Town council has approved a new plan and bylaw that will allow it to collect land and money from developers to create the next generation of Oakville parks.
The plan – which launched a public conversation about what future parks should look like and where they should be located, particularly in high-density growth areas – was approved with an amendment to continue that public dialogue.
Town staff and councillors emphasized that the plan before council at its meeting on Sept. 12 was about setting out the rules for how parkland should be funded as part of the development approvals process.
It also establishes that the town intends to maintain its parkland ratio of at least 2.2 hectares per 1,000 people until 2031.
"Tonight is not about the park types, locations, sizes, development and designs," explained the town's community development commissioner director Neil Garbe.
Those details will be dealt with in other public processes, he said.
The town needed to approve a plan and bylaw before Sept. 18, to continue to collect the maximum allowable in land and cash-in-lieu of land during the development process.
The province established that deadline when it made recent changes to the Planning Act.
Developers have always been required to provide land, or cash-in-lieu of land, to be used to establish parks. Through the decades, those lands and funds have built community and neighbourhood parks, as well as trails and open space areas across the town.
The new bylaw establishes that developers will have to fork over $22,269 per unit for cash-in-lieu of parkland on developments that cannot deed a required amount of land to the town.
That amount is the maximum allowable fee under provincial rules.
Developers have objected to that fee, noting that in the case of high-rise development in areas like Midtown, it will add up to millions of dollars.
Read more: Planning Oakville's future parkland as developers push back
The province's new rules will now allow developers (or the public) to appeal the parkland dedication bylaw to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Paying for growth
Council has also recently approved a new Community Benefits bylaw that will help pay for infrastructure costs such as parking, public art and cultural entertainment spaces.
The bylaw introduces a new charge collected from high-density developments of five or more storeys with ten or more residential units. The tool replaces bonus zoning that allowed for increased height and density under an earlier version of the Planning Act.
On July 12, council approved a new Development Charges bylaw that details how the town collects fees from property developers for building new community infrastructure such as roads, transit networks, recreation centres and libraries, parks and fire stations.
"The new Parks Plan 2031, community benefits charges and the community infrastructure funding measures will support responsible, long-term financial planning that ensures growth pays for growth in Oakville," said Mayor Rob Burton. "These tools will help ease the tax burden for residents and better fund the community services that enhance our livability."
More information is available online here.