A petition in support of Burlington city council’s decision to ask the province to save Millcroft Golf Club has gathered approximately 1,500 signatures.
On Tuesday (Oct. 17) morning, members of city council unanimously supported a motion to receive and file the petition.
“Millcroft represents more than 60 per cent of the community’s green space, and I want to make sure we understand that it’s home to many of the wild species there,” Ward 6 councillor Angelo Bentivegna said. “It also acts as a flood management system as well.”
Bentivegna added that there is currently a proposal to rezone the golf course and turn it into residential properties, which the community has been fighting for years.
The sought outcome of the motion is to preserve the golf course lands as green space, not necessarily keep it as a golf course.
“Once it’s developed, we don’t get that green space back in the community,” Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said. “Even though it’s a golf course today, that doesn't mean it will be a golf course forever. But it does need to remain as green space.”
The mayor also noted the timing of the petition, saying the provincial government had announced only the day before legislation to return land back to the Greenbelt, and to ensure all future changes to the Greenbelt be done by way of an open, public, transparent process.
“For all the reasons we want to protect the Greenbelt, the same reasons apply here,” Meed Ward says.
The Millcroft Greens Corporation previously appealed the Ontario Land Tribunal council’s decision to oppose the development, which would see the construction of a six-storey apartment building and 90 detached homes. The appeal is set for March of next year.
In September, council approved a parcel of land on Dundas Street to be used for the apartment building development. That land is currently being used as a parking lot and a storage shed.
