Council loosened zoning for detached-home lots on the former Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital site
On April 22, 2025, Oakville Council passed lot-by-lot changes to height, lot coverage and garage width at 348 MacDonald Road, including room for additional dwelling units in detached garages on six lots. No new lots were created.
Where this is
The details
What Council decided
On April 22, 2025, Oakville's Planning and Development Council approved a zoning amendment requested by Fernbrook Homes (OTMH) Ltd. for 348 MacDonald Road and 291 and 327 Reynolds Street, and passed Zoning By-law 2025-078 to carry it out. The lands are the former Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital site in Ward 3, east of Reynolds Street, south of MacDonald Road and west of Allan Street. The file number is Z.1613.67. The motion, moved by Councillor Adams, described the application as consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement and the Livable Oakville Plan.
The Town's notices describe the purpose in one sentence: to add site-specific rules on lot coverage, height and garage width so that the future detached houses can include additional dwelling units and vary in design, while protecting the character of the neighbourhood. The notices are explicit that the by-law creates no new lots. The lots themselves come from a draft plan of subdivision for the hospital lands, file 24T-18001/1613, which the Town's records show was draft approved in August 2018 for 35 homes: 19 detached houses and 16 townhouses.
What changed, lot by lot
The result can be read in Special Provision 383 of the Town's consolidated zoning by-law, the hospital-site provision that By-law 2025-078 amended. Its general rules for the detached lots are tight: no more than 25 per cent of a lot may be covered by buildings, an attached garage may have one door facing the street, and that door may be no wider than 3.5 metres. A table now sets exceptions for 15 numbered lots.
- 13, ranging from 9.15 to 9.91 metres (the zone's general limit is 9 metres)
- 6, ranging from 27.51% to 29% (general limit 25%)
- 6, with garage heights from 6.52 to 8.09 metres
- 9, up to 4.98 metres (general limit 3.5 metres)
The six lots with extra coverage are the same six that may have a detached garage with a dwelling unit in it, which is where the additional homes the notice refers to would go.
What Council heard
The April 22 meeting served as both the statutory public meeting and the decision meeting, with a staff recommendation report on the agenda. The applicant's planning consultant presented the request. One resident opposed it, telling Council the proposed houses were not in keeping with the character of the neighbourhood and urging members not to approve the changes. Council approved the application the same evening, and its decision records that the written and oral submissions were considered.
Where it stands now
The Town issued the notice of passing on May 7, 2025, with May 27, 2025 as the last day to appeal. A search of the Ontario Land Tribunal's case-status database on November 9, 2026 found no appeal of the by-law, and its provisions appear in the Town's consolidated zoning by-law. The subdivision has advanced since: on January 19, 2026, Council passed By-law 2026-003 lifting part-lot control on Blocks 20 and 21 of Plan 20M-1301 for Fernbrook Homes (OTMH) Ltd., a step used to divide blocks on a registered plan into individual parcels. The Town's planning layer, read the same day, still lists the subdivision file itself as Draft Approved.
Sources
Town of Oakville
Planning Applications (open data layer)Ontario Land Tribunal
Case Status search