By Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
The City of Burlington has now received a submission from Millcroft Greens for redevelopment of lands within the Millcroft golf course. City staff are currently reviewing the application and supporting materials to determine if it is a complete application. This process can take some time, including requests for additional information and re-submissions.
The city’s standard practice is not to announce that a submission has been received until it is deemed complete, however Millcroft Greens voluntarily gave their consent for me to share this information with you, and I thank them for that.
My goal is to be completely transparent with residents every step of the way during this process. So, even though there is no further information to share at this time, other than that a submission has been made. I wanted everyone to be aware that the city has received it and that the information will be made public once the submission is deemed to be complete.
At that time, the submission will be posted along with supporting materials on the city’s dedicated webpage. If you have not done so yet, please subscribe to this page so that you will be alerted via email when the materials and content are updated and available to the public. I will also let residents know via the Millcroft newsletter and this page.
Once the application is deemed complete, the “clock” will start on the formal review of the application. City staff will have 120 days to review the application and make a recommendation to City Council for a decision.
The recommendation could be to refuse, approve, or approve the application with modifications or conditions. Alternatively, staff may also request more time to complete their review, beyond the 120 days. However, this would expose the city to a potential appeal by the applicant to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal for “non-decision” within the 120 day statutory time frame.
Once the submission has been deemed complete and posted to the webpage, I encourage everyone to review the materials. The councillors and I continue to receive thoughtful feedback from residents about this proposal and we thank everyone who has reached out and been so involved during the pre-application phase. We want to continue hearing your thoughts about the application, once available, and including any differences between it and the initial proposal. You can read about the initial proposal on the city’s webpage above.
New Official Plan policies related to golf courses
Separately, city staff and members of council received correspondence from Millcroft Greens related to our new Official Plan. Our new Official Plan, section 8.4.2 (2) states:
b) New golf courses and golf driving ranges, and expansions to existing golf courses and driving ranges requiring additional land, shall not be permitted;
d) A proposal to re-designate lands within the Major Parks and Open Space designation to another land use designation shall only be considered by the City in conjunction with a statutory Official Plan Review.
Our next Official Plan Review would be in five years. Millcroft Greens is asking to be exempted from both policies. Read the letter here: LET – To City of Burlington re Millcroft Greens Submission on New OP Policies (Nov 17, 20)(42409096.1)
The city is almost finished the update of our current Official Plan, which includes the policies above. City Council will vote on the matter next Thurs. Nov. 26 at a special Community Planning Regulation & Mobility committee meeting, immediately followed by a Special Council meeting. Once council votes, Halton Region has the authority to approve the new Plan.
The new plan is subject to appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, and we expect appeals. Until those appeals are dealt with, the new Official Plan is not in legal force. As a result, the policies of the new Official Plan will not be determinative of the Millcroft Greens application. However, the policies are still relevant and will inform staff and council’s consideration of the application.
As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact myself or council members.