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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A pr il 15 ,2 02 1 | 16 Call us today! Book a FREE assessment, receive $10 credit towards Spring registration.* 905-339-3000 Small Class Sizes Warm Salt Water Pool Sessional Programming Technique Driven Program REGISTER NOW for Spring 2021 COVID SAFE & SANITIZED *(one per family, can not combined with other offers) www.theswimacademy.ca 407 Speers Road Unit 8 Oakville swim@theswimacademy.org A developer says he would like to see building heights of more than 40 sto- reys near of the Oakville GO Station. The topic came up as stakeholders were recently invited to weigh in on plans for the Midtown Oakville Urban Growth Centre dur- ing a Planning and Devel- opment Council meeting. Midtown Oakville is the area around the Oakville GO Station, bounded by the QEW to the north, Corn- wall Road to the south, the Sixteen Mile Creek Valley to the west and Chartwell Road to the east. The provincial growth plan has identified this ar- ea for future intensifica- tion and requires that Mid- town accommodate a mini- mum of 200 people and jobs per hectare by 2031. Geoff Abma, of the town's planning services department, said building heights in Midtown's Ly- ons and Trafalgar districts, which cover the western and central area of Mid- town north of the railway line, are currently pro- posed to have building heights of eight to 20 sto- reys. Residential and employ- ment uses would be per- mitted in these areas. Abma said the Chart- well District, located at the easternmost portion of the site above the railway line, is proposed to have a mix of building heights. The western part of the district would have build- ing heights of six to 12 sto- reys while the eastern part would have buildings heights of between two and six storeys. The Chartwell District is designated for employ- ment only. Various building heights are proposed for the Cornwall District, lo- cated to the south of the railway line. Cornwall District lands beside the GO parking ga- rage are proposed to have building heights between eight and 20 storeys. The central part of this district and the westmost portion would have build- ing heights of between six and 12 storeys while the easternmost area would feature building heights between two and six sto- reys. The Cornwall District would have a mixture of residential and employ- ment uses. Abma said a developer may be granted additional building height, up to 10 storeys, in return for pro- viding land for future local roads and paying to have those roads constructed. He said additional height could also be grant- ed in exchange for the de- veloper including office space in a mixed-use build- ing. Under the current pro- posal, the developer would get an extra storey for ev- ery 800 square metres of of- fice space added for a maxi- mum of additional four sto- reys. A developer could also potentially get a maximum of three additional storeys for providing above ground structured parking. Jayne Huddleston, of the Trafalgar Chartwell Residents' Association, said it was her understand- ing the tallest buildings would be kept north of the railway line. "We don't feel up to 20 storeys south of the rail- way tracks would maintain the character of the nearby residential areas," she said. Marcus Boekelman, of Distrikt Developments, ar- gued the maximum build- ing heights being consid- ered are not high enough, particularly around the GO station. "This is not a residential neighbourhood. This is meant to be an urban growth area that is going to be mixed-use and commer- cial and residential moving forward. It is not adjacent nor does it overlook or im- pact by shadows or privacy in any context the nearby neighbourhoods. That's why it is so appropriate for the type of mixed-use in- tensification we are talking about," he said. When asked what height he would like to see, Boekelman said he wanted to see maximum building heights in the mid- to up- per-40-storey range, where appropriate. The matter will return to council on a later date for additional consider- ation. DEVELOPER WANTS MORE HEIGHT IN MIDTOWN PLAN An overview of the Midtown area. Town of Oakville photo DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS