I am absolutely aghast at…

I am absolutely aghast at the type of excessive high-rise development that has been proposed for the Midtown lands. These building will contain mostly small, unlivable, over-priced, shoe-box condos that are not suitable for families. It's like trying to jam downtown Toronto into a small parcel of land in the heart of a community.

I work in real estate and see how awful the vast majority of new condos are. I've also visited many new developments in the United States, where most are constructed to blend in better with their surrounding communities, ie, lower densities, more surrounding parkland and parking, and typically 4-8 story buildings.

Surely, your government has more vision than this and would want to enhance communities rather than destroy them with what will become condo ghettos over time, like Toronto's St. Jamestown. In fact, you should somehow figure out how to get developers to build larger, more livable condos, like those I see in the United States and Europe. We have the worst high-rise housing of anywhere.

I also feel that your government's use of MZOs is a slap in the face to community planning and the best interests of local residents -- who are the people that pay the bulk of taxes that keep your government running.

These MZOs would force extreme and reckless density on Midtown, more than double that of any comparable development in the GTA, without the infrastructure to support it; creating chaos and overwhelming transportation and services that are already overstressed, including local roads, transit, the GO station, and the QEW.

The Town’s OPA 70 already permits densities up to 6.0 FSI, which is very high by any North American standard, making these absurd densities neither necessary nor acceptable. The MZOs would also eliminate affordable housing requirements, which is what is actually needed. This TOC is not about delivering housing; it is about maximizing developer land value at the expense of livability, infrastructure capacity, and the public interest. I vote NO for these MZOs.

I am a long-time Conservative voter who believes in free markets and less regulation, but what you are proposing in Oakville is total garbage. If this development goes through the way it has been proposed, I doubt I will ever vote for your party again. I was born, grew up and currently live in Oakville. I do not want you to destroy the character of my town.

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