I wish to register my support of the objection to the Amendment filed by Residents for Sustainable Development, regarding expansion at the Wal-Mart site.
I object to the expansion for the following reasons:- this is not the phased expansion mandated by various provincial and municipal initiatives. Why is there such a hurry to get the expansion approved?– this expansion promises to have a negative impact on existing retail, particularly that of the downtown area.
– we are letting developers drive the phasing of development, not Council in consultation with the public.
– traffic at Woodlawn and Woolwich has worsened with the present Wal-Mart store.
– this is a low density and car dependent development which has no place in a community trying to reduce energy consumption and encourage a more walk-able community.
– the site plan does not appear to deliver the 3-D’s of density, diversity and design. There are little green spaces and no intensified residential spaces; there is only one parking level, a wasteful use of land, and the pavement of which increases air temperature in the summer; the building fronts are not oriented to the street.
– this entire development could be a net drain on the tax base due to its design and the type of development that it is – all commercial.
For these and mulitiple other reasons, I urge you to deny the request to expand this site. We need to take our time and assure that appropriate development with public input drives our growth, not developers whose only interest is the bottom line. PM