Businesses bring 1,200 jobs to town in 2012 by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 3 | Friday, May 31, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Oakville is well-positioned to attract commercial development, but less so when it comes to industrial. This was among the issues discussed during the Town's annual economic development report, presented to the Planning and Development Council last week. Oakville's Director of Economic Development Dorothy St. George, called 2012 another strong year for Oakville with more than 540,000 square feet of commercial development taking place -- bringing more than 1,200 new jobs to town. "The good news is not only are we attracting new companies, but many of our existing companies are expanding, both in terms of employees and facility size," said St. George. Of the more than 1,200 jobs to come to Oakville in 2012, 800 arrived when Siemens Canada Ltd., opened its new Canadian head office in Oakville. Another 300 were created when Ford Canada added another shift to its Oakville facility. When UTC Aerospace Systems bought Goodrich Aerospace Canada Ltd. it created 60 new jobs. Fifty more came as a result of the expansion of Rockstar Games. The opening of Quiznos Canada's new Canadian head office brought 10 new jobs to Oakville. Five more came with Keen Canada Outdoor's new logistics facility, and another five resulted from Clover Technologies' expansion. St. George said the future of office development in Oakville is also looking bright with a The good news is not only are we attracting new companies, but many of our existing companies are expanding, both in terms of employees and facility size. Dorothy St. George Town of Oakville Director of Economic Development 150,000 square foot building on Davis Road, next to the Oakville GO Station nearing completion. The 400-500 employees of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will be the major tenant of this facility. Construction is also proceeding on Porsche Centre Oakville, located on South Service Road, west of Third Line. Three office buildings that make up the Joshua Creek Corporate Centre on North Service Road are now complete and ready for occupancy, St. George told council. By examining the building permits issued in 2012, St. George was able to determine more than $70 million was spent on new commercial development while almost $32 million was spent on alterations and improvements to commercial properties. When discussing Oakville's ability to compete with other GTA cities and towns for commercial development, St. George said it was important to look at land value, property tax rates and development charges. In the area of land values, St. George said Dorothy St. George Oakville was competitive with average land sales of $627,000 per acre just above the GTA average of $595,000 for 2012. Oakville's commercial property tax rate was shown to be the sixth lowest in the GTA. Oakville was found to be more middle of the pack when it came to industrial property tax rates. Oakville's commercial development charges were shown to be competitive in 2012, however, with the passing of a new development charges bylaw in 2013 it is unclear where Oakville now stands in this area. St. George also talked about some of the economic development initiatives undertaken by the Town in 2012. "We held a business leaders' forum for the top 25 employers in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce's Business Leaders' Reception," she said. "This allowed us to gain insight focused on retaining business and jobs in Oakville and attracting new investment that is aligned with the Town's economic goals." Based on feedback from the event the Town developed an action plan that is currently being implemented including the development of a marketing strategy and sector based events. In December, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton led a trade mission to China to establish business relationships and economic development opportunities. St. George said the Town would be hosting a delegation from the Chinese city of Huai'an this week to further this objective. "We are following up on investment inquiries and a Mississauga Chinese business association has approached Oakville to form a Chinese business association for Oakville given the interest in two-way investment," she said. On Friday, June 7, Burton will host a forum for local companies to explore the how, why and benefits of doing business with China. St. George said economic development staff also led a consultation process with the business community in Bronte that resulted in an action plan for improving the business environment in that area. 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