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Growth proposal meets approval
Growth proposal meets approval
Sat, June 28, 2008
After 20 months of fighting about how London should grow, city council has agreed to a plan that will see it take more control over development.
The plan places council at the tiller as city hall plans growth in London's southwest, where a lineup of potential developers includes a group tied to the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart.
It does so in a way -- proposed by Controller Gord Hume -- that addressed concerns raised by developers:
- The city will try to complete plans for the southwest by the end of 2009, six months sooner than had been proposed by city staff.
- Developers can begin their plans while they wait for the city to finish its work.
Hume's proposals won support of three council members who a week earlier had opposed the plan before the planning committee. Council supported the plan by a vote of 17 to one.
"I think the decision is tremendously important," Hume said yesterday. "This will set the parameters for the next several years for how the city will grow and prosper."
Also praising the direction was Coun. Joni Baechler.
"It's pivotal. I'm really pleased to see that city hall is now in the driver's seat," she said.
The agreement may mark a turning point for council by removing what was a significant source of political acrimony that often spilled into debates on other issues.
"I'm hopeful the acrimony will reduce. This has been a contentious issue," Baechler said.
The city plan received support from the construction lobby and developers.
"(We) support the city's (strategy)," Jim MacKinnon, head of the Keeping London Growing Coalition, wrote to a city official.
"The city should immediately begin a high-level master planning process that identifies segments within the southwest and . . . the order in which these lands will be developing," wrote Barry Card, a lawyer representing York Developments.
However, industry advocates also want the city to adapt its plan to changing market conditions.
"Flexibility is key," wrote Stephen Janes of the London Development Institute, a lobby group for developers.
Developers want to build in the city's southwest, near highways 401 and 402. Staff say the city can only afford to develop one-quarter of the southwest, with much of it not to begin for another decade.
Some issues remain unresolved, including who will call the shots in the construction of storm-water facilities.
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