Mayor calls for delay of Midtown development appeals at Ontario Land Tribunal

Mayor Rob Burton has called for Distrikt Developments, the applicant, and the Province to postpone the company’s April 8 Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) hearing on its applications to build high-rise towers on the land opposite the Oakville GO station.

The Mayor made the request Tuesday evening in his annual State of the Town Address, delivered to a special meeting of Council and the public.

The Mayor spoke on a theme of participation and consultation. He announced Oakville had been invited to participate in the Bloomberg-Harvard Ash Center program in which 25 cities will each win a $1 million grant to implement their winning innovation projects. He called on successful entrepreneurs to help compete for a $1 million grant called the Mayors Innovation Challenge. 

Mayor Burton cited three reasons for delaying the OLT hearing.

Town staff are already stretched by having to simultaneously prepare for the hearing and finish the update of the town’s 2009 Midtown policies. When adopted, these new policies will guide the development of the areas of Midtown not covered by applications under appeal.

In May the Province brought in a new provincially run planning process, the Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) program, to deal with the four applications.

“It is unfair and unrealistic to expect us to handle the OLT case, the OPA update, and the province’s new TOC process all at once. We are receiving many applications in Midtown. That makes it urgent to finish our OPA even while the TOC goes on,” Mayor Burton said. The Mayor said the town and the public should participate in the TOC work. “Only by working together can we develop a better plan than the province would make without any input from us,” he said.

Mayor Burton reported a strong rebound in transit ridership, projecting 4.7 million riders by year-end, along with the addition of 15 large electric buses to Oakville’s green fleet. He also highlighted the town’s partnership with Siemens Canada on wildfire prevention and noted Oakville’s international recognition for financial strength.

He called on residents’ collaboration to generate ideas to help deal with the growing homelessness crisis, saying we are in a housing emergency. Mayor Burton also called for more tools and resources from provincial and federal governments to address the growing issue of homelessness and encampments in Ontario communities, spotlighting a concern shared by all 29 of Ontario’s Big City Mayors.

The full text of the speech, which mentions many achievements and improvements over the past year, can be found on the Mayor's State of the Town Speeches page.