Two eight-storey apartment buildings proposed for Bolton’s North Hill

Residents share concerns with proposal at April 4 public meeting

By Zachary Roman

There's a company that wants to build two apartment buildings in the north of Bolton.

In early 2022, the Town of Caledon received official plan and zoning bylaw amendment requests from planning firm Glen Schnarr and Associates on behalf of Columbia Square Inc. (Wyndcliffe Developments).

Wyndcliffe Developments is looking to develop an undeveloped piece of land on Bolton's North Hill, and build two eight-storey apartment buildings. The apartment buildings would contain approximately 403 residential units. Wyndcliffe also wants to build nine three-storey townhouse buildings that will contain about 142 residential units. Finally, their development proposal includes 1,844 square metres of commercial space, an outdoor amenity area, and 1,018 parking spaces.

The land Wyndcliffe seeks to develop is at the northeast corner of Highway 50 and Columbia Way near St. Michael Catholic Secondary School, is 8.2 acres in size, and is currently used for agricultural purposes.

“The applicant proposes to amend the Official Plan to re-designate the lands from the Bolton North Hill Commercial Area designation to a new Bolton North Hill Mixed Use Area designation, including new site-specific policies for the development of residential and commercial uses on the site,” reads a report prepared by the Town's Planning Department. “The proposed amendment to the Zoning By-law would rezone the land from a site-specific General Commercial zoning classification to a site-specific Mixed Density Residential classification, including new zoning standards for the proposed residential and commercial uses on the site.”

A public meeting was held about the proposed changes and the development on April 4, where Caledon residents could share their thoughts and concerns with the Town and developer.

Caledon resident Emily Tratnik submitted written comments about the proposal, calling it a “terrible” idea.

“The infrastructure in this area can barely support the population that it already has. Investments into roads, traffic measures, (and) public transit (need) to be addressed well before anything like this could even hope to be successful,” said Tratnik. “Every household in this development is going to have at least one car and the area can't handle any more congestion… even someone who is pro-development can see that this plan is half-baked at best.”

Cathy Beards, who has been a resident of Bolton's North Hill for over 20 years, said in written comments that she thinks the land should remain undeveloped.

“The traffic through Downtown Bolton is already congested pretty much all day, the

businesses suffer from this congestion, and adding another 1,000 or so cars is unreasonable,” she wrote.

Patricia Franks submitted written comments, and delegated at the public meeting, on behalf of Caledon Area Families For Inclusion (CAFFI) and the Caledon Housing Initiative.

Franks said there's a critical need for housing options for people with differing abilities in Caledon. She asked that the Town and developers be truly inclusive of vulnerable adults when proposing projects. Franks asked that between five and ten per cent of the units proposed by the developer be designated as rentals for the purpose of sustainable housing for those with differing abilities.