London city hall is set to open up commercial development along Wonderland Road south.
London’s planning and environment committee voted 4-2 on Monday to lift the cap on retail in the southwest corridor. Mayor Matt Brown and councillors Anna Hopkins, Maureen Cassidy and Jesse Helmer voted in favour of removing the cap while councillors Stephen Turner and Tanya Park voted against it.
The issue dates back to 2012 and the previous council who bucked advice from city staff who recommended retail in the so-called enterprise corridor on Wonderland Road south of Southdale Road be capped at 30,000 sq. m. The previous council, led by former Mayor Joe Fontana, decided to increase the cap to 100,000 sq. m. instead.
The increase was later challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board, which upheld the decision.
The decision to put the cap at 100,000 sq. m hasn’t played out as the previous council predicted, the space was quickly taken by only a few companies, including York Developments which snapped up 60,000 sq. m.
Mayor Matt Brown was a councillor on the previous council, but voted against increasing the cap to 1000,000 sq. m.
“Council changed the geography dramatically and created the issue that we see before us today so this was last council’s mistake and this is this council’s opportunity to fix it,” said Brown.
City staff, and the committee, hope to continue development in the area by lifting the cap. There are a number of proposed developments in the area currently on hold because of the cap.
Helmer lamented the decision by the previous council, saying he liked the original plan for the area.
“I went back and read the initial draft of the plan before this meeting and I’ve got to tell you, it looked pretty good,” he said.
The area is currently made up of big box plazas, which wasn’t the original plan. City staff had originally recommended a variety of developments along the corridor.
One of the concerns opponents have with lifting the cap is the fact London already has a 30-year supply of approved commercial space, and this will only add to that. London is set to see the arrival of a full IKEA store in fall 2019 at a different retail plaza at Wellington Road and Highway 401 in the south end of the city.
“The intent of not over saturating the market is so we don’t get dead zones and we have a few in the city,” said Turner. “I’m really worried and I haven’t heard anything convincing that we won’t create another one.”
Westmount Mall, just north of the enterprise corridor, recently lost its signature store when Sears Canada went bankrupt.
The issue briefly returned to London city council last June but was sent back to staff for more information. Full council will have the final say on the matter next week.