Lakeside residents in Stoney Creek say their community is in crisis due to intensive development

A group of Stoney Creek residents are lobbying for their voices to be heard.

The Lakeside Residents of Stoney Creek are frustrated with high-density development proposals along the Lake Ontario shoreline, between Fruitland and Gray’s Road.

Spokesperson Sherry Hayes says their concerns include flooding and environmental issues, as well as “excessive traffic congestion.”

Hayes argues that “this area can’t take it — it’s destroying the area.”

One proposed development along Lake Ontario’s shoreline involves the construction of 48-, 54- and 59-storey residential towers on Frances Avenue, a project that is currently in the site plan approval stage.

Hayes says residents question why Ward 10 Coun. Maria Pearson isn’t opposing those towers on their behalf, especially in light of her recent decision to challenge an 11-storey residential development application in a different part of the community.

Pearson says it’s a “totally different context,” stressing that the 11-storey proposal involved the busy intersection at Highway 8 and King Street.

She describes it as a “penny-sized piece of property” that is zoned for three storeys, at the corner of an intersection that has a retirement home across the street and would back onto a series of existing townhouses.

Pearson adds that she “didn’t get to work with the neighbourhood on the three towers” since the area is already zoned for high-density residential development by the city and for residential intensification as part of the province’s A Place to Grow plan.

Hayes indicates that is little comfort to residents who feel their area is “on a trajectory to implode.”