One of Burlington’s largest housing projects nears approval stage

There is not much more in the way of shovels getting into the ground to start the process of building one of Burlington’s largest housing projects.

The neighbourhood-transforming development proposed for Fairview Street and Oval Court (north side of Fairview between Appleby Line and Sherwood Forest Park) calls for eight condo towers ranging from 11 to 30 storeys and containing almost 2,000 residential units.

To be built in stages, the plan also calls for retail and office space, a library, daycare and lots of greenery.

A pedestrian bridge is also planned to take the condo dwellers across Appleby Creek to the Appleby GO station

Now that developers have officially applied to proceed, the project is being reviewed by Burlington’s planning department and will be the topic of a public meeting scheduled for next month. At the meeting, city planners are expected to talk about how they expect the project will come to fruition.

While the project could bring as many as 4,000 new residents to the area and help Burlington meet its housing objectives, like any development of this size it has brought out many detractors.

Most of those who have been opposed to the plan point to the stress on local infrastructure once the buildings are occupied.

Those who already live in the area say traffic congestion is already a problem and will only get worse when these condo projects come online.

The public meeting will take place Nov. 5 virtually. Information to access the meeting can be found here.