A 38-storey tower with 429 homes is proposed for Cross Avenue in Midtown Oakville, just north of the Oakville GO station. The Town is taking written comments, and residents who stay silent could lose their right to appeal Council's eventual decision.
The Town issued a notice on Thursday, Oct. 29, saying the application is complete, meaning it has the documents it needs to begin its review. This is a request to build, not permission: staff will study the plan and Council will decide.
Besides the homes, the mixed-use building would hold 580.5 square metres of shops or other commercial space on its ground and second floors. It would have 84 parking spaces, all underground.
The site sits south of Cross Avenue and east of Lyons Lane, in Ward 3. The Town's application page describes the project as a condominium fronting Cross Avenue. The applicant named in the notice is Balbir Singh Sanghera.
To go ahead, the plan needs two changes to Oakville's planning rules: an Official Plan Amendment, which alters the Town's long-range blueprint for where and how the town grows, and a Zoning By-law Amendment, which changes the specific rules for what can be built on the land, such as height and use. The files are numbered OPA1614.84 and Z.1614.84.
The Town says that after advocacy by Council, Town staff, local MPPs and residents, the Province committed to adjusting maximum building heights to 38 storeys across its Transit-Oriented Community sites in Midtown Oakville, around the GO station.
That commitment includes maintaining the overall number of homes and the full set of community benefits for Midtown, including publicly accessible spaces and better access to the GO station.
Neighbours worried about how a tower this tall would affect the area can look at the reports filed with the application, including a shadow study, a wind study, a transportation impact study and a noise and vibration study.
To have a comment presented to Council, or to be told when the Town decides, write to the Town Clerk at [email protected] or by mail to the Clerk's department, 1225 Trafalgar Road. Questions about the file go to the Town planner handling it, Sara Hajsaleh, at [email protected].
Timing matters. Only people and public bodies that send written comments or speak at the public meeting may be allowed to appeal Council's decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal, the provincial body that hears land-use disputes. Comments have to reach the Clerk before Council adopts the plan change and passes the zoning change.
