Oakville Midtown TOC

New Action Updates Below:

December 2024 - Ward 3 Councillors Introduce Motion on TOC

January 2025 - Town Planning Staff Releases Report on TOC

On November 14, 2024 the province released information on its planned TOC for Midtown Oakville.

The Developer Partner is indeed Distrikt Developments and the proposed site is in the northeast portion of the Midtown Oakville Urban Growth Centre, an area generally bound by the Queen Elizabeth Way to the north, Trafalgar Road to the east, the GO Transit/VIA rail corridor to the south, and Hogs Back Park to the west.

The TOC site consists of four land parcels along Cross Avenue, Argus Road and South Service Road, and currently holds a hotel and three commercial plazas. These are the same four land parcels held by Distrikt and included in their initial development applications for Midtown. In total, these parcels total about 5 ha of Midtown's overall gross area of approximately 100 ha or 1 sq. km.

Specifics

11 Towers form the TOC
Building heights range from 46 to 59 storeys
Total number of Units: - 6,920
If we use an average of 1.7 people in each unit the total population housed on these 5ha would equal 11,764 people. That would represent an average density of 2,350 ppl per ha.

It is important to remember the following:

Midtown has limited developable land area and very constrained arterial roads. The proposed road infrastructure does not support this kind of mega density.
We must consider the fact the original provincially-mandated density for Midtown was 200 people and jobs per hectare. Based on Midtown's overall size of about 103 ha, Midtown was to plan to achieve a population of about 13,500 people and 6,500 jobs. The Distrikt/TOC buildings alone have the potential to generate that entire population on its 5 ha of land alone.

In addition, we must consider the fact that landowners who are immediately adjacent to the Distrikt buildings will seek land similar land permissions. The image here illustrates what would result if landowners in adjacent properties were permitted to build between 35 and 50 storeys on their properties.
The provision of greenspace still remains a big question, as does the provision of all the other essentials people need for daily life.
Development of the kind illustrated has the potential to add yet another 16,000 people to the TOC area alone.
Remember, this doesn't include other land parcels further west and those on the east side of Trafalgar Road. Midtown's population could easily exceed 90,000 people.
The TOC plan puts the potential for a safe, healthy, liveable Midtown at serious risk. It will not benefit future residents, nor those who are current residents.

Reaction From Residents

There is continued action from residents associations across Oakville under the We Love Oakville (WLO) banner. Their website offers extensive background, information and answers on the TOC from a residents' perspective including facts, discussions, recent community video footage and more.

It has also established a Letter Writing Campaign to the Premier, his Ministers and local MPP Stephen Crawford as a recipient. Signing the letter is a simple and easy way to voice your opposition to the TOC.

Local Media

Our View

To quote Minister of Municipal Affairs, Paul Calandra at the announcement of the new Provincial Planning statement at during the Association of Municipalities conference 2024:
“Municipalities understand local challenges and priorities when it comes to building homes and the types of homes. It is you (towns) that know best what you should be building in your communities”.

We agree with Minister Calandra; we know our town and our needs. Our provincial population mandates will be achieved. We will deliver on our housing pledge and we will build a great community that people will want to call home, with the high quality of life that the Provincial Planning Statement requires.

Oakville knows Oakville best. Oakville deserves to plan its own future!

Update - December 24, 2024

Recent Open House

Thank you to those who attended the Province's TOC virtual and in-person Open House on December 16 and made it very, very clear how the Province's TOC is not a reasonable or liveable plan. Full stop!

You still have time to participate in the TOC survey. We have linked the it for you here.

Council Motion on TOC

On Monday Dec 16 we tabled a notice of motion at Council. Councillor Elgar moved that we waive procedure to vote on it that evening, unfortunately the vote was 8/7 against, meaning the motion will not be heard until January 27.

When faced with the motion the Mayor did take a moment to address Council and state that he has not endorsed the TOC plan or given the Province or Distrikt assurances. However he stopped short of supporting our motion.

Why this motion matters; Council needs to stand up for both current and future residents of Oakville against a TOC plan that does not align with responsible and reasonable growth. The OPA is the right path forward and we should be asking the Premier to support a local plan, not a Manhattan or Mumbai level of density.

You can view Councillor Haslett-Theall read the Motion, and hear the Mayor's statement in this video segment of the meeting.

January 10, 2025 - Planning Staff Releases Report on TOC

January 25 TOC Staff Report

Town Planning staff have submitted a response to the Province's TOC plan. The report details grave concerns from our Planning Department and is an excellent factual review of the TOC accompanied by an explanation of how it compares to the draft Official Plan being presented on January 20 at Council.

"Density of development beyond Town’s draft OPA allocation is not justified"

"The proposal needs to be more modest in scale. It currently represents an excessive and disproportionate amount of the total planned population for Midtown."

"Community benefits are not in line with existing or draft policies"

"In Staff’s opinion, the TOC proposal does not implement proposed policies and schedules regarding maximum density, street alignments, ratio of residents to jobs in terms of gross leasable area associated with residential and non-residential uses, including replacement of existing gross leasable area through redevelopment, as well as urban design direction in the draft OPA and provision of community benefits commensurate with building heights above “as of right” height permissions, that are provided in the current Livable Oakville Plan, the Midtown design guidelines and/or the draft OPA."

The Bottom Line ...

"In conclusion based on the comments provided by Staff and circulated Agencies, the Town is not in agreement with the Oakville Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) Development Proposal from the Province through Infrastructure Ontario, and are unable to support it based on the following:" Go to page 77 of the report for the details.

"Overall, the TOC proposal appears as a private development proposal with very little to no community benefit for either the Town or the Province. As noted above, it does not appear to achieve the Transit Oriented Community objectives identified by the Minister of Infrastructure and it does not implement current Official Plan policies nor draft policies for Midtown."

" While the report provides an extensive overview of relevant Provincial, Regional and local planning policies in relation to a proposed form of development on the subject lands, there is very little analysis demonstrating how policies are addressed or justification for why policies are not addressed in relation to the proposed form of development."

Text or Write the Premier, MPP Crawford, Minister Surma and Minister Calandra and CC Members of Council.

The TOC is MEGA density, unnecessary and out of touch with the market and our community. Support responsible planning and let Oakville plan Oakville.

Don't Be Fooled

Here are two illustrations of the TOC.

The illustration at top is taken from the Oakville TOC website and it depicts the 11 proposed towers. At first glance it may seem there would be sufficient space between these buildings for green space.

However, what you should be aware of is those spaces between the depicted TOC buildings are actually sites that are owned and would also be developed as towers.

The coloured image shows the reality of what surrounds and borders the 11 towers. The purple buildings are those that are already identified in the TOC, BUT the amber coloured buildings are those that are immediately adjacent that will be developed in future as additional towers.

And that green square ? is a question mark because we do not own the land.

We need the OPA to achieve parkland throughout Midtown or where will our new residents go to play ?

Background on The TOC

This section has been created to offer readers information and updates on the TOC (Transit Oriented Community) Program initiated by the Province.

At Council's Planning & Development meeting held Monday, July 8, CAO Clohecy provided an update on the Transit Oriented Community Program (TOC) . In this video clip Ms. Clohecy outlines various aspects of the TOC such as the Confidentiality Agreement required by the province, preliminary stages of the process including the establishment of a Workgroup and Steering Committee, timing for public engagement, etc.

Her remarks accompanied a written report submitted by staff which also included a copy of the letter from the Ministry of Infrastructure which is referenced in the June 3rd entry below.

Earlier, at Council’s Special Midtown Urban Growth Centre meeting on June 3rd, CAO Clohecy announced that Infrastructure Ontario had formally notified the Town of Oakville and the Region of Halton that a potential Transit-Oriented Community Program (TOC) is under exploration within our municipality and that the ministry wants to establish key principles for governance as well as next steps for engagement between the province, the town and the region.

What Does This Mean?

Infrastructure Ontario will be leading the working group, stakeholder engagement and ultimately, development permissions for the area they define as within being within the project scope. This may be a portion of Midtown or all of it. We await their direction on the boundaries to be included in the work.

What Is a TOC?

In 2020, the Government of Ontario introduced a program called Transit Oriented Communities (TOC), which it described as being designed to build vibrant, mixed-use communities that will bring more housing (including affordable housing options), jobs, retail, public amenities and entertainment within a short distance of transit stations. These transit-oriented communities, and other transit development opportunities, will be located along the province’s four subway projects, GO Transit and Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects.

It is important to know that the Government of Ontario is in control of the TOC. The province provides oversight to Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx, the agency partners working to deliver these transit projects.

The rules, roles and responsibilities include the following:

the province will decide the boundaries of the TOC. (In the case of Midtown, it could range from a small area immediately adjacent to the GO Station, or a much wider scope that would encompass much of the current Midtown delineation).

the province spearheads the negotiations and selection of the third-party developer and acts as the single commercial interface at the TOC site.

the province requires Oakville and Halton Region to enter into a Mutual Confidentiality Agreement and Non-Disclosure Agreement with the province. Only approved information may be shared with municipal councils or the general public.

the public engagement process, when undertaken is under the control of the province.