The Town of Oakville…

The Town of Oakville supports tools that responsibly accelerate housing delivery. However, the Town recommends the following:

• Public engagement and planning transparency – Preserve opportunities for community input in planning decisions by maintaining public engagement and consultation processes, including variances and MZOs.

• As-of-right variances – Ensure clear parameters are incorporated into any regulations that expand “as-of-right” variances so that the scope and percentage limits are sensitive to local context and do not undermine municipal ability to manage compatibility, natural heritage, parking, stormwater and servicing.

• Ministerial exemptions or discretionary uses – Any ministerial exemptions or discretionary uses (e.g., to exempt PMTSA OPAs from ministerial approval) need to be accompanied by mandatory provincial review criteria focussed on infrastructure readiness, affordable housing, and environmental protections.

• MZO transparency and consultation – Province needs to maintain a transparent public posting process for MZOs before issuing MZOs. Advance notice and the opportunity for municipality to provide input prior to issuance of interventions that materially affect local planning outcomes are vital. Public postings need to include rationale and the municipal consultation records.

• MZO timelines – the Town recommends that any timelines imposed for MZO-related agreements be developed in consultation with municipalities and allow flexibility based on local context.

• Natural heritage province-wide protection – Protect sensitive environmental areas across the province by upholding PPS-based natural heritage protections across all lands, not just within the Greenbelt area.

• Environmental Impact Assessment triggers – Ensure development near natural heritage systems is properly reviewed by ensuring that environmental impact assessments continue to be triggered for development adjacent to natural heritage systems, even without Planning Act applications.

• Local policy autonomy – Preserve municipal authority over unique policy areas like employment lands and waterfront areas to address locally-specific planning issues.

• Zoning, climate and sustainability alignment – Zoning by-laws need to continue to effectively respond to and support local climate and sustainability policies.

• Restoration of CIP and retention of municipal tools – Town supports the restoration of upper-tier CIP authority and retention of local implementation tools like site plan control to respond to community-specific planning objectives.