Committee of Adjustment, October 28: six variance requests, including a car wash on Third Line and a four-storey building on Trafalgar Road

What the Committee is

The Committee of Adjustment is an independent group of citizens appointed by Town Council under Ontario's Planning Act. It decides requests for minor variances from the Town's zoning by-laws, such as how close a building sits to a lot line or how tall it can be, along with applications to divide land. Council is not involved in its decisions. For each variance the Committee must be satisfied that it keeps the general intent of the Official Plan and the zoning by-law, is desirable for the appropriate use of the land, and is minor.

The October 28 hearing

The published agenda sets the hearing for Wednesday, October 28, 2026, from 7 to 10 p.m., as a virtual meeting. It will be live-streamed on the Town's website at oakville.ca/live.html and on the Town's YouTube channel. Six minor variance applications are on the agenda, and no consent (land division) applications are listed.

Notable applications

160 Trafalgar Road, in the Central Business District zone, has the longest list. The variances sought include a fourth-level balcony projecting 4.26 metres beyond the main wall where 1.5 metres is permitted; a 3.43-metre access width to the parking area, served by a car elevator, where 5.5 metres is required; a front yard of up to 5.27 metres where the maximum is 3.0 metres; building heights of 15.0 metres where 14.2 to 14.6 metres is permitted, depending on distance from the rear lot line; and a height of 19.9 metres including the rooftop mechanical penthouse, where 16.0 metres is permitted.

At 624 Third Line, zoned E4 Business Commercial, the request is for a single variance to allow a car wash with its pay stations 3.50 metres from the rear lot line rather than the required 7.50 metres.

80 Second Street appears in the Town's Heritage Property Index as a Part V property, the category the Town uses for properties designated within a heritage conservation district under the Ontario Heritage Act. The application there asks for three variances to allow a porch and additions to the rear, side and third storey of the existing house, along with renovations to the accessory building.

How to take part

Anyone can send written comments on an application, by email (preferred) or mail, to the Committee's Secretary-Treasurer at coarequests@oakville.ca or 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, including their name, address and the application number or property address. Comments must arrive by noon the day before the hearing, and the Town notes they become public. To speak at the virtual hearing, residents pre-register as a delegation by email or by phone at 905-845-6601, ext. 1829, by the same deadline. Town department and agency comments on each application are posted online by noon on the Friday before the hearing.

The hearing notices state there are no third-party appeal rights. A resident who wants to be told the decision must ask the Secretary-Treasurer in writing before noon the day before the hearing; the notices say this also entitles them to notice of any future Ontario Land Tribunal proceedings. Under the Town's process, a minor variance decision can be appealed to the Tribunal within 20 days of the oral decision by the applicant or agent, a specified person or a public body.