committee to further address the issue. The committee will be headed by Brian Miller of the BVRA. Below is a link to the report:
http://www.oakville.ca/Media_Files/agendas-asc-2007/052207asca-item5.pdf
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South Shell Park
The new park that will be just east of the Palm Place development is going to be called South Shell Park . This park will end up being approx. 7 acres in size. A public washroom and children's playground are part to the plan.
For further information see:
http://www.oakville.ca/southshellpark.htm
Work is to begin on the park in the fall of 2008. Top of Page
School lands in Lakeshore Woods subdivision
August 2008 update:
The decision was to be made before the end of this school year. The decision is part of a larger plan called the Capital Plan which includes school projections and future school construction. The decision to vote on the Capital Plan was deferred to the new school year. Right now the planning department is working on the school projections and getting ready for public meetings for September where we will be conducting meetings in each of the four municipalities. The tentatively scheduled meeting for Oakville is September 18. News releases will be released during the first week of Sept. Right now in our long range projections we built in the school for Lakeshore Woods and right now are not ready to give up our school block. After the public consultations are completed, any changes to be made are made and a report and draw up by staff, the Capital Plan should be going to Board for review and should be voted on later this year, hopefully before the end of the calendar year.
For further info contact:
Laureen Choi, Development Planner, Planning Department, Halton District School Board, 905-335-3665 x2201, choil@hdsb.ca
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