Midtown Transit Oriented Community

On November 14, 2024, the Ministry of Infrastructure Ontario released its proposal for the Midtown Oakville Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) (website link)

There are serious concerns with this provincially-driven process that overrides the important and legitimate role our municipality plays in our local land use planning.

The idea of Queens Park controlling the planning and development of 5 hectares with the Town left to plan around it in the remaining areas of Midtown, makes no sense. Midtown must be planned and developed on a holistic and comprehensive basis with planning parameters that are applied across the entire Midtown area. Local land use planning is Oakville’s responsibility.

OUR TOP CONCERNS

Hyper Density: It’s Gone From Bad to Worse

11 high-rise towers with heights ranging from 46 to 59 storeys on just 5 hectares of land near the Oakville GO Station.
6,908 units, 66% of which will be studio or one-bedroom units.
This end result represents a potential 14,000 people living on 5 hectares with a density of 2,800 people per hectare.

Two points of comparison to help understand this level of density:

the province’s original density target was 200 people and job jobs per hectare and the TOC proposal is an inexplicable 14 times greater than that target; and
the area of a soccer field, excluding stands, is approximately 1 hectare, so imagine trying to cram 2,800 people on a soccer field.

If the 43 hectares of developable land in Midtown were developed at this level of density, the population of Midtown would be 118,818. This is inconceivable.

Inadequate Transportation Infrastructure

Transportation studies have revealed that Midtown doesn’t have the road transportation infrastructure to even support the previously assigned target density of 200 people and jobs per hectare, let alone 2,800 people per hectare.

The serious traffic congestion and lack of capacity on Trafalgar, Cornwall, Cross Avenue, QEW interchange and others that traverse Midtown will turn into gridlock. These conditions will not only impede commuters heading to the GO station, they will also affect public transit, and everyday residents who drive, cycle, walk, shop or attend school in the area.

No Parks and Community Facilities

The TOC proposal acknowledges the fact that Midtown has no public parks or community facilities. Their proposed solution is for the 14,000 people to play and recreate somewhere else and use the parks and community facilities in nearby neighbourhoods. Presumably, the same strategy will be used for schooling. This will not build a complete and livable community and it shows the TOC has no interest in creating one. Midtown will become a doughnut with a centre that nobody uses except for sleeping.

Sustainability Not Addressed

While the TOC suggests sustainability will be promoted, it doesn’t commit the developer to anything beyond minimum regulatory compliance. We have consistently argued that Midtown must be developed to standards of environmental performance that go beyond minimum regulatory compliance, such as Green Development Standards being used by municipalities across Ontario who can provide models for standards, methods and use.

This Level Of Height And Density Is Not Needed

The level of hyperdensity in the proposed TOC is not only unacceptable, it isn’t needed to meet provincial targets.

The provincial minimum growth targets can be attained with reasonable building heights and density like those being considered in the Town’s new OPA. The level of density proposed in this TOC of 2,800 is 14 times greater than the provincial target of 200. It is twice that of the most densely developed community in the world (Mong Kok, Hong Kong).

OUR POSITION

The province must reconsider and stop the TOC and its piece-meal planning approach to Midtown.
Oakville must be allowed to plan its own future. Local planning has the ability and the desire to ensure a strong and adaptive Midtown Official Plan Amendment that will deliver transit-oriented housing and liveability that will meet and exceed minimum provincial density targets.

WLO will continue to analyze this proposal and develop our formal response to the public engagement sessions scheduled for December 14th. Further information and commentary on our work will be posted on the WLO website as it becomes available.

We welcome all comments, input, and suggestions.

Oakville Staff response to the TOC proposal

Town staff, having gathered input from Halton Region, the School Board and other Ministries, performed a detailed analysis of the TOC proposal that was damning in its conclusions. Their comprehensive response to the Ministry of Infrastructure Ontario (MIO) TOC team is summarized here:

TOC objectives not met

a) The TOC currently has no legislative authority in Oakville GO

b) The TOC provides for no community benefits

It will not build a complete community

It relies on others to provide parks, school spaces, community centres - ingredients for a complete community

It has no cost sharing agreement with landowners across Midtown

While it has commitments for grocery store and YMCA these are not community benefits

Proposed courtyards and POPS are not functional spaces for public use

POPS design has significant wind and shadow issues

c) TOC will not reduce traffic congestion

Traffic volumes from the TOC proposal will exceed network capacity

TOC proposal will result in bus and car access to GO being blocked by traffic queues, with impact on GO

The TOC Proposal does not align with the Town's road network

1.4.

d) The TOC will not increase affordable housing

e) The TOC will not increase jobs having only a 3% job to resident ratio

f) The TOC will not offset cost of station infrastructure -which is not even planned

g) The TOC does not consider adjacent and future development

h) TOC population density is excessive and disproportionate; it is higher density than the OPA - yet the OPA meets TOC objectives, so extreme density is not required, while TOC heights are excessive.

The TOC will undermine other developments across Midtown, preventing Midtown's development as a community

Extreme density of the TOC will become a benchmark for other developments

Extreme density of the TOC exceeds infrastructure capacity of Midtown

The TOC proposed towers undermine existing building standards

Tower separation deficient

Podium separation deficient

Height variation deficient

Setbacks deficient

The TOC proposal is high risk: proposing development that is well over market and population forecasts.