The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 31, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com Sixteen-storey condo too much for council and neighbours By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Town of Oakville has turned down a proposal to build a 16-storey apartment complex on the southwest corner of Lakeshore Road West and Brant Street. The ruling was handed down during Monday's meeting of the Oakville Planning and Development Council, which saw numerous area residents speak out against the immense structure. The applicant, Moldenhauer (Lakeshore) Developments Inc. had called on the Town to change the zoning at 134-150 Lakeshore Rd. W., 80 and 82 Brant St., and 79 Brock St., to permit the construction of a mixed-use, 16-storey building that would house 165 residential units with a ground floor comprising of OPEN HOUSES SUNDAY 2-4 144' DEEP LOT! Amazing value! Facing ravine. Lovely kitchen w/walkout to stunning backyard w/inground saltwater pool. Hrdwd flrs, crown mouldings, potlights, gas fireplace, designer décor & more! Prof finished bsmt! 2118 SUMMER HEIGHTS TRAIL $598,900 RINA DIRISIO Sales Representative ROYAL LEPAGE REAL ESTATE SERVICES* BROKERAGE DIRECT OFFICE 1248 HERITAGE WAY GLEN ABBEY ­ $499,900 BUNGALOW DREAM! Amazing "De Santis" bungalow. Kitchen w/breakfast room open to family room w/gas fireplace. Entertainers living & dining room. Fabulous finished bsmt. Private backyard & large trees! 1389 HERITAGE WAY GLEN ABBEY ­ $458,888 1,904 square metres of retail and commercial uses fronting on Lakeshore Road. The development also proposed the construction of 14 townhouse units to the south of the main building, accessible from both Brant Street and Brock Street. These townhouses were proposed to be three storeys in height with the entire project sitting on two levels of underground parking comprising of 328 parking spaces. Following an examination of the proposed structure, Town staff found they could not support its construction noting its scale was not consistent with the lowdensity residential land located directly adjacent to the site. Local residents supported the staff recommendation to reject the development proposal. "We are in favour of the development of this site, we just don't think the nature of this proposal is conducive with our neighbourhood," said Joe Brandolino, president of the West Harbour Residents' Association. "We are in favour of the development of this site, we just don't think the nature of this proposal is conducive with our neighbourhood." Joe Brandolino, president West Harbour Residents' Association "We did have a survey executed (168 signatures) to get an idea of what people opposed or did like about the proposal and overwhelmingly the residents were opposed to the 16-storey proposal." Through a PowerPoint presentation, Brandolino outlined how most of the homes in that area are one to two storeys in height with only a few commercial buildings and town houses reaching the three-storey mark. "It's (the proposed development) a very, very high structure, even the four-storey pedestal is a lot higher than the surrounding three-storey buildings," said Brandolino. Halton Museum hosts Heritage Day celebration A panoply of colourful pastel paintings and the history of Acton's Beardmore Tannery are two reasons to visit the Halton Region Museum for its upcoming Heritage Day celebrations. The museum, located at the Kelso Conservation Area in Milton, is holding the free open house on the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 15, to mark Heritage Day -- established by the Heritage Canada Foundation in 1973. The museum is located at the base of the Glen Eden Ski Hills in Kelso Conservation Area. For more information, call 905-8752200 or visit www.halton.ca/museum. 905-849-3346 905-338-3737 www.rina.ca rina@rina.ca AMAZING VALUE! 4 bedroom, approx. 2854 sq.ft. Formal living & dining rm. Huge oak kitchen open to family room with fireplace. Hrdwd flrs, skylight, mn flr den. Walk to schools, parks, shopping & rec centre. "The townhouses he's proposing to put against the backyards of those Burnet residents are three-storeys high, quite an imposing mass. Even though they are meant to separate those residences from the big tower, those townhouses are as imposing as anything else." Brandolino also voiced concerns about the property's proposed density, which he feared would lead to significant traffic and parking problems within the surrounding neighbourhood. The huge shadow the building would cast was another concern listed by residents. West Harbour Residents' Association member Hart Jansson noted his group would like to see the townhouses reduced from three to two-storeys in height with the main building scaled back to a three-storey development instead of a 16-storey one. He also noted that access to the retail component of the development should only be permitted from Lakeshore Road West and not from the side streets. After three other resident delegations voiced similar objections to the development, Town staff noted that the developer was requesting that the decision be deferred to another day as he had received late notice of the meeting and was unable to attend. Town staff noted they had attempted to contact the developer earlier, but were unable to do so. Despite the request, council opted to proceed and passed a motion denying the developer's application.