The Former Hospital Land Master Plan has been prepared by town staff, and will be presented at Tuesday, June 27, 2017 Town of Oakville Council Meeting. The Plan is the cumulation of several public consultations with the planning department and comprehensive studies.
The former Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital site is located in a mature, residential area north-east of downtown Oakville and south-east of the Oakville GO station. Including Wyndham Manor, it is approximately 6.7 hectares in size and has frontage on Reynolds Street, Macdonald Road and Allan Street. The property includes the existing hospital buildings (which are to be removed) and the former Oakville Trafalgar High School building.
Principles were created to assist in developing the options for the Former Hospital Land Master Plan. These were augmented by input derived from previous public engagement held over the last several years and, as noted above, policies provided in the Town’s Official Plan. These principles include:
- A new community centre should have a close relationship with any park facility
- The area east of Wyndham Manor must continue to accommodate existing easements and fire routes
- A “green connection” should be considered through the site for pedestrian access and enhanced connectivity to other park locations in the broader area
- The community centre should be located near the existing parking garage, to utilise existing parking, thereby eliminating the need for new parking
- A total of 80 parking spaces are required by Wyndham Manor staff, and must be accommodated on site
- The permitted uses and residential density for the redeveloped lands must be consistent with the Livable Oakville Plan policies
- New development must be compatible with the established, neighbouring community
- The heritage aspects of the OTHS are required to be conserved
- The Chimney Swift colony is required to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, 2007
Staff started by locating the 40,000 – 45,000 sq. ft. community centre on the former hospital site in consideration of the foregoing principles, along with an adjacent park.
There were only four possible community centre locations: connected to the former OTHS building, or to the north, west or south of the existing parking garage. The latter option was not pursued as it did not advance several of the foregoing principles.
The three initial options included residential development consisting of single-detached lots which were intended to have a similar dimensional size and area as lots in the immediate area. There was also potential for some multi-residential land uses to be considered, consistent with Official Plan policy. Streets were expected to be public streets, but lanes could be either public or private depending on access and overall development feasibility.
In addition, staff heard throughout the public consultation a desire to accommodate seniors’ housing on-site. While not specifically shown in the various options, the opportunity to include some form of seniors’ housing was considered either in conjunction with the redevelopment of the high school building, or stand-alone.
None of the options included a medical facility as the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is conducting a health needs assessment in co-operation with Halton Region Public Health and Social Services, and the Town. This study will be completed later this year. Upon completion, if required, programming options, throughout the town, may be explored.
Recommended Former Hospital Land Master Plan
Following the extensive feedback offered by the public, a recommended Former Hospital Land Master Plan was devised based on a number of principles and considerations, as outlined above. The elements of this concept include: the provision of the Community Centre and an approximately 0.6 hectare (1.48 ac) park focussed towards Reynolds Street, while maintaining direct access from the Lawson Street intersection to the parking garage.
There are benefits to consolidating the public uses to one area of the site. As Reynolds Street is the busiest street of those bounding the site, there is merit in considering an intersection at Reynolds Street and Lawson Street since these two streets outlet to higher order streets, being Cornwall Road and Trafalgar Road, respectively.
Further, by grouping the public uses, there is a synergy which can be created by consolidating access to the former OTHS building, the existing parking garage and the entrance to the Community Centre. It also allows the balance of the site to more easily reflect the adjacent, existing neighbourhood in terms of residential density and built form.
A mix of housing types can be considered in the area proposed for residential development which would maintain the Official Plan’s objective of limiting density to 29 units per hectare. These types can include single-detached, semi-detached, townhouse and apartment building forms. Residential development is proposed along the northern and eastern edges of the site which would complement the existing residential development existing on the north and east sides of Macdonald Road and Allan Street, respectively. It is expected that zoning regulations for the low-density residential blocks would include provisions with similar metrics for lot frontage, coverage and height, among others.
The recommended medium-density block on the east side of the new north-south road can incorporate either townhouse forms or a low-rise apartment form, the latter similar to that proposed at the north-west corner of Sheddon Avenue and Allan Street.
Through an extensive public consultation process, three options for the future development of the former OTMH site were scoped down to a recommended Former Hospital Land Master Plan. The Former Hospital Land Master Plan satisfies the initial list of principles presented to Town Council in May 2017, and which were based on several iterations of public consultation since 2012. The full report can be found on Oakville.ca.