20 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 10, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Transportation improvements key to Midtown Core development By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Town staff listened to the concerns of the people of Oakville last week during an open house where many got their first look at plans for the redevelopment of the Midtown Core. The Midtown Core is made up of the area surrounding the intersection of Trafalgar Road and the QEW, which the province has dictated must be made to accommodate 20,000 residents and jobs by 2031. Area will be home to 20,000 residents by 2031 So far nothing has been set in stone as to how the Town will do this, but the Town is required to make plans that will provide for this intensification by June 16, 2009. As such, the brainstorming has begun and the Town is seeking the public's input. The Town's Director of Planning Services Dana Anderson noted that the business plan for the Midtown Core has divided the area into precincts with the majority of the new residential/mixed use type developments proposed for the west side of Trafalgar Road. The east side of Trafalgar Road contains existing employment lands, which Anderson said the plan would supplement. "They have identified a balance between those land uses to really promote the idea of this being an urban development with people having the ability to live and work in the same community," said Anderson. The business plan also calls Rest assured A SECURITY CHIMNEY FIREPLACE IS SECOND TO NONE "They have identified a balance between those land uses to really promote the idea of this being an urban development with people having the ability to live and work in the same community." Dana Anderson, Director of Planning Services, Town of Oakville Available at "MASONRY & FIREPLACE DESIGN SPECIALISTS" w w w. c o b b l e s t o n e m b e r s . c a 406 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE ACROSS FROM RONA LANSING 905-337-2066 for a precinct around the Midtown Core's centre to be made into a Civic Square that would serve as a kind of piazza. Significant improvements to transportation would also take place and would include the extension of Iroquois Shore Road, the addition of a Royal Windsor Drive interchange and new access to Cross Avenue and the VIA Station. Staff noted the transportation improvement would probably be the first changes in what Anderson described as a very gradual and slow moving process. The public took advantage of the Town's offer to weigh in on what has been proposed for the Midtown core thus far with some residents, living next to future areas of intensification, expressing concerns about the height of the coming buildings, some of which could be higher than 20 storeys. Others expressed concerns about potential traffic congestion and how the changes would impact existing landowners in the area while still others had questions about transit, walkability and whether the new buildings would be environmentally friendly. The Town will also have to deal with independent development that happens in the area while the Town is trying to put its plan in place. One possible development, which has been appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, would see a trio of towers reaching 28, 30 and 33 storeys high built at the Trafalgar Road and Oakville Place Drive area. "We'll have to deal with those and accommodate those and hopefully we'll see applications that are within the emerging direction of this as an urban centre," said Anderson. "We'll address those as they come up on their merits, within the context of the emerging policy. Ensuring applications don't compromise where we want to go will be really important." Other difficulties include the fact that due to the Sixteen Mile Creek Valley, the QEW and the local railway corridors the Midtown Core is isolated and difficult to access. To solve this problem new connections across the QEW and a new local street network is being considered. The Town will be holding more public information meetings in the coming months to gain further community input. For more information on the Midtown Core project visit www.oakville.ca/livable-midtown.htm. WORRY TOO MUCH? Do you suffer from constant worry and anxiety about r a t a a variety of everyday things? 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