As it used a controversial zoning tool to fast-track condo towers in Oakville that face fierce local opposition, the Ontario government has offered mixed messages of what the development will ultimately look like — an uncertainty that has sowed confusion and concern among residents.
On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford’s government issued four minister’s zoning orders (MZO) to fast-track a condo project near the Oakville GO station. It would bring more than 6,800 new homes to an area the size of Rogers Centre.
According to the MZOs, which allow the province to rezone land and override municipalities’ visions for what best suits their communities, the development will have 11 skyscrapers ranging from 45 to 56 storeys tall. This matches the plan the Ford government proposed in November.
In an announcement the same day as the issuance of the MZOs, the province committed to capping the towers’ height at 38 storeys “while maintaining the overall number of homes and community benefits.”
The province would not say how it plans to reduce the heights of the buildings while still delivering the same number of home units in the area.
The height refinements were a result of “feedback received from the town and the community,” the province said in its announcement. In an email statement to the Star, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Infrastructure said the “maximum height” included in the MZOs establish zoning certainty to allow projects such as this to proceed.
In a newsletter to residents, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said, “In my discussions with the government, 38 storeys is as low a maximum height as it is willing to go.”
“I believe there are ways to expand the footprint … thus reducing both densities and heights,” said Burton, who declined to answer questions about the design change.
The uncertainty about what the development will entail — and the fact that the discussions that led to it appear to have taken place behind closed doors — has left a sour taste in the mouths of many residents.
“It seems disingenuous in terms of coming out with the press release that says we’re going to work [with the community] yet the minister’s zoning order differs 100 per cent,” said resident Morgan Elliott, who lives a five-minute drive from the planned development.
Others remain concerned about the number of overall homes to be included in the development, which greatly exceeds Oakville council’s own plans for growing that area of the town.
“Putting that number of units and new residents on such a small piece of land, clearly is going to cause problems,” said George Niblock, a representative of the community organization We Love Oakville.
Oakville council and the province had been at odds over their vision for the land near Oakville GO station for the past year.
After the town council did not approve the original building applications filed by the developers, the Ontario government stepped in and proposed a similar complex be built through a provincial initiative known as transit-oriented communities (TOC), which is not required to conform with local policies and is typically authorized through an MZO.
The Ford government has been criticized for being overzealous in its use of the fast-tracking tool to the benefit of certain developers.
A Star investigation found one of the lands to be developed for the Oakville project is co-directed by a developer who attended the Premier’s daughter’s 2022 wedding. Ford had told Ontario’s integrity commissioner that the developer attendees were personal friends.
The transit-oriented communities program is a provincial initiative designed to increase housing supply, create jobs, build complete communities and offset the cost of station construction. Upon approval, the Oakville TOC development is expected to be built in 25 years, according to the TOC website.
“What we want is a complete community, a holistic plan for the whole area. And really, that’s what they should be focused on, not pushing this TOC plan, which has very little prospect of being built in the next however many years,” Niblock said.
