Lisa Kearns l Councillor l Burlington.ca/Ward2 |
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February Update - Part 1
Your feedback is important.
I make every effort to be sure that Ward 2 newsletters are in your inbox before decisions at Committee happen. This provides you with the opportunity to review and comment on upcoming items that affect you ahead of Council discussion.
February is a busy month, with a set of Committee meetings the week of February 1st that go to Council on February 16th. We resume the week of February 22nd to make space for a March Break week the following month. All decisions from this period will be in the February Update - Part 2 for Council decision on March 23rd.
Thank you for your ongoing engagement,
Lisa
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Downtown Burlington remains transformed into a magical light experience for its final week. Over the holidays, many spirits were lifted as numerous light displays adorned our streets.
The displays will remain until the end of January. Thank you to the sponsors & volunteers that made this happen!
During these challenging times, little acts of kindness can go a long way in lifting up our community. Ward 2 continues to show great compassion and resilience.
My office is working at full capacity, I can be reached through e-mail at Lisa.Kearns@Burlington.ca
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COVID-19 Response
- State of Emergency
- What City Services are Available?
- Support for Businesses
- COVID-19 Vaccine
- City COVID-19 Vaccine Coordination Task Force
City Hall Council + Committee Meetings
- Individual Committee Items Listed Below
City Hall News
- Budget 2021
- Engagement - Your Feedback Needed
- Housing Strategy
- Private Tree By-Law Update
- Snow Removal
- Announcements
Ward 2 News
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Ward 2 Virtual Community Update - Feb. 11
Planning + Development
- 2243, 2269 Fairview Street and 864 Drury Lane
- New Official Plan - Status
- Ward 2 Current Projects
Community
In Closing
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Province - State of Emergency
Burlington is currently under a provincial declaration of emergency and stay at home order.
Public Health and Workplace Safety Measures
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What City Services are Available?
- Indoor city facilities are closed to the public, with the exception of City Hall, at 426 Brant St., which remains open for in-person service by appointment only for commissioning services and marriages licences.
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Visit burlington.ca/commissioning, burlington.ca/marriage or call 905-335-7777 to book your appointment.
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Residents can also visit burlington.ca/onlineservices to access a variety of City services online.
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Service Burlington is available to answer questions during regular business hours at 905-335-7777 or e-mail city@burlington.ca.
- Parks, trails and outdoor spaces remain open with restrictions.
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Transit - Burlington Transit continues to run as scheduled including specialized transit. The transit terminal at 430 John St. remains open to provide PRESTO services including SPLIT passes.
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Support for Businesses
Are you a business owner that is seeing financial support? Many new resources are available. The City can help you navigate these, please reach out through the information below.
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The Burlington Economic Development team has prepared a great resource document outlining the various COVID-19 Provincial supports available to businesses. Have a look here.
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Questions about COVID-19 related to your business operations? Leave a message at 289-337-5505, ext. 102 and a Burlington Economic Development team member will get back to you.
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Learn more about the various resources available.
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COVID-19 Vaccine
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is an intergovernmental effort with clear roles and responsibilities:
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City COVID-19 Vaccine Coordination Task Force
Council recently approved an internal City COVID-19 Vaccine Coordination Taskforce. This is a proactive measure should the City be called upon to provide City facilities for vaccine distribution. Meanwhile, the city continues to work in close collaboration with Halton Region and in support of the Province’s prioritized vaccine rollout across Ontario.
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City Hall - Council + Committee Meetings |
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New for 2021:
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City Council Meeting Day and Time - Burlington City Council meetings have moved to a new day and time. They now take place on Tuesdays at 1 p.m., from their previous day and time of Mondays at 6 p.m. Shifting Council meetings from Monday to Tuesday ensures better customer service. It improves the delegate experience, aligns delegate deadlines with Standing Committees, and provides Council members time to receive information and prepare amendments.
"City of Burlington has changed its Council meeting dates from Mondays to Tuesday. This ensures a consistent delegate deadline, and that all addendum materials are properly received, circulated and posted. We'll also have an optional evening portion for items of public interest." Kevin Arjoon, City Clerk
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Chair for CSSRA - On January 11, 2021, I assumed the role of Chair for the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk & Accountability Committee. This committee makes decisions to help your City run better. It addresses risk that, if left unchecked, impacts your tax dollars and most importantly it brings accountability between City Hall and you. Thank you to everyone who will delegate, submit reports and ask insightful questions. It is a privilege to serve Residents, Staff and Council in this position.
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What is Happening at City Council in February?
- Temporary Use By-law to Regulate Outdoor Patios
- Response to Staff Direction SD-32-19 - Meridian Brick Aldershot
- Meridian Brick Aldershot Quarry
- Hydro Business Plan
- 2021 Budget Engagement Process
- Investing in Canada Infrastructure - Transit Stream Funding Agreement
- COVID-19 Emergency Response Verbal Update
- Implementation of Burlington Lands Partnership
- Public Tree Removal Report - 338 Johnston Drive
- Open Air Burning 2020 Pilot North Aldershot Extension
- Update to By-Law 76-2020, Emergency and Continuity Management Program
- Electric Vehicle Charging Update and Analysis
- At time of writing, agenda not yet available
- At time of writing, agenda not yet available
- At time of writing, agenda not yet available
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Watch Meetings Live
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all City meetings continue to be held virtually. Residents are encouraged to visit the City Calendar to:
- Watch a live web cast of all city meetings
- Find links to view a copy of the agenda items being discussed at city meetings
- View video recordings of previous meetings
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Budget 2021
While some of the financial impacts are temporary in nature, a portion are likely to impact the city's financial position over a longer period of time as we continue to live in a pandemic. For example, uncertainty remains around things like:
- Transit revenues and whether remote work and school will continue, along with the operating hours of stores and restaurants
- Recreation fees that depend programming that is compliant with Covid protocols
- Whether the city will continue to receive financial support from upper levels of government
While the City is grateful for the financial assistance provided from the Federal and Provincial Governments, the 2021 budget process is challenging as the City strives to balance the needs of important programs and services with the uncertainty future waves of COVID-19 may bring and is exercising every opportunity to mitigate the financial challenges, and reduces any overall property tax impact.
The City's Budget consists of both a Capital and an Operating Budget.
Capital Budget - The City's Capital Budget for 2021 was approved at the January 19, 2021 Council Meeting. Spending for the Capital Budget is for infrastructure you can see throughout the city, such as developing new parks, renewing existing roadways and storm water drainage or revitalizing our recreation facilities.
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Operating Budget - Spending for the Operating Budget is for the city’s day-to-day costs of delivering services such as fire protection, transit, maintenance of parks, and providing recreational programming. 2021 Operating Budget process timeline:
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Combined with the Region of Halton increase and the Boards of Education, the proposed overall increase is 2.88% or $21.89 per $100,000 of Current Value Assessment.
Even though budget preparation only comes once a year, this is not the only time we take feedback and potentially make changes. We are constantly listening and making adjustments throughout the year.
COVID has shown us that now, more than ever, we need to invest in city services so we can continue to support residents and to be also prepared for future emergencies.
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We Want to Hear from You! Share your thoughts on where you feel community dollars should be spent in the City's Operating Budget. You can do this by:
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Engagement - Your Feedback Needed
The goal of engagement is to lead to more informed and, therefore, better decision-making. We want your feedback! Visit Get Involved Burlington and complete a survey to let us know how you'd like to participate in City-led engagements as well as the topics you are interested in engaging on.
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Housing Strategy
The Housing Strategy for our city was presented at this week's January 19 Council Meeting via Report PL-02-21 which included the terms of reference. Stay tuned as we move forward with this strategy.
This is an exacting issue that brought me back to why I ran to be your Councillor; housing affordability continues to be at a breaking point in Burlington. To create inclusive communities and advocate for a better mix of family and assisted units we need to address, learn, coordinate and create real housing solutions.
The deficit between income and the cost to responsibly own a home is polarizing. We need to leverage partnerships and unlock land for housing. We know that simply increasing housing supply through intensification and height will not deliver on vibrancy and inclusion. I look forward to the work being undertaken and the outcomes.
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Private Tree By-law - Update
At the January 18 Council Workshop, City Forestry staff presented a Private Tree By-law 02-2020: Implementation Update. The presentation included an overview on the implementation of the private tree by-law, successes, limitations and opportunities for improvement of the process.
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Snow Removal
Questions about snow removal?
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Announcements
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Burlington Economic Development - Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) has revised its name to Burlington Economic Development, dropping the use of an acronym. The revised name allows Burlington Economic Development to better represent their value proposition, providing a stronger, more obvious connection to the city it represents.
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Community Planning Department - Join me in welcoming Mark H. Simeoni, MCIP, RPP as the Director of the Community Planning Department. Simeoni brings over 30 years of private and public-sector experience in strategic community planning, recently serving as Director, Planning Services with the Town of Oakville.
- A note of recognition to Jamie Tellier, MCIP, RPP for his incredible professionalism, team building and contributions while in the role of Interim Director of Community Planning Community Planning Department.
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Ward 2 Virtual Community Update Meetings
Mark your calendar to attend the next Ward 2 Community Update Meeting:
Thursday, February 11th, 2021
7 to 9 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 953 3574 4034
Passcode: qq7PBz
As always, everyone welcome.
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2243, 2269 Fairview Street and 864 Drury Lane
CLV Group Developments
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Project:
- 7 residential towers on top of 4 mixed use podiums
- Heights ranging between 29 and 37 storeys
- Podium heights ranging from 2, 5 and 6 storeys
- Total of 2,494 residential units of mixed type and tenure
- 3993 m2 of commercial space
- 41, 821 m2 of shared amenity space
- 5 levels of underground parking
- 4 storey parking structure, will be integrated with residential units
- Pedestrian connections to surrounding neighbourhood, Burlington GO
- Publicly-accessible park connected to Fairview St offering various outdoor amenities
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Status:
- The Site Plan application is currently under review by various internal staff and external agencies.
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An Information Report was presented to the January 14, 2021 Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee.
- The subject property is within the Interim Control By-Law (ICBL) area. No planning decisions are being made until appeals associated with the ICBL are resolved.
- Stay tuned for an upcoming neighbourhood meeting where an overview of the proposal will be provided. The applicant and City staff will be available to answer any questions from the community.
- Updated information is on the way to make additional information about this site clear to the public.
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New Official Plan - Status
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Ward 2 Current Projects
To find out more about Planning applications and development projects underway in Ward 2, visit Ward 2 Current Projects. Project pages include details, timelines and contact information.
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Burlington Public Library
The Province's declared State of Emergency continues to allow limited contactless holds pick-up service, visit BPL's Service Updates to learn more.
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Family Programming
The city is offering two virtual programs for families including:
- Family Trivia night (age 4-99), $5 per family
- Pre-school Songs and Stories, Free
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Get out and Have Some Fun!
As per the Provincial stay at home regulations, outdoor activities are exempt as exercise is an essential part of both physical and mental health. Pandemic restrictions apply so be sure to click on the links below for full details.
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Burlington Rotary Centennial Pond - Open for skating most days from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Skating is free; however, online, pre-registration is required and can be booked no more than 25-hours in advance.
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Outdoor Winter Play Challenge - This challenge will keep everyone busy with over 100 free, outdoor activities to complete. Activities range from making snow angels, going tobogganing, going for a hike or making a bird feeder.
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Play Equipment Lending Library - Did you know the City has a Play Equipment Lending Library which includes winter-theme play equipment? Residents may borrow a wide range of fun and unique play equipment, free of charge!
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Halton Garden Week - February 20 to 27, 2021
- This free online event celebrates gardening across Halton Region focusing on sustainable, local practices and products.
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There will be over 300 seeds / starter pot kit giveaways. The gardening kits are available thanks to funding through the Community Support Fund. Register here for one, all-access pass to all webinars, workshops, speakers, resources, games and trivia.
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Share the Love City-wide Food Drive
February 6-13, 2021
Drop-off locations include:
- City Hall
- Any fire station in our City
- Grocery stores with collection food bins or carts
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My most meaningful part of serving as your Councillor is engaging out in the community. Covid has brought us into a more virtual world faster than we imagined. I'll be trying to bring you more digital content and live streaming to connect until we can be together in person again.
Many of you enjoyed the "week in reviews" I used to share, I am going to let you know in advance what the week ahead holds. My hope is that if something sparks your interest, we can connect online. Week in reviews will be shared via Social Media including Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Thank you to everyone for staying in this together, taking this seriously and above all for being kind and respectful of one another.
Lisa Kearns
Ward 2 Councillor
City of Burlington & Region of Halton
E-mail: Lisa.Kearns@burlington.ca
DIRECT CELL PHONE: 289-962-2679
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Links & Resources:
Please check these frequently. Information changes quickly so these trusted online sources are the best ways to get the most up-to-date information:
Mental Health Support:
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