Midtown Oakville Official Plan Amendment moves to final stage

Plans to develop Midtown Oakville have progressed significantly and the town is getting closer to finalizing the growth policies to make this a vibrant and livable area. At the Planning and Development Council meeting of January 20, 2025, Council received the latest updates to the draft Midtown Oakville and Community Planning Permit System (CPPS) Official Plan Amendment (OPA). 

The OPA will help guide the evolution of Midtown Oakville from an underutilized commercial and employment area to a vibrant, mixed use, transit supportive complete community over the long term. Use of the CPPS aims to simplify and improve the processes for permitting land use within the area.  

Since the draft OPA was presented in September 2024, the town has taken into consideration input received from Council, public agencies, landowners, and the public, including through the November 27, 2024 public open house and input from the online survey. 

Feedback received has been incorporated into the latest version of the draft OPA, with key changes such as: 

• Improvements to CPPS policies for clarity
• Additional land use permissions such as urban agriculture/vertical farming, and new automotive related uses that are integrated within mixed use buildings
• Additional policy direction regarding sustainability measures
• Clarification regarding exemption from policies, such as meeting minimum height and density allocations, for existing and expanding uses
• Clarification regarding landowner groups and required agreements
• The addition of a third priority school site within Schedule L1
• Removal of MTO lands associated with the Queen Elizabeth Way Highway from the Urban Core land use designation and the density and height allocation schedules (Schedules L1 – L4)

More details of the changes and a summary of public input are available in the January 20, 2025 staff report.

Over the next few days, town staff will refine the OPA and incorporate comments anticipated from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. A recommended OPA will be presented for Council’s consideration and adoption at the February 18, 2025 Planning and Development Council meeting. Members of the public are welcome to send in comments to townclerk@oakville.ca for council’s consideration or pre-register by noon on February 18, 2025 to speak at the meeting. More details are available on the Delegations and Presentations page. 

Following Council’s decision at the February 18, 2025 meeting, the OPA will be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for their final review and approval. While the OPA is with the Ministry, the town will continue public consultation regarding Midtown policy implementation tools, including the development of a Community Planning Permit By-law.

Visit the Midtown Oakville page for more background information. 

Quotes

“Midtown Oakville is now at the final stage of the Official Plan Amendment process. Council and I look forward to February 18th to adopt the Official Plan Amendment and show the Province what we the think the Transit-Oriented Communities work should look like.”

– Mayor Rob Burton