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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, January 19, 2012 · 4 Residents offer plans to max out green space By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF More park space, fewer townhouses. These were the key demands put forward by area residents during Monday night's Town of Oakville council meeting where members of the public weighed in on development plans for the former Department of National Defence (DND) lands at the northwest corner of Rebecca Street and Dorval Drive. The 6.7-hectare site has been vacant ever since the 75 military housing units on it were demolished last summer. Canada Lands, a Crown corporation responsible for the redevelopment of surplus Crown land, is currently proposing 66 single detached houses, 59 townhouses and a 0.4 hectare park be built on the site. This plan features a density of 26 units per hectare and, while Canada Lands representatives pointed out this is actually less than the 29 units per hectare allowed under the Livable Oakville Official Plan, some area residents still felt the developers could do better. "We're very flexible, but believe our plan is more in line with parameters of Livable Oakville than the CLC's (Canada Lands Corporation) development application," said Stephan Bobesich, president of the OAKVILLE BEAVER FILE PHOTO BYGONE ERA: This housing was a familiar sight, having stood for decades, on the land now being redeveloped at the corner of Rebecca Street and Dorval Drive. Southwest Central Oakville Residents' Association (SCORA). "Our primary objectives for creating this concept are to maintain the like-to-like lot sizes, which protects and enhances the character of the existing residential areas of Mary Street and Weybourne Drive. We want to maximize the overall amount of green space and parkland on the property. "We want to focus the increased density on the hard edges of Dorval and Rebecca with a condo-style building that offers onelevel living versus the traditional townhouse format." Bobesich said SCORA would like to see homes with 60-foot-wide lots backing onto the existing homes on Mary Street and homes with 50- to 60-foot lots backing onto the existing homes on Weybourne Drive. He also suggested a boutique-style condominium for the Dorval Drive/Rebecca Street section of the property, featuring a density level of 27 units per hectare. "Some of the benefits SCORA sees by going with a condominium instead of a townhouse format are as follows: we maintain a high level of trees and green and park space for the community while protecting and enhancing the character of existing residential areas; we create a better concept for the western gateway to the downtown by See SCORA page 7