With developers proposing more than a dozen mega-tall towers for the area around Oakville’s GO station, the town is considering a new plan to get extra benefits from all that ambition.
To build taller than 20 storeys, developers may soon be expected to ante up community benefits in exchange.
Benefits could come in the form of extra land for parks, building space for town amenities or contributions to district energy systems. Developers could be required to provide public art, accommodate public service facilities or construct greener buildings.
Eventually – after the town undertakes a housing needs assessment – developers could provide affordable housing in exchange for additional building height.
The aim is to leverage development to create a complete community – one that includes jobs, amenities and recreation – along with places to live.
For years, the town has been planning for a high-density neighbourhood in the 103-hectare area bounded by the QEW, Sixteen Mile Creek, Cornwall Road and Chartwell Road.
Over the next three decades about 30,000 people are expected to move into Midtown.
But beyond envisioning a dense, urban, transit-focused community, the town has struggled to establish a plan to govern development of the area.
Planning staff’s latest attempt, which comes in the form of a 32-page draft Official Plan Amendment (OPA), was officially presented to town councillors in a workshop meeting held on October 10.
The OPA outlines the size, shape and relationships of the buildings, roads, jobs, shops, transportation and green space planned for Midtown.
Details and information can be viewed on the town’s website, as well as on a Midtown website created by Ward 3 councillors Janet Haslett-Theall and Dave Gittings.
This draft OPA has pivoted from a plan rejected by council last year, most significantly with the addition of the Community Planning Permit System (CPPS) tool that will allow the town to demand extra benefits for extra height.
Read more here: Councillors vote to do more homework on Midtown development plan after hearing public concerns
But it remains unclear how much control the town will really have over development in the area.
Earlier this year, the provincial government began direct negotiations with Distrikt Developments, the company that has proposed building 11 Midtown towers in the 50-storey range.
As part of a vague and confidential Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program focused on providing housing around transit stations, the Ford government is now leading development planning.
While Oakville council is receiving updates on the discussions, confidentiality agreements restrict what residents can be told about the plans.
Read more here: Closed door negotiation raises red flags, say local residents' associations
Public consultation promised for this summer and fall has so far failed to materialize.
Allow Oakville to plan its future
Oakville residents’ groups are warning that the province’s TOC program has run roughshod over local planning rights elsewhere.
Local groups We Love Oakville and the Coronation Park Residents’ Association are encouraging residents to join a letter writing campaign demanding the province abandon the TOC process and allow Oakville to plan its own future.
“The TOC approach is hidden from the public and will drive towards a piecemeal approach to Midtown development, enabling one developer to establish extreme levels of density in the heart of Midtown without consideration of the build-out of the entire community,” says the We Love Oakville website.
The new draft OPA, along with a report from town planning staff, will be received at an Oct. 29 meeting of town council. Residents can register to share their feedback on the document.
Additional public engagement opportunities will occur this fall, with a final decision on the OPA to be made by council early in 2025.