[Mike in TO]

1. Oakville staff will host a public meeting to discuss an application submitted by 2056409 Ontario Inc. and 2094138 Ontario Inc. for official plan and zoning by-law amendments to permit development of a 16-storey mixed-use building, which includes at-grade retail, 165-residential units and two town-house blocks comprising 14 three-storey units at 134, 136 and 150 Lakeshore Road West, 80 - 82 Brant Street and 79 Brock Street, northeast of Lakeshore Road West and Dorval Drive.
   
2. Town of Oakville staff will host a public meeting to discuss a recently received application submitted by Moldenhauer Seniors Developments for a site-specific zoning by-law amendment to permit development of an eight-storey, 143-unit seniors-oriented residential building at 2355-2379 Lakeshore Road West, northeast of Lakeshore Road West and Bronte Road. The development will include residential amenity space as well as retail and commercial space.

 

[Mike in TO]

3. Town of Oakville staff will host a public information meeting on Dec 12 to discuss an application submitted by Empire Communities to amend the official plan and zoning by-law. The proposed amendments would permit develop- ment of three residential towers of 15- , 18- and 21-storeys with a total of 536 units. At-grade commercial uses are also proposed.

 

[Mike in TO]

Not sure how many are interested in various Oakville intensification projects, but is another one - it will be interesting to see how the 'main street' strip of Oakville along Lakeshore evolves and intensifies as it spreads across the river towards Kerr Street (there have been quite a few very urban live/work projects recently) and how this is balanced with a very strong NIMBY attitude among Oakville residents:

4. A report recommended the town refuse an official plan amendment proposed by 445312 Ontario Inc. to re-designate 104, 106 and 114 Robinson Street to high-density residential, permitting the development of a six-storey, 23-unit condominium building.

 

[Hypnotoad]

I am interested in hearing about these applications. I'd rather see them being built in the intensification zone targetted in the growth plan (near the GO station), however.

 

[Mike in TO]

I was in Oakville over the holidays and thought I'd post of few pics here of some recent little intensification projects in the Lakeshore and Kerr area. Rather then large condos like some other suburbs, Oakville is going in a bit of a different route with some nice little infill projects here and there that mix residential and office/commercial uses at grade - not the best architecture in the world, but the scale is perfect for the community that it is located in:

These next two are on a little residential street off Lakeshore where a McDonalds used to be:

This used to be a little strip mall set well back from the street with parking out front:

This shows parking tucked in behind the live/work units and another new residential project on a side street.

This is 111 Forseyth - Oakville spent a ton of money battling this development at the OMB and the NIMBYs were very vocal in opposition due to the height.... despite the two adjacent towers built decades ago that are both taller then the new condo. Something doesn't quite add up here when "too tall" is shorter then next door neighbours.

 

[MBS]

All these developments look amazing, you really have to see them in person. They have made the kerr / lakeshore area much nicer then it used to be.

There are other developments similar to these in north oakville around the dundas / trafalgar intersection. A whole new community went up in the past few years, with a "crown jewel" development being Oak Park. It looks really great, check it out sometime.

Thanks for the pics

 

[Jayomatic]

Agreed. These do look pretty good. I would gladly welcome something a bit like that in sections of the portlands and east bayfront with maybe 2 or 3 added floors.

 

[jeicow]

Some decent infill, but I take issue with this one.

Anyone else think it's a cheap knock off of the Live-Work Units in Port Credit. (I checked to see if Fram did any work in Oakville, but none seems to show up on their site)

 

[urbandreamer]

I don't care which one is more original but I say: these last two photos show how much nicer red brick "old fashioned" retail with housing on top looks compared to towers on ugly podiums! Toronto, get your groove back and start building red brick modest retail strips again! (Ok maybe 5 or 6 stories instead of three.)

 

[ganjavih]

Yup. It's time to declare the dinky shadow-sparing podium an urban failure and get back to basics... the formula that worked for hundreds of years until our great modern thinkers tried to reinvent our notion of cities. Is it a coincidence that our only vibrant neighbourhoods are from Victorian times?

 

[junctionist]

Anyone else think it's a cheap knock off of the Live-Work Units in Port Credit. (I checked to see if Fram did any work in Oakville, but none seems to show up on their site)

I wouldn't confuse them. The Port Credit building has the distinctive colourful storefronts and window box, as well as the black window frames and is overall more three dimensional. The Oakville building is more detailed by the roof, but the facade is flatter, less colourful and has some artificial stone. It's not a rip off, but definitely a cheaper version.

 

[adma]

I wouldn't dismiss it as a cheap knockoff; it's more of an astute knockoff, i.e. hold on to your hats, we'll be seeing a lot more like this in the future...

 

[junctionist]

This kind of development with lots of details beats the blank brick facades of the low rise blocks that were added to older commercial areas in the sixties with their sparse, rectangular windows.

 

[SP!RE]

Holy crap! Oakville's churning out the style. I had no idea their planning department had such great stuff happening. Awesome application of good urban planning principles...

 

[adma]

Well, Oakville's up there with Markham in adopting New Urbanism as official planning credo, so it's to be expected...