MIDTOWN Cheat sheet and FAQs
What is Midtown Oakville Growth Area?
Midtown is an underdeveloped 1sq km area in Oakville that is centrally located around the Oakville GO Station.
Where is MIDTOWN?
The area is bounded by the Sixteen Mile Creek to the West, Chartwell Road to the East, the QEW to the North, and Cornwall Road to the South, around the Oakville GO Station.
In May, 2024, the Province initiated a confidential Transit Oriented Community (TOC) process for a specific part of Midtown.
What is the forecasted population for MIDTOWN?
What is the forecasted population for MIDTOWN?
The population forecast for Midtown has recently been updated to 29,900 residents plus jobs by 2051
What is Intensification and FSI?
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
What is the forecasted population for MIDTOWN?
The Neptis Foundation is a Toronto-based non-partisan organization which publishes research on urban affairs. Here is its article on Intensification: what it is and what it promises.
What is an OPA ?
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
An OPA is an Official Plan Amendment. The Town of Oakville has an "Official Plan" which is "a legal document containing goals, objectives, and policies intended to guide land use, development and growth in a municipality" (Town of Oakville). An OPA is a formal document that changes a municipality's Official Plan (Ontario). .
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
What is a Transit-Oriented Community?
A Transit Oriented Community (TOC) is a dense, mixed-use development that is connected and walkable. The Province of Ontario has sent a letter to the Town of Oakville expressing it's intention to turn Midtown Oakville into a TOC. Currently, TOCs are only found near TCC subway stations in Toronto. To read this letter click here. Click the image to read more on TOCs from Infrastructure Ontario.
What is Intensification?
Definition
The Neptis Foundation is a Toronto-based non-partisan organization which publishes research on urban affairs. Here is its article on Intensification: what it is and what it promises.
The Provincial Plan
The long-range plan for accommodating population growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, first created under the then Liberal government of Ontario, is still the master plan being followed by the current Conservative government. Provincial Planning Statement 2024, coming into force on October 20, 2024.
Intensification Success Stories
Done right, intensification delivers on its promise - rejuvenating urban districts and adding greatly to quality of life and property values. Here are some successes reported by the American Planning Association: 3 Zoning Success Stories.
Intensification Failures
Of course, things can go wrong. Here is a story published in the Toronto Star in November 2021: A Case Study in Failed Urban Planning.
Planning for Success
The following article, published by Policy Options, an online Montreal-based magazine, identifies principal reasons for urban planning failure and suggests desirable process changes: The five i's of failed urban planning.