Oakville Council adopted OPA 70, its own plan for Midtown, in a 15–0 vote on February 18, 2025

What Council decided

On February 18, 2025, Oakville's Planning and Development Council adopted Official Plan Amendment 70, the Town's own plan for Midtown Oakville. The minutes record a 15–0 vote, with the Mayor and all 14 councillors in favour, on a motion that also passed By-law 2025-037, the by-law that adopts the amendment into the Livable Oakville Plan. Council directed staff to prepare the record and submit the amendment to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for approval.

Seven people spoke before the vote, among them representatives of several residents' associations. The minutes show most of them supported adoption and asked the Town to press the Province for a quick approval and to line the plan up with the Province's separate transit-oriented community proposal for the same area. One speaker asked for five-storey buildings in place of high-rises.

What OPA 70 changes

Midtown Oakville is the land south of the QEW and Highway 403 and north of Cornwall Road, between Sixteen Mile Creek and Chartwell Road, around the Oakville GO station. The Town's notice of adoption, dated March 5, 2025, says the amendment replaces Section 20 of the Livable Oakville Plan, the Midtown chapter, in its entirety.

• It sets minimum and maximum densities for sites, minimum building heights and height thresholds, on new land use, height and density schedules.
• It removes the plan's bonusing policies and adds policies on phasing, area design plans and cost-sharing agreements among landowners.
• It redraws the protected major transit station area to leave out 564 Lyons Lane and the valley land between Cross Avenue and Cornwall Road.
• Town-wide, it enables a Community Planning Permit System and adds policies on development near rail corridors and provincial highways, hazard lands and incentives for affordable housing.

The Town's summary of the plan is that new buildings fall within a height range, and that more height may be considered in exchange for community benefits through a development permit. The notice also lists the private applications then active inside the plan area, including files on Cross Avenue, Argus Road, Davis Road, Lyons Lane and at 420 South Service Road East.

How it got there

At the January 20, 2025 meeting, speakers raised transportation, flood risk, tower heights, the cost of high-rise construction and the 10-storey limit proposed for the Cornwall Road shopping lands. Council asked staff, among other things, to describe what would make up the 12 hectares of parkland planned for Midtown, to explain why the transportation master plan would follow the amendment's adoption, and to explain why Midtown's development is expected to take 60 years at the proposed maximum densities.

Where it stands now

The amendment is not in force. The Minister is the approval authority, and the notice of adoption says parts of the Minister's decision will be final and not open to appeal. The Province's registry notice says the Ministry received the amendment in March 2025 and may present modifications to the Minister. When checked on November 9, 2026, that notice was still at the proposal stage, last updated on May 15, 2025, and the Town's Midtown page said it was still waiting for the decision.

Council has relied on the plan in the meantime. On March 3, 2025, it authorized staff to try to settle an Ontario Land Tribunal appeal at 627 Lyons Lane in line with OPA 70's policy direction. The Town has also drafted the Community Planning Permit By-law that would put the plan into effect, and an updated June 2026 draft is posted for comment.