One week after a city committee voted to lift a cap on retail in London’s southwest corridor, city council has voted to leave the cap in place.
City staff had previously recommended that the city lift the 100,000 square-metre cap on development along the so-called enterprise corridor on Wonderland Road, south of Southdale Road.
The issue dates back to 2012 and the previous council which bucked advice from city staff and increased the cap from 30,000 to 100,000, creating some unintended consequences.
The increase was later challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board, which upheld the decision.
Deputy Mayor Paul Hubert, who was part of the previous council and voted against the increase, blamed the last council for putting them in this predicament.
Staff had recommended lifting the cap to fix the problem.
Ward 13 Coun. Tanya Park voted to keep the cap in place.
“In my view this is a land ownership spat that council is being asked to settle by lifting the cap off and I don’t think that’s our place in this, our place in land use planning,” said Park.
“If there are deals to be made by landowners then that happens outside of council.”
The issue briefly returned to London city council last June but was sent back to staff for more information.
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.
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