The province’s proposed tall tower plan for Midtown is too dense and fails to provide Oakville with enough community benefits to justify the building heights.
That’s the opinion of Oakville’s professional planning staff, expressed in an 88-page report submitted to the Infrastructure Ontario and the provincial Ministry of Infrastructure.
The deal – which would see 11 towers of up to 59 storeys built on 5 hectares of land near the Oakville GO station – doesn’t provide extra parkland, guaranteed affordable housing or necessary infrastructure such as transit improvements or a multi-use bridge across the QEW, notes the report.
In November 2024, the province said it would allow Distrikt Developments to build 6,900 condo units on its four Midtown properties, as part of a Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program.
The province’s plan bypasses town planning processes and ignores widespread local opposition to Distrikt’s vision.
It also fails to bring much of value to local residents or provincial taxpayers, according to Oakville staff.
“Overall, the TOC proposal appears as a private development proposal with very little to no community benefit for either the Town or the Province,” says the report.
Read more here: Residents protest tall tower TOC plan
The town is “not in agreement” with the TOC proposal and is “unable to support it,” says the report, as it highlights a variety of concerns:
Density
Town staff say the TOC plan “represents an excessive and disproportionate amount of the total planned population for Midtown.” As outlined, it would build about 68 per cent of all the units expected for northwest Midtown on only 13 per cent of its gross area.
That risks undermining Midtown’s development into a complete community “by taking a disproportionate share of the residential market.”
And if the Distrikt development becomes “the benchmark for future development,” the result would be excess density and significant infrastructure problems for the area.
Jobs and other land uses
The TOC proposal is “overly skewed towards residential” and doesn’t offer an appropriate mix of jobs, local stores, and services, transportation options and public service facilities to contribute to building a complete community in Midtown.
Other issues:
- Traffic and transportation issues, including road capacity, access to the GO station, road alignment, active transportation networks and parking for cars and bicycles are not sufficiently addressed.
- The proposed towers are too tall, too close together and don’t vary in height enough to create an interesting skyline.
- Several of the Distrikt properties have potential flooding problems that need to be addressed.
- Ground floor spaces need to be more active and animated.
- Interior courtyards proposed as greenspace are not “functional or desirable spaces for public use.”
Oakville town council has not yet taken a formal position on the TOC proposal, but the issue will be up for discussion on Jan. 27.
A motion from Ward 3 councillors Janet Haslett-Theall and Dave Gittings will ask council to formally state that it does not endorse or accept the plan. However, the current version of the TOC plan looks unlikely to be the final one.
In December, Infrastructure Ontario conducted open houses and a public survey to gather feedback from Oakville residents. A provincial spokesperson said that public feedback and the town’s review would inform “a revised TOC proposal” in 2025.
The town’s vision for the entire Midtown area, which is outlined in the form of an Official Plan Amendment (OPA), is set to be considered by town council on Feb. 18.
That plan calls for the redevelopment of the roughly one square kilometre area around the Oakville GO station into a dense, walkable and urban neighbourhood but imagines a largely mid-rise future for the area, with specific community benefits to be required in exchange for building heights over 20 storeys