The proposed Minister’s…

The proposed Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) for Midtown Oakville blatantly fail to meet the Ontario government’s own criteria for issuing MZOs. There is no municipal support, Town Council has not endorsed the project and community opposition is clear and documented. Furthermore, there is no justification for overriding established provincial, regional, and municipal planning policies, including the Town’s Official Plan Amendment for Midtown (OPA 70) which was developed transparently, with public input and Council approval. In contrast, the Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) was advanced behind closed doors under confidentiality agreements, striving a predetermined developer driven plan with superficial consultation. The TOC also fails to comply with Premier Ford’s Build Homes Faster agenda and will not deliver a single home before 2031, the Province’s own housing deadline, and given the proponent’s own timeline shows construction effectively starting after 2030 with building stretching out over two decades.

MZOs are meant to be exceptional tools, not self-serving substitutes for proper planning, yet the only rationale offered here is “zoning certainty,” which in reality appears to serve a single purpose of locking in speculative land value, shifting risk from the developer to the public, and freezing an outdated. OPA70 is a better alternative and is ready to go. Oakville already meets and exceeds all provincial housing requirements through OPA 70 and Oakville has a proven track record for building houses. These MZOs would create an extreme amount of 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 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 believe the only people that seem benefit from the TOC are the developers. Oakville is a suburb, people that live here still need cars every day, to get groceries, drive kids to activities, etc. and living by a Go train is not going to change that. Typically, suburbs attract families, so why would it have density that is way higher than any other city in the world? The studios and one bedroom units are designed for singles or couples, not families. OPA 70 is the only option on the table that makes sense for Oakville. There is no necessity or urgency for imposing these MZOs now. In fact, imposing these MZO‘s will eliminate the superior alternative, for the financial benefits of the developer.

I vote NO (as does everyone that I have spoken with about this matter) for these MZOs.