Oakville development digest, week of October 19: a radio-tower hold lifted, a 50-storey Midtown filing, and 6,420 homes still in review

This week at a glance

Decided: the Harasym Trail hold comes off

The one decision of the fortnight was a routine one. On October 8, the Commissioner of Community Development, acting under authority Council delegated by By-law 2023-083, passed By-law 2026-130 to remove Holding Provision H48 from Part of Lots 24 and 25, Concession 1 NDS — Block 43 of Mattamy's draft plan 24T-15006/1324 at the northeast corner of William Halton Parkway and Harasym Trail.

H48 had required either that the adjacent land stop being used as an AM radio station or that the applicant study and mitigate any interference and health effects on future residents. The staff report says the radio towers on the abutting Argo Lions Valley lands were removed in February 2026, which satisfied the condition. The block is not yet within a registered plan; conditions of draft plan approval have been extended to March 20, 2027.

New on the list: 50 storeys at 118 Cross Avenue

The Town's application layer shows two folders opened on September 16 for 118 Cross Avenue in the Midtown Core: an official plan amendment and a zoning by-law amendment under file 1614.84. The Town's description is a 50-storey, 42,000-square-metre mixed-use condominium of 560 units with 1,000 square metres of commercial space at grade and on the second level. Both folders are at 'Open', the first stage, with no complete-application notice issued yet.

Cross Avenue sits inside the Midtown growth area, where Minister's Zoning Orders that took effect in April already permit towers on other sites that the Province has said it will cap at 38 storeys. A Town memo to Council dated October 13 adds a useful baseline for that debate: of Midtown's publicly owned land, the Town holds 11 hectares excluding rights-of-way, of which the Lyons Lane garden plot (0.3 hectares) and Cornwall Sports Park (4.2 hectares) are existing parks and open space; the rest is held by the Town, Halton Region and Metrolinx.

Still in circulation: Speers Road and Westerkirk

Acclaim Health's application to permit its dementia care facility at 2250 Speers Road on a permanent basis — replacing the temporary-use arrangement under which it has operated since 2019 — was deemed complete on September 28. The Town's record shows the file at 'In Circulation', the stage at which agencies and departments comment. No public meeting has been scheduled; the Town is taking written comments through the Clerk.

Westerkirk's proposal for 6,420 homes at the southeast corner of Trafalgar Road and Burnhamthorpe Road East — 27 buildings from 3 to 30 storeys, 14,475 square metres of commercial space and seven phases — had its statutory public meeting on September 8. The official plan amendment, zoning amendment and draft plan of subdivision all remain 'In Circulation'. The next step is a staff recommendation report to Planning and Development Council, for which no date has been set.

Approved but not finished: Wyecroft Road

Council's August 10 approval of By-law 2026-116 rezoned 2172 Wyecroft Road, beside Bronte GO, from industrial to urban core mixed use for four towers of up to 24 storeys, 1,191 homes, a daycare and two new public roads. The appeal period closed September 9. Two things remain before anything is built: the companion draft plan of subdivision, which the Town's record still lists at 'Public Meeting' status, and the by-law's holding provisions, which require a noise study, land use compatibility, air quality and wind studies, servicing confirmation and the conveyance and construction of the public roads.

Townwide: the data centre freeze

Interim Control By-law 2026-129, passed August 11, bars new data centre, enterprise computing and similar high-intensity digital processing uses on every Business Employment, Industrial, Business Commercial and Employment District designation in town, including Parkway Belt West lands, for one year. The appeal window closed October 1. The Town's October 14 memo to Council describes the by-law as the Town's way of pausing approvals until local impacts — noise, vibration, emissions, land use compatibility, energy and water supply — are understood, and records the Town's formal response to the Province's draft Data Centre Playbook.

What to watch next week

• Election Day is Monday, October 26; the new term of Council begins November 16, and no Planning and Development Council meeting appears on the Town's published calendar between the two dates.
• Committee of Adjustment meets Wednesday, October 28 at 7 p.m. on minor variances and consents.
• Notices of complete application for 118 Cross Avenue and a public meeting date for 2250 Speers Road would both appear first on the Town's planning public notices page.