Tonight, the Planning and Environment Committee voted in favour of an application to build a 17 storey residential high rise at 560/562 Wellington Street against the recommendation of city staff.  This site currently has a 6 storey office building and is located across the street from Victoria Park.

The staff report indicated how the application did not conform to the existing 1989 Official Plan, the London Plan or the West Woodfield Heritage Conservation Plan, yet two members of the committee came to the meeting with a motion pre-written to vote against the staff report. Why do we spend countless hours, with thousands of Londoners, to create these plans that politicians can simply disregard?  Why do some councillors disregard city staff that are experts in their field? Downtown zoning is supposed to end at Princess Street and now this developer wants to move that boundary to include 560/562 Wellington Street. Downtown development means they can build right up to the property line - which is not allowed in the "neighbourhood" designation that is currently on the property.

Councillors used the example of the Great West Life Realty property at Wolfe and Wellington as a comparison.  This is not a fair comparison as this property had existing zoning to allow the construction of an 18 storey building that had to step back as it went up. GWL Realty followed every rule to the letter.  

Victoria Park is not Central Park. Even Central Park, at 700 acres, does not allow the tallest buildings to built next to the park.  City hall is 12 storeys high - that is what is in the London Plan for this property and would allow a doubling of the existing density. 12 storeys is still a large building.

Why do ordinary residents of the City of London have to conform to zoning rules and regulations, when large developers can disregard the rules? This is not affordable housing, this is luxury housing. This building will impact all Londoners. Write to ALL of the city councillors before the Council meeting on Nov 16, 2021 to let them know you don't want to see Victoria Park surrounded by another high rise development.

Consider the next step and email all the city councillors:

mvanholst@london.ca,slewis@london.ca,msalih@london.ca,jhelmer@london.ca,mcassidy@london.ca,joshmorgan@london.ca,slehman@london.ca,ahopkins@london.ca,pvanmeerbergen@london.ca,sturner@london.ca,epeloza@london.ca,shillier@london.ca,mayor@london.ca,jfmillar@london.ca