The 4101 Rutherford Road Development Proposal (Velmar Centre Property Limited condominium project) was rejected unanimously by Vaughan Council on October 20, 2021 at the Committee of the Whole meeting. Thank you to all of the Weston Downs residents for answering our call to action and flooding the Vaughan councillors’ offices with emails and phone calls. Thank you for working together by signing petitions, donating funds for legal fees, and showing up to public meetings.
This is a huge win for the community. This was a difficult situation, since Vaughan Council had to vote against their own city planners who supported the developer’s plan. The developer’s plan proposes mid-rise mixed use, instead of the low-rise mixed use currently designated for this site in the Vaughan Official Plan 2010. Ultimately, Vaughan Council listened to the concerns of the Weston Downs community and rejected the developer’s application.
The City of Vaughan Council has directed the City to hire independent consultants (lawyer and planners) to support Council’s direction at the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT). Thank you to our Local Councillor Rosanna DeFrancesca for supporting and advocating for our community. Councillor DeFrancesca facilitated many meetings with our residents, the Weston Downs Ratepayers Association, City of Vaughan staff and the developer in an effort to try to address the community’s concerns and reach a compromise. Our hope had been to obtain a win-win situation through mediation for the community and the developer. The developer however has chosen to go directly to an OLT hearing, rather than participate in mediation. Working together as one community, we will continue to fight for a development that reflects good planning and respects the character of our established Weston Downs community.
Thank you Weston Downs! You should be proud of your efforts.