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"Oakville Debates Housing, Heritage, Development" - Planning & Development meeting, May 4, 2026

Oakville · May 07, 2026

Hello, welcome to this meeting of the planning and development council of the town of Oakville. We have regrets from councilors she and Lchenna and we are otherwise ready to go as soon as we hear from council if there are any declarations of pecuniary interest and Mr. Clerk I see none. Uh council could I have a mover and seconder to adopt the minutes that you've been circulated councelor Nanda and councelor Grant. Thank you. Any corrections or amendments to the minutes? I'll put the vote. Is there anybody Is there any objection to the motion? Mr. Clerk, the motion carries. Um now, um I just want to move to uh the approval of the Heritage Oakville minutes and the recommendations from April 22nd. Can we have a mover and seconder for that? Councelor McNiss. Thank you. And councelor Longo. Thank you. Um, are there any questions or or uh concerns? And I'll put the vote. Is there any objection? Mr. Clerk, there being no objection, that's adopted. And uh we have no consent items. Our first public hearing item is the statutory public meeting for a zoning bylaw amendment and draft plan of subdivision submitted by Home uh Development Limited. And I want to explain for the those watching at home and and the audience here that this is not a decision uh item. This is an issue collecting item and u uh the staff will take notes of any uh comments from the public on this file to answer or deal with in their recommendation report later and uh same thing for the comments and questions of council. Uh we're going to start off with a presentation from home development and uh uh I believe Erica Lindsay is prepared to do that. Welcome Miss Lindsay. We look forward to your presentation. Good evening everyone. My name is Erikica Lindseay and I'm a planner with Corsiac Urban Planning. I am here today on behalf of Home Development Limited to present the proposed development uh development municipality municipally described as 145 Bernham Road West. The subject lands relevant to this application comprise approximately 11.98 hectares including 0.41 hectares of natural character system lands. The site is vacant, irregularly shaped and was for formerly used for agricultural purposes with no permanent uh structures or significant vegetation. The lands are located on the north side of Burn of the Road west of Six Line and are bisected by William Halton Parkway. The proposed draft plan of subdivision consists of seven blocks including one employment area block intended to intended for a modular housing assembly plant, two employment generating and supporting area blocks for general and service employment uses, one storm water management block, one natural heritage system block to protect existing features while accommodating a switch gear in infrastructure and two open space blocks. A 22 meter road allowance is also proposed. Since the first submission, the block area and configuration have been updated to accommodate the modular assembly, factory, internal roads, and parking reflecting the refined site plan. As shown in the NOESP land use plan, the subject lands are designated employment district and natural heritage system area with an avenue transit corridor identified as street A on the draft plan. As per the North Oakville master plan, the subject lands are designated employment area, storm water management facility, and natural heritage system area. The subject lands are currently zoned future development. A zoning bylaw amendment is required to facilitate the proposed development. The application proposes to reszone the lands to general employment north of William Halton Parkway and service area employment uh storm water management facility natural heritage system and sight specific natural heritage system zone south of William Halton Parkway. Here's the preliminary site plan which shows 14,315 square meter modular assembly plant with outdoor storage, 215 parking spaces and two access points. The site plan submission is forthcoming uh subject to draft plan approval. There are a number of sustainability and design measures that can be incorporated into the current concept based on best practices and typical project approaches subject to further refinement by the consulting team as the design pro progresses at this time. These include high effic efficiency electric vehicle parking, salt resistance plants, permeable paving, high elido paving, uh tree canopy coverage over pave services to reduce urban heat island effect and inground storm water storage uh which can be used reused in irrigation. The public information meeting took place on January 29th, 2016 and was attended by one member of town staff and one counselor. Questions were raised regarding the development timeline. The current plan anticipates the commen commencement of road and pond construction in September 2026 following draft plan approval. Servicing approvals and site plan approval as well. A foundation permit is expected in November 2026. Construction is anticipated to take approximately 12 months with the facility potentially becoming operational by spring 2028. Questions were also raised regarding truck traffic and transportation impacts including expected truck volumes. A traffic impact study has been completed to address these matters in detail. Truck traffic from this facility is expected to be directed solely on William Halton Parkway and not local streets to minimize potential impacts. Discussion also addressed the future land use land use of adjacent lands near Bernup Road. These lands are currently designated as transitional area and may accommodate residential development in the future. However, no specific development proposal has been advanced at this time. Clarification was also sought regarding the employment lands south of William Halton Parkway. These lands are intended to accommodate lower impact employment uses such as office and commercial uses. In conclusion, the proposed development implements employment lands in accordance with the North Oakville East Secondary Plan. The modular assembly plan represents an acceptable employment use that contributes to the provision of housing through modular construction. And thank you. Any comments and questions can be sent to Robert Thun at robert thun oakill.ca and a town clerk as well. >> Thank you very much for the presentation. Councelor Nanda. >> Thank you, Mayor Burton. Thank you so much for the presentation and um the earlier conversations that we had uh regarding this. Um just to go back to um what we had raised about uh the traffic and the truck traffic and being so close to residential area. We don't have residents up there now. In the future we will um the site that we had discussed that's just north of Burnham Thorp. Are we are you still looking at that as a future development for residential? At this time there's no proposal but it is zoned transitional so um residential can be put there in the future. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Um and so the local road that you have over there um I know again we were talking about truck traffic because we've had this issue in the past as well. Um and you're saying that it'll be directed towards William Halton Parkway. Um, and I don't know if this is a question for staff or for yourself, but how do we know that the trucks will not use local roads? >> Um, I can defer to Mark Crawford, who's our trans uh transportation consultant, to give you more details. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, so thank you. I'm a little taller than you, Erica. Uh so uh at this time we don't have any uh proposed restrictions on trucks going on well what the future extension of preserve drive. Um however there is the potential to implement signage to restruct uh restrict trucks on that future road. William Halton Parkway as an arterial and regional road is the appropriate truck route and it provides access east and west to uh Naagawa and over to Trfalar which both provide access to uh the provincial highways. So there would be little uh demand for trucks to go down uh preserve drive. Um through an update to the the traffic impact study, we're also going to propose uh some like generic truck routting principles to ensure that uh it's understood that the site's going to utilize the regional network first to get as close to the go the uh end destination as possible. >> Okay. And do we know just from whatever study you've done so far, how many trucks per day? is roughly 20 trucks per day, about five to uh five to eight in the peak hour, uh which is what our study generally focuses on. Again, through through an update and as requested by staff, we're going to be looking at uh the daily truck as well, um because it is spread out through the day, but the the general traffic on the roads is lower throughout the day than during the AMP PM hours. >> And but we are looking at these being like 18 wheelers. >> Absolutely. Yeah, we're looking at up to 53 foot trailers. >> Okay. And can you just describe a little bit about what the factory what it's going to be building the modular? >> I'll pass that back to to Erica. >> Um and I'll defer to Thomas and uh Brian to give um details on that. >> Uh thank you Erica. My name is Brian Martin and I work for uh Stellomar which is uh a subdivision or a division sorry a division of Madame Holmes. Um in the audience we also have uh Thomas Alexander who's the lead engineer designing the factory. My role is uh is to look at the assessment of the factory costs and look at alternatives. The factory itself is approximately uh 14,400 uh square meters. It's on approximately 4.7 hectares of land. The factory itself is going to be producing modular homes. And this is a very new innovative way to provide affordable homes uh to to Canadians. The factory go live is approximately March of 2020 uh 8. The factory itself is going to employ approximately 100 to 150 employees, parking stalls up to 200 uh for future growth. Uh the factory will start at one shift operation. The product inbound will be panels, floors, ceilings, walls that will be produced in a Missaga factory location, uh 35,000 square meters. Uh Stellomar has uh built. Thomas is engineering the plant as we speak. It will be North America's highest automated and most innovative panel factory again in North America. Tens of millions of dollars worth of automation equipment. panels will be produced in Missaga trucked into this facility located uh basically at uh at six line and and the parkway William Halton Parkway where we will build module homes three dimension from panels module homes module homes then will be outbounded via trailers as we mentioned uh 18 wheelers yes and they will go to various job sites in western GTA and that was basically ally Young Street through to as far as Kitchener, Waterlue, Brford and so on. We're expecting to mirror image this plant in eastern GTA to service uh the east in the in the future. Modules themselves will range from 26 feet 27 feet long to up to uh 40t long and as mentioned approximately 20 modules produced a day. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. Um, I think uh just to staff just with the amount of traffic and impact we're going to have, I would just want them to take note of future development that's going to be in the area because this is going to be very high traffic and if it's um employment lands on one side but having residential so close to that. So, like you said, the the property just north of Burnham Thorp for future development, you still don't know what that's going to be. Um, correct. So to staff, I would want to look at what are the options for that because if this is going to impact future residential, then we want to ensure that it's not going to impact our residents um with having that much truck traffic so close to the area because even if we say they're not going to use local roads, it's it's very hard to enforce that um because we've already seen it in the past as well. Um, I do want to say thank you and commend you for the climate change initiatives that you would be putting on the site. So, I I do appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Counselor Adams. >> Thank you very much. I uh most of my first question got answered with respect to asking about the description of the operations that are being planned and what's what's likely to be seen here. I do have a little bit more of a question. You answered the question about when operations are expected to start. One thing I wondered about is there because the expectation is that modular components from this site will then go to places throughout the western GTA. Um is there any expectation of there being a sunset for this location or is it be because of the ability to take these modular components anywhere presumably anywhere from Hamilton all the way to maybe Bmpton or something like that? Uh is there effective No sunset for this location. >> Um, could you clarify the term sunset? >> So, meaning that you would stop operations here and move the modular work to another location that's closer to uh development. You talked about having a east GTA location. Uh, does that mean that someday in the future you might want to have a north GTA location or something else? >> Uh, thank you for clarifying. Uh, at this time we don't see that these factory locations are going to be transient, meaning for a period of time that are in proximity to let's say a subdivision build. This factory is being designed. The amount of investments, automation, innovation that we're going to be putting into the factory will lend itself to be there for a number of years. We will be looking at alternative sites in proximity to future subdivisions such as the East GTA, Ottawa, and other jurisdictions as the market demand for modules grow. and as Madame and the parent the parent company in Stellomar continue to expand but the the plan is for this factory to be there for a period and a duration of term. >> Okay. And so economically speaking you can make deliveries within a 100 kilometers of this location and it's still viable. That's kind of the the geographic range that you might have. >> Absolutely viable. Uh we believe that that expansion uh could also in the future because we're working with uh both the Ontario government and federal government there could be an opportunity where we feed uh other other home types including Department of Defense or Ontario builds from this location. >> Okay. So there's lots of business to be done uh throughout the Western GTA and this site could accommodate work >> uh for a great geographic distance basically. Okay, that's great. Thank you very much for that information. The other question I had for you was would you be able to walk us through the concept plan that we have in appendix B that shows the kind of the site operation a little bit? You've got an entry point and an exit point and I wondered what is expected to be within the storage yard. Um How are those spaces expected to be used? >> So, the I don't know if we can show the map. That might help. The main entry exit to the factory will be on the the corner of William Halton Parkway and the road that is planned to be built and I believe that we call that preserve. Road A or preserve. Okay. Preserve. We believe that that should be obviously uh traffic lit so that we can make ress from the plant um both eastbound and westbound. We also have a egress point for inbound materials further west off of William Halton Parkway. We all understand that William Halton Parkway is a demised road and that would be a right-hand turn in and a right-hand turn out of the factory. right hand turn out uh is advantageous to us because William Halton Parkway is a regional road truck traffic and then we can approach subdivisions into uh West Oakville for example. Uh the employee parking is uh along the front of the building as well as on the furthest east side for additional parking which would also share the main egress ingress point at preserve and William Halton Parkway. >> Okay. in their storage yard. What What's expected to be there? >> Storage yard would be finished modules, completed modules, produced factory awaiting for final mile delivery. >> Okay. So that's your your f finished product waiting for delivery. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um and what about the materials coming in? That's all stored within the assembly plant itself. >> It's actually the the the panels will be manufactured as we mentioned in North Missaga. uh 35,000 square meter factory. Those panels will be sequenced in just in time to the factory inbound dock doors which are located on the west side of the factory uh plan uh inbound on that side via truck and trailer sequenced with no major storage in the yard of those panels. >> Okay, so those are going straight in being put together and then the product is coming out the east doors. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much for the information. >> Thank you, councelor Romero. >> Uh thank you very much for um for the presentation. And I just my question really relates to um the current building climate, the current uh tariff climate to to what the reality is of of when you intend to move forward with this because I know uh the planning uh horizon starts long before a lot of the things that we're facing right now happen. So, can you just let us know um um what the actual plan is in capacity and when you're going to be ramping up or if not or or if you don't know, I mean, what the what is the actual plans for when this is all going to start to to happen uh with regards to where we're we're we're currently at in our our housing climate, I guess I would say. Thank you. >> Uh I I think you're touching a little bit on the company strategy, which I we I think we could sit here and talk about exhaustively. Uh the climate for innovative, affordable, featured homes is massive. Yes, we are in a economic situation and yes, home sales are down and yes, many government bodies are trying to improve the situation obviously with GST reductions and development fees and so on. So the climate governments across Canada, including yourselves, are trying to prime home selling. We believe as a strategy that modular home and panel construction is the innovation of the future. Stick production must change for a number of reasons. Factory production adds quality. We can turn that quality into optimization. We can turn optimization cost savings and we can drive those cost savings into the features of the home, make them affordable, make them livable, durable, and keep the resale value and the value for homeowners up. In short, create a new revolution in home building. And we believe that that demand is very strong. So you believe that this is a a step forward in terms of providing more affordable housing uh to not just here but to the G GTA GTHA. Is that is that a is that one of the reasons underpinning uh this this right now? >> Absolutely. It's the main driver which is affordability. But affordability runs more down the value stream, which is the livability of the home, the features of the home, the resale value of the home, the look and feel of the subdivision, and the features around that subdivision, which are obviously part of Madamese's overall strategy. But part of this strategy is panalization and modularity at a factory level. improve livability, durability, affordability, and features are designwise are unbelievable. >> Interesting. Thank you very much. Thank you, your worship. >> Thank you, councelor. Councelor has it down here. >> Thank you through you, Mayor Burton. Thank you very much. We're learning lots today and it uh and the nights young. Um I have just uh first of all, I acknowledge uh uh councelor Nandanda's questions around and thanks on the climate change. Um it's appreciated. Um, some people want us to just ignore it and it's good to hear that you're not ignoring it. Um, you mentioned one shift a day to start. Um, I have a community that uh uh is not in that area but worries about uh you know double shifts and what does that mean in terms of noise um to the neighboring communities. Can you comment on do you have a sense of what will there be sound coming out uh at 11 o'clock at night? Um will there be restrictions on work uh at a certain hour because you will ultimately probably have residential homes near you? Uh we can speak to the facts that today in our ramp up plan we're looking at a hybrid 10-hour shift four days a week which is very amunable in today's workforce factory workforce. So we're looking at four 10-hour shift in our first launch period which would be one shift and then that ramp up period in and around the 24month period and I'm just throwing a number out there in general sense. So the factory go live in the spring of 2028 and then hence one or 18 months to two years out. We would be taking a look at second shift which would be uh the second 10-hour shift four days a week. So 20 hours a day, four days a week is right now the uh the uh theory from our engineering and manufacturing uh teams. Truck traffic inbound is non-restrictive. Yes, we would be using regional truck routes. That is the way we want to uh sustain the Madame brand and the Stellomar brand. Uh outbound traffic because of the size of the modules is going to be daytime um dependent mostly. So outbound shipping of approximately 20 modules a day will be sun up to sun down with the current GTA restrictions that are prevalent across the uh the road restrictions uh in in in guidelines today. So there would be inbound truck traffic for inbound materials panels and there would be outbound traffic mostly oriented to dayshift. The factory itself is contained. It does not contain outdoor materials. There will be no building. There will be no construction on the outside of the building. It's a contained factory. So you answered my my last question on D6 guidelines applicability. So thank you very much for that. Um I do have one question for staff and that is given that there is no commitment to what that transitional residential could be. Can the land be zoned at a u at a residential level where it is not ground level um type housing uh so that they're not um to minimize the impact to them. So is in the future can it be zoned differently? through your worship to councelor Hazel. That portion of the land is designated transitional area. It does have the ability for residential but is not part of this application before council. So we will deal with that in the future. >> So I fully understand that Mr. Ton. What I'm asking is can we in can we um do anything to protect the future residents by changing the zoning to something that may be more um compatible with having a factory beside it? Albeit an amazing facility. Don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm just asking is there a way to create a more compatible residential community? And has that discussion at least occurred >> through your worship? that discussion has not occurred because the lands are not part of this application. We do take your thought uh into consideration for the future. One thing you should keep in mind is the modular assembly plant is not beside residential. It is separated by the storm water management pond that is being proposed right now. So it is not directly abuing. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification and thank you for your innovation. >> Thank you councelor councelor Chisum. >> Thank you worship. um very impressed with with your presentation and uh it's almost like a paradigm shift from putting 2x4s up in in a lot and now we're going to a module which I think is great and I think it's uh um very good for the for the future for affordable housing and it's always it's the main issue with the feds uh the province and even municipalities about affordable housing and the and the middle the middle housing that we need to look at uh for the future. Matter of fact, we're going to be dealing with a couple of the issues tonight in further down our agenda on a CIP. Um, my question is this, understanding where you where the site is and so forth, but my concern is that and it might be through uh talking with staff and and having some more discussion with respect to transportation, the transport. um we've got big trucks coming through and you you kind of answered the question before, but the challenge will be is that when you're moving that type of product, your main fairs would be 407 uh QEDW. And I guess my question, my concern is how you bring those big trucks down uh to QEW from where your location is and do we have any restraints or or issues with that? Has that been discussed with respect to the whole transportation uh of of all the materials coming in and coming out and what it's going to impact our uh roadways? Uh the answer is um the appeal to the site is its proximity to the 407 and the 401. And the 401 corridor is important to our business to enter GTA west heading eastbound on the 407 or the 401 into western Missaga, Bmpton. uh and also the appeal uh the same 400 series highways to get west into to Milton, Kitchener, Waterl, G and we also have subdivision plans for Brford and beyond. So the 401 corridor is key to us. From an expense standpoint, 407 is not great, but from a usability standpoint with truck and trailers, it makes sense today. And actually the payback is actually it's it's pretty decent. You pay the fees, but the uh the time that you spend on the highway versus the 401 is not bad. So, the 407 corridor is also uh important to us. Travel to the Queeny is going to be limited because of the proximity of the 401 corridor. >> I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad that you uh specified 407 and the 401 because it seems to be a natural progression where the location of of the factory is to the north. it would be an easier route than trying to get through coming down Naagawa coming down third line fourth line uh it would just be a it wouldn't be we have enough traffic issues it is so I'm hoping that moving it forward uh makes more sense and you've you've hit it on the on the nose so thank you very much >> thank you >> thank you counselor councelor >> thank you through you may burton um so just one more clarifying question on when the finished product is moving out the 20 or so module homes. Are those going to be on extra large trucks? Is it is it trucks that are going to have to have assistance moving through the road? Like they're going to be extra wide going through the road. >> So, the modular design today is not going to require overdimensional permitting due to weight. The modules are actually not that heavy. We're shipping quite a bit of air, although they're completed on the inside at a unbelievable level. So weight is not the dimension. Height is not the dimension. We will fall well within the guidelines on height dimensions on the back of a trailer. The challenge is going to be the width. >> That that's what I meant. >> Yes, we will have modules that exceed 8 and 1/2 ft, which is the width of a legal truck going down the road. And yes, we will have to gain widthbased permits. Approximately half of our materials will be finished goods modules will be in or around the 12 foot dimension, but we have design criteria that could take it up to 15 feet wide. The 15 foot wide module in the uh Oakville as well as Halton region requires uh one professional escort and we will not may we will follow all jurisdictions whether that's city town region or highway 400 series highways with MTO's regarding escorting and safety precautions. Okay. So, I think a note to staff or maybe a question. How is that going to impact traffic on Burnhamthorp when we have because you're saying there's going to be 20 of these a day >> approximately, >> right? And so during the day. So, how is that going to impact traffic if you have to move them through Burnham and Thorp? >> Uh through you counselor to councelor or your worship to councelor Nandanda. We'll take that under advisement right now and have an answer for the recommendation meeting. >> Okay. Uh because I think the other question is going to be when they're coming down William Halton, are are you only going to be going towards the 407 or are trucks going to try to go east as well on Burnham Thorp? So, I'm going to want to know if they're going to be going east and west or are they just going to be going west and going towards 407? >> Taken under advisement your worship. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, counselor. Thank you, Mr. Sun. Councelor Elg. >> Thank you, Theor Burton. I've heard a lot of words tonight about affordable housing, and I look at the rental park. The CHC says that affordable rent is up to $4,070 a month. Then you look at the provincial affordable range and they're saying it's $1317 to 2379. So, we got one heck of a lot of still unaffordable units. What is the price point you are going to be selling these units for? I'm sure the financials have all been done at a preliminary stage at least. Do you have a ballpark you could tell us what would be? >> I I think we would rather defer and get you those facts. I don't want to speak out of turn. My my responsibility is to take a look at property locations, assess and help the organization make decisions on factory locations. I if if you don't mind, I'm going to defer that and get the facts to you. >> Okay. >> With uh with approximate price points. >> Okay. I appreciate that. But do you realize just how many times we've heard the buzzword affordable housing tonight from everybody? It's a big concern that I'm not sure that that's what bothers me with everything we're doing right now is at the affordability, but there seem to be a big spread in even in the rental market, never mind the the the sale building and sale market. So, I would So, you'll be able to come back to with that re roughly what it would be >> with the square footage. >> Yes. >> So, do you have a square footage for what these houses would be? I'm thinking if you're putting them on trailers like ballpark, can you give me a bit of an idea? >> So, the first design is a six-story condominium building. In fact, the first designed uh build location for that first design is 9inth Line and Bratannia Road, and it's called the nine. It's a Madame subdivision that has been in operational for some time. The first design is six-story condominium buildings, 50 units per condo. We're building three condos for a total of 150 units. We are not designing or building homes for speculation. We're building homes for livability. Real people, real features, square footage, wonderful square footage, three bedrooms, 1,200 square feet and above, two bedrooms in the area of a thousand square feet or thereabouts. But the Affordability is the factory production optimizing the cost reduction of the site erection. How fast it takes to build a six-story condominium of three buildings 50 each takes two years to build and stick construction build. Today we're going to do it in six months. I like what I'm hearing. I heard the 1,200. I I think that's fantastic. And I think two-bedroom are around a thousand. What are the the onebedroom or smaller? What are they? >> I'm going to defer. Not only are we going to give you some indications on the pricing, but we're also going to give you some facts on the design, square footage, and uh and we're going to get that to you quickly. >> You know, some I really appreciate that because up until now, all I hear about is the what we're building are little dog cages with the onebedroom or whatever, whatever it's called. and nobody's buying them. So, I think maybe I think Madame is ahead of its time and I appreciate that. So, if you can get back to us with that, I'd really appreciate it and we all should be pushing that. Thank you. Thanks very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, counselor. Um, thank you very much for the presentation. Are there any members of the public with questions or concerns to add to the list that coun that staff is building from this? All right, I see none. I'll confine it to table. Um and I'll look for um mover and seconder for the recommended motion to receive. Councelor and councelor Chisum. Thank you. Uh any objection? There being none, Mr. Clerk, that's carried. Uh we now turn to our discussion item, the recommendation report for the official plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment applications at 14936 Line Post Residence Inc. And u I'm going to call on Gabe Charles the director of planning and development to provide an introduction. Thank you Mayor Burton and through you to council and to the public. Want to introduce Sarah Harle who is one of our planners on the east team. She hasn't yet had the pleasure of presenting in front of you. So thought we'd make an introduction for her. Thank you. >> Welcome. We look forward to your your debut. >> Perfect. Thank you. And good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council, and members of the public. Before you this evening is an application for an official plan amendment and a zoning bylaw amendment submitted by MHBC consultant on behalf of their client, Post Residence, Inc. The staff report can be found as item 8.1 of tonight's agenda. And it should be noted that a public meeting was held on November 17, 2005 for both applications. And the purpose of tonight's meeting is for council to make a decision on both applications. The subject property is located on the east side of Six Line and south of and south of Upper Middle Road and is municipally addressed as 1493 Six Line and is approximately 0.9 0.8 sorry hector in area. The proposal received is to redesate and reszone a portion of the subject lands in order to facilitate a six-story affordable housing development with administrative office and a daycare use. The development will provide a total of 190 affordable rental housing with 30% will be fully accessible units and 35 units are proposed to be deeply affordable. In addition, 103 parking spaces is being proposed. As noted in the staff report, the proposal will meet the provincial definition of affordable housing and it will facilitate partnership and funding from Halton Region Housing for the proposed deeply affordable housing units. Further details on partnerships and ownership structure are also outlined in the staff report. The subject lands are designated natural heritage system within the region of Halton official plan and as mentioned in the staff report the subject site was fully designated as residential area and it was later in inadvertently designated as Halton uh designated by the Halton region as part of their regional heritage system and through the conformity exercise it was designated natural area within livable Oakville official plan. An environmental impact study was prepared to determine the limits of the natural heritage system on the site. Through this work, the approximate NHS boundary, including the natural feature and a 10-meter buffer, was established and agreed to by both the Halton region and town of Oakville. The portion of the site identified as NHS is located at the rear of the subject lands, and it will be protected through an easement that will be secured as part of a future site plan application. The proposal is to redesate the remaining portion of the high to of the lands to highdensity residential with a proposed density of 234 units per site hectare. The site is in a close pro proximity to commercial use and has convenient access to public transit and active transportation network and is fully serviced with water and wastewater infrastructure capable capable of accommodating the proposed development. It is staff opinion that the proposal maintains a general intent of official plan to support the delivery of affordable housing and continue to the grading housing diversity within the town. It also contributes to the overall objectives and emerging policies by expanding housing opportunities for a wider range of income levels. Providing affordable housing helps respond to diverse needs of the community. The proposed seeks to resone The proposal seeks to reszone a portion of the subject site to residential high with special provision. The zoning will permit the development subject to limitation in height and appropriate parking rate that will reflect the proposal and its staff opinion that the sight specific modification to the RH zone are appropriate to integrate a six-story mixeduse development. The issues and concerns identified on the slide were raised through the public meeting report and during the meeting by staff, council, and the public. A detailed review of these matters is provided in the staff report on tonight's agenda. In summary, staff are satisfied that their proposal addresses the concerns, including those related to parking design and affordability. And a parking justification study has been submitted in support of the 103 proposed parking spaces. This includes 71 for residential and 32 for visitors which is shared between the daycare and the office as discussed in further detail in the report. And in order to address the massing the shadowing and the impact on the public realm, the proposal has been modified in its sitting and design as also discussed in the report. To conclude my presentation, staff put forward the following recommendation for council's consideration as shown on the slide. Its staff opinion that the applications should be approved as they are consistent with provincial policy conforms to regional and livable official plan and the proposal facilitates council's goals to address housing crisis by providing intensification that is appropriately integrating into and compatible with the neighborhood. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um uh council before your questions I thought in in in respect of all the delegations that we have registered that we would hear from the public that may help enrich your questions. And so uh with your uh with no if there's no objection uh Mr. Clerk would you call the delegations. >> Uh thank you mayor Anna Rosser. >> Welcome Miss Rossi. Council looks forward to your information. Good evening, mayor and members of council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Before I begin, I'd like to share a little bit of my background. I am a journey person, sheet metal mechanic, and for over 20 years, I have worked in construction helping to build Oakville. I understand what it means to bring a project from paper into the real world and the responsibility that comes with building something that will last. So when I speak tonight, I am not speaking against development. I'm speaking from experience about what responsible development should look like. I want to begin by saying this clearly. This is not about opposing housing. We all understand that housing is needed. But the question before you tonight is not whether housing is needed. It is whether this specific proposal in this specific location meets the standard of good planning and serves the public interest. And that's where there are some serious concerns. Let's start with what this project actually is. The proposal at 1493 Elm Road is a sixstory mixeduse building with approximately 190 rental units in a daycare. And importantly, it requires both an official plan amendment and a zoning bylaw amendment. That matters because projects that truly fit within their context, what we would normally call appropriate infill, do not require that level of change. They fit within existing permissions or come very close to it. This one does not. The need for both an official plan amendment and resoning is a clear signal that this proposal goes beyond what is currently permitted and envisioned for this site. This is not minor infill. This is significant intensification. And that brings us to compatibility and built form. A sixstory building is not a subtle addition to this neighborhood. It is a substantial shift in scale. This is a predominantly low-rise area and this proposal introduces a mid-rise building without a clear or appropriate transition. Good planning is not just about adding density. It is about how that density is introduced. Compatible development respects the existing character of a neighborhood. It transitions. It integrates. It fits. This does not. This is not a duplex or a townhouse or even a low-rise building that reflects the surrounding form. It is a mid-rise structure being inserted into a context where that form does not currently exist. And that has real impacts on privacy, on shadowing, and on the overall character of the community. Now I recognize that this site is located along a corridor and yes corridors are often identified for intensification but that does not mean any scale of development is appropriate. Intensification still needs to be measured. It still needs to be contextsensitive and it still needs to respect the surrounding community. In this case that balance has not been achieved. There are also significant environmental considerations. This proposal involves development within or directly adjacent to a protected natural heritage system. These protections exist for a reason. They are there to preserve ecological function, protect sensitive landscapes, and ensure long-term environmental sustainability. When we start making exceptions, when we begin adjusting boundaries or weakening those protections, we are not just making a decision about one project. We are setting a precedent and the impacts of those decisions are not easily reversed. Traffic and safety are also very real concerns. Adding approximately 190 units will increase traffic. There is no question about that. And while technical studies may suggest acceptable levels of service, residents experience traffic in real lived ways. Congestion, delays, safety risks. This site is beside Mun's public school that raises serious concerns about pedestrian safety, particularly for children during peak school hours. We have to ask not just whether traffic can function on paper but whether it is safe and appropriate in reality and that leads to a broader point about real world conditions. Planning documents often reflect ideal scenarios but residents live with what actually happens on the ground. Existing traffic patterns, infrastructure limitations and day-to-day conditions all matter. Adding this level of density without fully addressing those realities creates pressure that the community will carry. So when we step back, the issue becomes clear. This proposal requires significant policy changes. It introduces a scale of development that is not consistent with the surrounding area. It raises environmental concerns and it creates real questions around safety and livability. And this is the part I think matters the most. If a project only works after we change the rules, adjust the protections and stretch compatibility, then it's not the right project for the site. The site is not the problem. The proposal is. And again, this is not about opposing housing. It is about ensuring that development is done well, that it aligns with policy, that it respects the community, and that it stands the test of time. Council has a responsibility to apply that standard. And where there is uncertainty, where there are unresolved concerns, the responsible course is not to move forward as is. It is to pause. It is to require refinement and to ensure that what is ultimately approved truly reflects good planning in the public interest because once a decision like this is made, it cannot easily be undone. It will shape this neighborhood for years to come. And I'll leave you with this. Good planning does not ask a community to absorb avoidable impacts. It avoids them in the first place. So I ask you, does this proposal in its current form truly meet that standard? And if there is any doubt, I urge you to act with caution and require better. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Uh, Miss Roser, >> Miss Rossi, Miss Roser, sorry. >> Uh, I have a couple of counselors with their hands up who might like to ask you a question. >> Certainly. Councelor, >> Mayor Burton, my hand is still up from the from the presentation from staff. It is not I will I will take it down just as long as I'm in the order going forward. Thank you. >> I started a list and you're the top of it. So don't worry, you're not going to lose your place. Mr. Rosler, thank you for coming back. >> Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Clerk, the next delegation. >> Thank you, Mayor. Pang Chen. >> Welcome, Mr. Chen. >> Council looks forward to your presentation. >> Hello. Hello. My name is Pompe 146369 the proposal. I'm here to strongly oppose this proposal. Today I'm not only represent the near lab neighbors nearby but also dozen of the neighbors whom may not speak English well and also the working class are too busy to attend this meeting on site. First this land okay you see this land will is counter designated a natural area in the town the official plan the proposal try to resume to high density I'm not sure is a residential or whatever building it's not just the lady mentioned it's not a minor adjustment it's a fundamental change in the land And also here you will see the new building and the neighborhood nearby. See the difference in size and height. This sixstory building will overshadow nearby houses reduce privacy increase noise and forever change the environment we choose for our families. Here we you can we can see the density. We can compare the both of the for the both of them to about 200 homes. Red rectangle you will see the area and the yellow one the 1493 we can see the huge difference in terms the density here. This one is from the traffic report. We will see that now you will see the L. Yes, maybe technically the level never of the service. Some of the number is over one. Some of the near to one. One means what is the bottom right? Is the worst category. It mean almost great lock here. This is a you will see this is a picture from the Google street view. You will see the how narrow of the 69. Is it a proper place to build this high density building? Okay. Even worse, this building only provide half of the parking space that the city requires. They required about 205 at least but they only provide 103 spaces. So what about the another left? They were parking on the street which will put already crowded road even worse. Here we can see the the relationship between the track volume and the collision. This relationship is not linear actually is square. It means double traffic is it means four times collision. Three time traffic means nine times collision. And from the report you'll see that this building only has one access point to the 69. It means all the all residence office worker visit daycare deliver all them will use one single entrance. And the most important I want to emphasize this building just besides the month's entry school this and is a very good school rank I remember ranking the second in the all the public school in the OKA and have 500 students from grade two to eight. Does anyone ask their opinion for the parent and teacher? I did. I asked them. They are very concerned. This building not only have 190 unit, they also have daycare and office. Morning rush hours will combine all them together. school, daycare, office, residential commuting all happen in the same time in the same location. It will be a nightmare for traffic. Our neighborhood is a quiet family oriented where children play on the driveway, walk to school and use sidewalk every day. As I mentioned last time, we experienced um heartbreaking tragedy. A 8 years girl was struck by a car just nearby. It's his name is Manity, my daughter's friends. Remember that this girl was strike on the sidewalk which should be safe for kids. If something this devastating can happen under counter traffic condition, how can possible expect hundreds of additional cars come to this narrow street across Mons Elementary School every day. If this building move forward, many parents, including myself, will no longer feel safe allow our kids to walk a bike or even go to school. Safety must come first or everything else will become meaningless. We are not against development just mentioned. Development should in the right place and the right skill and design with safety first. Just like this picture, city has approved a lot of high density but you see near the transit hub major corridor and most important not inside a lowrise neighborhood. Okay. Yeah, I understand the city council has a voice of the people just we have done before. Council has reject some high density proposals. For example, the first two align the four drain unit on the residential property townwise and permits for fourstory building height within 8 m shared and college. But this proposal from the density is 10 times in the rejected proposals. Next slide. Life is really tough for our ordinary people. Everything is expensive. Oil prices, job market is down. Many our labors are working non hours with the family and do everything we can just to get by. They may not be here today, but they are watching their care. We are stand together. More and more residents share the same concern in the last few weeks. They ask me to pass the message to the council. Just hope our kids can grow up safely in our neighborhood. We respect as a council to hear our voice. Thank you for your time and listen to our community and for consideration of the future. our children. >> Thank you, Mr. Tien. Uh, Councelor Omera has a question for you and there Oh, and a few more. So, you have some time in front of us. >> Yeah, you >> Thank you very much. I'm not sure if staff can take us back to the picture with the kids crossing the street there. Is that possible? >> That's the one right there. No. Yeah. Is that a real picture, sir? Not a picture because I I tried to take a picture this morning but I forgot I cannot take because privacy. Yes. So >> would you say that's not an accurate picture? >> Yes. Not actual but the side I mean the rude everything is PC. >> That's fine. I'm just asking whether that's an accurate picture or not or whether it's AI. So thank you very much. >> But but I I I watched this one. I I observed in the Russia even more worse even worse this one. Okay. Um, your next question is from councelor has deal. >> Uh, thank you for your delegation. Can uh you just pull up the image uh of uh with the building and then the parking in front of it? >> Yes, I used Yes. for the height a scale. I did not Yeah, I just because >> So if staff could just pull it up. I just want to ask staff actually not the the delegate a question just because we're going to hear from a lot of people tonight. No, it's not this one. I want the one where it shows the parking in front of the the actual building. >> Yes. If I mean the E4. >> No, actually it it's the image with the six stories and there's parking in front of it. I think it's two more up possibly. That's me. >> Keep going. >> It's gone. >> Other way. >> No, it's not. this one. >> So, my question for staff is there's an image that shows the sixstory building and then the way the the parking is and the in and the in and out. Could you just clarify for us if that image is accurate? >> This one. >> That's it. So is this reflect the site plan design is my question >> through you Mr. Mayor to the counselor in terms of where the u the parking is located the park the parking is located on the north side of the property um and further away from the school. So the parking so the parking would be facing the school. So that would not be the right image. >> Okay. So sir, I just want to I I hear you and I understand your concern. I just we need to deal with what the exact plan is and and um so I I appreciate your your uh your attempt to show us some things, but I needed to get clarity. Thanks very much, Mayor Burton. >> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Mcnes. >> Thank you through your worship. Uh for I have another image I'd like to just fact check here. Uh the first one that the clerk pulled up in the presentation of the building set behind uh the houses in front. Um I understand that to be a much uh what the delegate has presented is a much different building than what's in the proposal. So if we could just take a look at that. It was one of the first slides. >> Yes. Not should be the should the angle should be the pain. Yeah, I just want the clerk to pull it up if we can. Yeah, there it is. So, >> I mean I'm I'm counting. So, you know those houses are two stories or so. Is that an accurate picture of the houses or >> Yeah. House is accurate? Yeah. From the point of view, >> right? So, just in counting what I can see, you know, I see two, four, six or seven. You know, those houses are approximately two stories. You're showing about an eight or nine story building. um which is not what I'm reading in the nature of the application is for a six-story mixeduse building. Um so I just feel that's quite misleading to show a different building than what is being proposed as far as what the impact is on those adjacent households. >> Yeah. >> Would you would you agree with that? >> Yeah. Yeah. Maybe because Yeah. I do not have enough money to use some the I just use a free the tools to generate. Yeah, if I may you can pay the tools maybe I can generate a more accurate. Actually I try several time to to generate more accurate but you know that CH GBT only provide a few times one day. I spend a one week but still cannot get enough smart enough accurate imaging. >> Yeah. Well, I I think this is one of the challenges we're going to be facing going forward with AI kind of working its way into presentations like this. So, as long as we're in agreement that that's not an accurate rendition of what's being proposed. I appreciate that. So, thank you for clarifying. >> But the scale is seeming. >> Thank you, Councelor McN. >> Well, I mean scale would be quite a bit different between a six and eight story. So I think it's just important to know you've shown something that's about eight stories when what's in the documentation that's being proposed is six. So I think it's just important to to clarify that. So thank you very much. >> Thank you councelor Mcnes. Councelor Elgar it's your turn. Uh thank you Mur. Similarly uh can you show me the natural area the picture on the slide >> and whether that is a recent picture you've taken? >> Yeah. This is from Google. >> That's it. That's it. >> Is that the Is that a recent satellite like taken yesterday or something? >> Yes. I take it from the Google. Google always shoot the latest one. >> Uh what what year was that? >> What year? I hope maybe it's maybe last year. I >> So can can council while we're still on it. Can council confirm if that is what the picture is what it is right currently that we're dealing with tonight? >> Yeah, we can we can open the Google and show this one. Yes, we can. No, I don't staff. I'm sure staff will be able to confir I just need confirmation >> through you, Mr. Mayor, to the counselor. Um, there has been some tree removal on the site, so that does not represent an accurate picture of what is on site today. >> Sorry, this is accurate. >> No, sorry. This is not an accurate uh picture of what's on site today. >> When later on, I will be asking to see the accurate picture we have today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Um, thank you, sir, for your presentation. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Clerk. Would you call the next delegation? >> Thank you, Mayor. Pierre Silva. >> Mr. Silva, welcome. Council looks forward to your presentation. Uh good evening. Thank you very much. Um I just want to state beforehand that according to Maslo's hierarchy of needs which maps human mo motivation, shelter sits at the very foundation of the pyramid along food and water. Next slide. Next slide please. Okay. Basically the discussion will be on those six points. Uh next slide. Now it's been stated before about we're changing from N which is in natural area zone to RH. Uh the only thing is I forgot mentioned there's also um proposed an exception which increases the RH density from the max of presently from 85 to uh 203 units per hectare. Um as you mentioned port, this is a six uh pardon me sixtory mixeduse building including office and daycare and it's uh 190 affordable housing and 103 underground and at uh at underground or at great next slide. Okay, this is where I want to have a more discussion. Um the applicant is proposing um amending the livable Oakville plan to high density residential with a special exemption like I mentioned before. Now with this high density residential designation um it as I said before permits between 51 to 185 units per hectare. Now as mentioned as well I want to reiterate this point. Um this uh uh proposal suggests way above not well 200 and some more units per. Now any growth in an established neighborhood should maintain the existing character and supports the town overall urban structure. The policy criteria for evaluating development application within stable residential communities is found in section 11.1.9. Specifically, I want to address point A in regards to the scale, height, massing, and architectural character as well as materials. And it's should be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. Uh the building based on staff's comment the building massing is mitigated through vertical articulation materials and colors. The building is also pushed back from six line to reduce the massing impacts along the street and maintain an alignment with other structures to the north and south. Um north and south is a lot further than the immediate neighborhood. Collectively, this gives a perception, mind you, it's a perception of a smaller building which is better integrated within the surrounding neighborhood built form as a reasonable individual. It does not meet this policy criteria. Okay. The building is not integrated into the sound surrounding neighborhoods built form. The neighborhood massing along the street is twostory buildings. The front of the proposed building is 100% more four stories they Yes. Well, majority of the building is six stories or 200% more than the norm of twostory buildings. And it still is a six-story wall 72.18 feet or 22 meters. Next slide please. This is a visual um which I took from the report. And as you can see it is massive. And in regards to more reasonable presentation on your right you see a one-story which is man's well pardon on your left is a man's school as well further down to the left onetory twotory buildings no mainly one story the commercial across the street one story next slide so therefore it's very excessive the height now in regards to the policy criteria B development should be compatible with the setbacks orientation and separation distance within the surrounding neighborhood and staff's comment. The proposed site plan zoning restricts building height building setbacks to adjacent properties to maintain privacy. Now it's very interesting because it says sightspecific. It doesn't reflect the neighborhood. Okay. Now the site specific is not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. This is overdevelopment with respect to criteria C. uh it does not meet uh policy criteria because it states specifically gra pardon me gradation in building height shall be used to achieve a transition in height from ad pardon me adjacent a d adjacent development now the adjacent development onestory commercial on the other side of the street onetory school right side the other side houses. Now the height is six stories when the neighborhood specifically is twotory max. Now with respect to the uh roads and infrastructure I concur with the staff it it's uh it is sufficient. Next please next slide. Now the surface parking shall be minimized on the site. Good for them. Vehicle ownership may be lower. I concur. However, parking is certainly minimized. I certainly is minimized. Only 71 residential spaces proposed compared to the current bylaw with requirement of 145. So there's going to be a lot of uh changes within the OP and the zoning going on if this proposal goes through. Now the impact on adjacent properties shall be minimized in relation to drainage location of services. I concur with the staff. Next slide please. Now with respect to transportation system uh it should be adequately accommodate anticipated traffic volumes. Well, to be honest with you, I I can see the volumes not going up significantly, but any person who've driven down that road, the traffic backlog is so significant. The congestion during school time, especially for the morning and afternoon drop off, it's unbelievable. You should see the lineup. Now with respect to utilities I concur with the uh staff that it's sufficient. Next slide please. Overall um devel pardon me proposed development statistics uh I'll focus specifically on the proposed density at the very bottom. It's 308 units per hectare. Now there's clarification uh because it was stated uh in the report 234. I did the calculations on the right. Now the 308 which was in a a previous document. I can't remember where I got this table but the if you use net develop development for the apartment or the building it's actually 308. So I think it's more reasonable to say the density is 308 not 234. And I remind you as well the high density residential is really between 51 and 185. Now you want a special exemption and it's ridiculously high. Next slide please. Now I I tried to did a recent in intensification sites and it was mentioned in the report mccrainy six line and the other six line just to let you know the address at the bottom uh 1269 I got up from the report isn't correct the address is I think 20 let me see where it is here uh is 2163 now as you can see I did the calculation the mccrain is 186. Very good. It's at the top of the high density. The next one is for the townhouse development is 73.68. And the ninestory mixed use which I believe council um went to the Ontario Ontario labor or I forgot pardon mental land. Pardon me. So h they wanted we wanted everyone wanted uh six probably the nine which happened God bless I don't understand where this tribunal is coming from but they approve nine stories next slide please now I just want to do uh say that I want to emphasize the reductionist tree canopy >> yes I understand I've got I've got >> I hope you're coming to your final Yes, I shall. It's just the fact that we're asking the report that this developer will have tried to have a a a tree canopy of only 25%. As you can see, South Oakville, where this property is located in 2018, it's 32.6. So, we're moving backwards as a town for this site. In conclusion, next slide, please. Thank you for engaging the community. Uh it is essential for creating plans that reflect the needs and desires of the people who live in the neighborhood as you heard previous delegates. Okay. Uh unfortunately the revised development proposal has not changed much. density is still excessive as well as the number of stories. To achieve high density units of 185 per you need 150 units using the full acreage but specifically for the lower acreage the net area it's only 114 units. In other words, this proposal should go back to the drawing board. Reduce the size, reduce the units, reduce the height. >> Mr. Salvage, thank you for your the generosity of your comments. >> Oh, it's I'm always here to do that, but generosity uh should be stated. >> Sir, pardon me. >> Councelor Omira has a question for you. >> I have a question for you, Mr. Thank you very much. I >> I guess in Mr. Mr. Savage, you've been here for quite a while and you've delegated on numerous issues here and and and I I guess my question to you is that this is an official plan amendment, >> meaning they're trying to amend the official plan, which by and large most of our development applications all come through amendments and not through the official plan. So, I guess my question is when you're when you're holding the the demerits of the application up to the fact that it doesn't adhere to the official plan, but this is an a request to amend the official plan. I guess my question is what are the merits that you're arguing about about why it not because it doesn't meet the official plan, that's why it's here because it's an amendment, but but what is it about the the the additional stuff that that we the entire purpose of this committee is to deal with amendments to the official plan, not because it doesn't adhere to the official plan. And I guess what is it about the amendments that you have a concern about not just because it doesn't meet what the official plan says because that's the reason why it's here in the first place. >> I appreciate that question very much. >> Mr. Son, please wait a minute. councelor. Um, uh, I think he spoke to the aspects of it that he didn't like and u, uh, and I'm sure he's grateful to you for pointing out that, you know, citing that they didn't fit the official plan, you know, is not a good argument. But the fact remains he he's made it clear what he doesn't like and we should just I think we should just accept that. >> I wasn't actually qu clear about that, your worship. That's why I asked Mr. Savage Joe about that. I I I I get what you're trying to go to and I wasn't making a point. I'm just asking above and beyond like what is it about over the scale that that I was asking for CL. But if if you prefer I don't ask the question, I'm I'm happy to yield. >> Questions already been asked. >> I try to discourage debate between counselors and the delegations. My my theory has been that the counselors debate the issues, the delegations provide their views, and we consider them. >> Yes, but the question was asked. >> Excuse me, sir. >> No, Mr. Mayor, >> are you trying to get me? >> Mr. Sovou, >> Mr. Sovou, >> Mr. Soou, you still have to adhere to our rules. >> Mr. Sovou, >> Mr. So, >> you're done. We've given I've been very generous to you. >> Mr. Sojo, >> Mr. Sojo, >> Mr. Soou, you're you are overtime. You're disturbing the meeting. Thank you. >> I apologize your worship. >> Thank you, counselor. I I I believe I understand. Um, m Mr. Clerk, there's no dis I thought I was very clear. There's no dispute about the points he made up. The the only dispute was whether or not it was fair to compare it to the OP. I I said I think it is. I don't know how you can quarrel with that, but uh I mean in any case, it's out of order. So, let's proceed with the meeting. Uh, Mr. Mr. Clerk, would you call the next delegation? >> Thank you, Mayor. Is Sarah >> Miss welcome. Council looks forward to your presentation. >> You for me again today. I always feel a little stressed coming after all the opposers since we all know I am not one of them. As I've spoken on behalf of this project before, the last time I was here, I talked to you about all the research on why a building like this is so important and what it's happening internationally in this field. And today, I'm going to talk to you about this particular model and a different element to it than I talked to you about before. This model integrates housing supports and research to shape the future of community well-being and importantly to generate the evidence communities need to make better decisions over time. Today I want to talk a little bit about the innovative approach of having a living lab right inside this building. Can I change it myself here? Yes. Okay. I just wasn't last time I had to ask you. Municipalities today are being asked to make increasingly complex housing decisions, often without access to strong local evidence. At the same time, we are seeing rising pressure on shelters. Our shelters here are full with waiting lists. Our health care systems and social services. Traditional housing models are largely static. They are built, occupied, and managed. But they are not designed to learn, adapt, or improve over time. What this model does differently is embed that learning directly into the housing itself through the center for integrated housing and well-being, a living lab that resides within the building. The center is a research and learning hub that studies how integrated housing models function in real time, how different populations are best supported, how services interact, and how outcomes evolve. It tracks what is working, identifies where the gaps exist, and ensures that models can continuously improve. This enables earlier intervention and prevention rather than waiting to for any challenges to escalate into any type of crisis. For example, the center can identify which combination of housing and supports leads to the most stable outcomes for residents and how this impacts the use of services across the entire community, giving Oakville real data to guide future planning and investment. What this means for Oaksville is reduced long-term system pressure, stronger planning decisions, and alignment with national priorities around evidence-based housing. Oakville already has a strong reputa reputation for livability, quality of life, and for thoughtful planning. This project builds on that by positioning Oakville at the forefront of housing innovation in Canada. What makes this model stand out is the integration of housing supports and embedded research at scale. Across Canada, housing innovation is typically delivered through short-term pilots. Sorry, I lost my space there. I was thinking about getting yelled at. This means that learning does not end when a project ends. It continues, evolves and strengthens over time. This creates a platform to attract research funding, government partnerships, academic collaborations, including with Sheridan College and Mohawk who are already partners. It also generates something municipalities rarely have real local data to guide future zoning, housing mix, and service planning. And that is what positions Oakville not just as a participant but as a leader in how communities respond to housing challenges. The decision before you enables a new model of housing, one that integrates supports, research, and continuous improvements. At the center of that is the center for integrated housing and well-being which acts as the engine of the model, generates evidence, identifies what's working, and ensures that the system continues to evolve. This represents a shift from reacting to challenges after they emerge to understanding and preventing them early. It also strengthens Oakville's position for future funding and investment. So governments inc as governments increasingly prioritize models that can demonstrate measurable impact. Importantly, this is a lowrisk opportunity. It is backed by experienced partners and a leadership team with deep expertise in psychology, sociology, and health with over 100 publications and millions in funded applied research. At the same time, it's a high impact investment with long-term benefits across housing, health, and social systems. At its core, this is about how Oakville chooses to evolve. The community is changing despite all of the conversation that is occurring. The question is whether we respond after challenges take hold or whether we plan ahead to protect what makes Oakville exceptional. This model does the latter. It protects livability, quality of life by generating the knowledge needed to respond effectively as pressures emerge. And it positions Oakville as the leader, not just in what it's doing today, but in how it shapes the fort the future. The center is what turns housing into infrastructure for learning, prevention, and better decision-making. Really, thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Cummings. >> I uh I think uh I I remember your first presentation very well and uh for a moment there there was a a couple of u times when I felt I might be in a class and I hadn't done >> the professor in me. >> So could you just uh for the sake of the public refresh everybody's uh recollection of what you do and and and the the perspective that you're coming from? I have a PhD in sociology. I've been a professor for over 20 years now. And I have over $2 million in research funding on how to build collaborative, innovative communities to solve real world problems. Simultaneously, I've been the executive director of Home Sweet Hope for the last eight years. And uh and thank you for that because uh Community Living Oakville is a generations old community-based response to social need and uh home sweet hope I'm proud to say u the same maybe not as long but certainly u coming on to 25 30 years. >> Yeah we two 20 we just had our 20th anniversary in 2024. >> Yeah. So we're we're we're speaking from some experience. >> Yes. I I find that helpful. Thank you for that. And Chancellor has the deal and councelor Elgar I have questions for you. >> Sure. >> Thank you for your question and hopefully you do not get yelled at by people. >> Every time I come here I get yelled at. It's okay. >> Over over time people will come together. Um I I my question is really simple. It wasn't clear to me on the daycare side. Is it exclusive for those in uh in the new uh building or is it open to other uh residents in the area who may have daycare needs? As of right now, I believe it's first right of refusal to the people living in the building. >> But there is a potential that it could be >> if it's not filled up. Yes. >> Okay. And and sort of as a followup to that, there are other services that are going to be provided within the the uh the homes. Um are any of those accessible to others in the neighborhood that uh over time you may find they benefit from? I will actually let someone else answer that when they come up or now. lot of different services. >> So, thank you for clarifying that because sometimes it's good for people to know that there are that you're not just in a building by yourselves though obviously lots of learning is going to happen etc. But there may be other opportunities for connection and and supports um as uh the project um depending on council's decision tonight proceeds. So, thank you for that clarification. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Elgger, >> thank you. Thorum Burton, thanks for the presentation. It might be helpful to give a little more of an explanation like you we're supposed to have 205 parking spaces. We only need 103 and only 71 are residential. Can you explain like you have other areas where this is happening? Is it working with with only half of what should be there in in in in theory? So yes, I'm not a planner, so I'm only going to talk about from theory and research at the moment. So most of the participants who live in buildings such as this don't own vehicles. That is one level of it. In fact, we know in my in two organizations that are in this building, we know that less than 50% have access to a vehicle, never mind own a vehicle. But in addition to that, we also want to talk about livable cities. And we are always trying to build more environmentally friendly cities. And so there are many people who live with this viewpoint now and who don't actually have vehicles. And I know we've heard I heard at council last time, this is ridiculous that people don't drive. People don't drive. Many many people in this community don't drive. So I would say that this works. We've seen it work over and over again. That's why the proposal is here. you had can you give me any addresses where this is in in effect now like doesn't matter which city but >> well I can give you just in Georgetown for example there's a brand new building that is going up on 17 GE that doesn't have parking for the residents in it >> so that's just a local one I know of >> okay >> if we and if we look at Toronto in Toronto there's many of these buildings if you look at wood green who is actually my sister I built I didn't build home sweet hope is built beyond on them. Same thing. They have hundreds of units of all single moms and they don't have parking for them. >> So, is this basically for sing like basically going to be for single moms going forward? Is that your that your idea >> for a percentage of it? There are five not forprofits altogether in the building. So, there are seniors, there are single mothers, there are domestic violence survivors, there are people living with developmental delays. Okay. So, all us counselors couldn't move in there right away then, I guess, right? >> Okay. I I thank you very much. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you, counselor. Councelor Giddings. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you, uh, thanks for coming out. I had a question about the accessible and the deeply affordable units. Do those cross over? Are the accessible units part of the uh, deeply affordable? Just wondering the correlation between the two. >> Again, I have to defer that question because I can only tell you about Home Sweet Hopes >> buildings. So, I don't know who I'm going to to defer it. >> It's all right. We're going to >> when they come up, they'll come up >> later at in in this uh >> Yeah, they'll come back >> this evening. We're going to be hearing from uh MHBC and they will have their fingertips on all of that. Awesome. I'm pretty sure. >> Um Miss Cummings, thank you very much. >> I think sorry. Thank you, worship. Uh, thanks for your presentation and, uh, I will not yell at you. Um, I'm curious about context here. So, why this site and not another site? I saw one of the previous delegates in his slide deck had a nice picture of Midtown on it, which I I saw the look on councelor Hazel's face. It was a Niagara Falls moment. Um, why why this location rather than another location like Midtowners? Is there is there is there a rationale for why uh a project like this belongs in that kind of community? Because we heard some people say it doesn't belong in this community. >> Tell me why it does. >> I think there are multiple reasons. So from a Home Sweet Hope perspective, we will have up to 30 units in this building. All of my participants are full-time college students at Sheridan College while single parenting. So it makes the college very accessible to them. And in addition, part of the cent's task and within the building will be to train students who are coming up in PSW, SSW, chinesiology, all of these things which will give them real world experience right within the building. So it makes perfect sense that that's where it would be. So, what I'd like you to know a little bit about is the the actual value of having residents living in a building in that kind of community versus in a in a uh a higher density area such as Midtown Core or somewhere else like that. Is there is there value in in a location like this for the residents, not necessarily for the professionals, but for the residents from a lifestyle, from a quality of life perspect? >> Yeah, of course there is. It's integrated living at its best. You don't want to isolate people into very typical types of of neighborhoods. You want a family neighborhood. These are people who want families. But it doesn't just I think it's lost that it's only good for the people living in the affordable housing units. All of the research shows that communities thrive when we do this. It's good for the whole community. It brings money into the community even though we don't think that it does. There's people shopping. There's people joining kids sports. There's people going to school. There's all of these things happening and it teaches about difference as well. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm leaving now. Thank you. I'm going >> Thank you, Miss Cummings. Uh Mr. Clerk, would you call the next delegation, please? >> Thank you, Mayor Steven Barrow. >> Mr. Barrow, welcome. Council looks forward to your information. Thank you, your worship and honorable members of council. Um, thank you for for having us here today. Um, and uh, yeah, I um um, I I guess I'll just get right to it. Um, the last time I was So, my name is Dr. Steven Barrow. Um, I'm a social planner with Community Development Halton. Uh, for those who may not be familiar, we're the social planning and research council for the region as well as the volunteer center. So, um, we're really focused on community engagement, um, tackling issues relevant to the community, um, housing and homelessness being a huge part of that. Um, and the last time I was here, um, back in November, I believe, um, you know, I shared a PowerPoint, lots of data. Um, this time around I opted to share a little bit more about myself, some of the work I'm doing with CDH and um and why we're advocating uh for this building. Um, so my background is in oral history. That's that's what my PhD is in. Um, I've spent the last 10 years walking alongside folks that have that are actively experiencing homelessness or had past lived experience. Um, I started out working a lot with young people, 2 to LGBTQ, uh, youth that had been kicked out or experiencing homelessness. Um, I, um, have loved ones that are currently experiencing homelessness. Um, and currently I work with a dedicated team of peer researchers who have direct lived experience with being unhoused uh, in the recent past. Um, and these brave folks, um, I've had the the great privilege of seeing them go from, um, you know, some folks living in their cars or living in urban parks in our region, um, to being housed, having a home, um, and being able to lend their gifts to the community uh, to make change and to make things better. And, uh, you know, a lot of our work involves going out and talking to people in encampments. we go um into shelters and we try to understand the the housing and homelessness crisis that we find ourselves in across the region and across indeed the country um and as Dr. Cummings has me mentioned just a few moments ago uh rather articulately. Um she mentioned change and how uh we find ourselves in a lot of turbulent change. Um the nature of homelessness in our communities has changing in the last 10 years. Um just speaking from my own experience um hearing from folks, hearing their stories, um trying to advocate um getting involved in policy, getting involved in understanding, you know, what cracks are people falling through? Um and and what is working, what's really helping people. Um and you know, I come from um like my I was raised by a single mother um who is still in her 60s as an auto manufacturer um works on an assembly line. Um and I grew up in a single detached home. Um she was able to just get by 20 years ago um on one salary in a single detached home. Um, but speaking of change, that's really no longer viable for a lot of people. Um, we talk about denser housing um as as being a significant change to a neighborhood. Um, and indeed it is. Um, but it also involves in the current climate we're in economically um a chance for people to have a home. Um, particularly our single parent neighbors. Um, our neighbors experiencing homelessness or housing procarity. um and the chance for their kids to go to a school that's nearby. Um so currently in Halton, um for a full-time worker earning minimum wage, they would need to spend significantly more than the affordable threshold of 30% of their income to afford even a one-bedroom apartment. Um, this is especially acute for those who are not working or on social assistance, our seniors and older adults. Um, a lot of our neighbors that are already here in our neighborhoods, um, but they're couch surfing, they're living in their cars, they're accessing shelter, um, and they're not living in a permanent home. In my time walking alongside folks with lived experience with homelessness, um the one thing I've really come to appreciate is um how resilient people are as individuals, but they shouldn't have to be. Um and that also resilience is a community matter. Um it really involves all of us. It involves all of us making space for each other um to also live the a good life. Um, and over time, homelessness has really changed. It's it's gone from, um, something much less public, uh, much less pervasive to impacting folks that, you know, working families even, um, older adults. Um, and when people experience homelessness, it's inherently traumatic. Um, a development like this is one major way to interrupt that downward spiral. And so um earlier again Dr. Cummings had mentioned um the the impact to our communities longer term um the impact on uh on services um the way that people give back to their community when they become a part of it. These are all things that we we really have to consider and we often say that it takes a village to raise a child. Um, tonight or more broadly, we have the opportunity to decide what kind of village we are. One that turns people away or one that makes room. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Um, thank you, sir. >> Mr. Clerk, the next delegation, >> Nazim Lashi. Good evening uh your worship and honorable counselors. Um I'm one of the objectors too unfortunately. Um and I represent uh Community Living Oakville tonight and um unfortunately our executive director couldn't be here, Alexander Hoek Murray. So I will share a few points as to why we're endorsing the idea of Post Residence Inc. Um today I had the opportunity to actually sit in a town hall and see a number of concerned residents for um various reasons and I do recognize that you know we're talking about traffic, we're talking about uh affordability, we're talking about safety um and a gentleman um had mentioned Maslo Maslo's hierarchy of needs which at the bottom of that basis was a phys physiological need and shelter. So, I was thinking he was going in the direction of um something like this would warrant uh or be warranted in Oakville. Um yeah, it kind of got flipped upside down and and it is what it is. So, I'm here to continue to endorse this idea because it's almost like an angelic partnership. We've been in Oakville for 70 years operating group homes and independent group homes. And up to this day, some people still don't know about Community Living Oakville. Um, we've had our office on uh um 310 Yraftoft, 240 Yraftoft. We have an an office as well where we employ people who experience disability. We have employment programs for pe people who experience disability. We have um different community connection programs which are kind of like a day services for people and elders uh that experience disability as well. and we have 18 group homes that have supported people for over 70 years who experienced uh both mental and physical disability. Yet we've quietly trucked along. Um but we are recognizing that there is a crisis a crisis for sure for people who experience disability and housing and livable housing. So, this, as I said, is almost an angelic partnership that we couldn't even foresee coming, but we were lucky enough to be able uh to receive 20 20-ish units um in this building. And it's not just four walls for people. I want people to understand that it's safety, it's dignity, and it's belonging. It's a place where uh life happens for people, where people can rest, where people can grow and they can be amongst other residents in that building and not rely on just staff. They can rely on a neighbor. They can rely on a maybe a single mom that says, "Hey, I'll make you dinner tonight. Do you want to come over?" It's an entire ecosystem of a community that's going to support our most vulnerable people in society. Now, imagine if you never had that. And in some cases, we heard this gentleman here say that uh homelessness is on the rise. And we're faced with that crisis today. More than 53,000 53,000 individuals are currently waiting for services. Parents are aging. They're getting tired. Uh we're seeing a lot of um uh abandonment at the hospital because they can't take care of their loved one. What a place to be. I can't imagine even being in that. And as the director at uh CLLO Oakville, I've had the opportunities to try to support the situation and provide housing that is livable, habitable, and safe. This these people that we're supporting are not just numbers. They're not just chat GBT uh depictions. These are people. These are sons, daughters, neighbors, friends, and people who want to just belong, just a place to call home. But here's the hard truth. Housing in communities like Oakville has become increasingly out of reach. The people we support are often living on ODSP, which is the Ontario Disability Support Program income. They're trying to survive in a market that was never built with them in mind. But these are people that have lived in Oakville their entire life. Why should they be forced to go somewhere else? They're being priced out, pushed aside, and even sometimes left behind. And when you don't have stable housing, everything else begins to fall apart. Your health, your independence, and your sense of self. Can you imagine not having a place to go home tonight after we're done here? That's why this initiative, Post Residence, Inc., is not just another development project. It's hope. It's a response to a crisis that has gone on far too long. It's a commitment to building community where people with just developmental disabilities are not just accommodated, but they're valued. The proposed project at 6ine is more about is more than just about affordability. It's about creating a space where people can live with dignity, where supports are available, and where individuals can build meaningful lives. As I mentioned earlier, at Community Living Oakville, we see the impact of housing every single day. When someone has a safe and stable home, everything changes. Confidence grows, independence increases, people begin to participate more fully in their communities. Many of the people we've supported over the last 70 years have contributed right here in the Oakville community. whether they work at the local McDonald's or at the metro, they have um they have their self-citizenship and they thrive. So, let's be clear, this doesn't just benefit the indiv individuals who live there. It strengthens all of us because an inclusive community is a stronger community. A compassionate community is a better community. and a community that ensures its most vulnerable members have a place to call home. That is a community that truly understands what it means to care. Post Residence, Inc. represents that vision. It represents partnership. It represents action. And most importantly, it represents people. People who deserve the same opportunities as anyone else in this room. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Lashim. >> Um, Mr. Clerk. >> Malcolm French. >> Mr. French, welcome. Council looks forward to hearing from you. >> I'm not afraid of being yelled at. Yellow away. Um, I'm Canon Malcolm French. I'm the director of St. Simon Oakville. I'm also representing the Interfaith Council of Halton. Uh, and I've completely rewritten my remarks in light of the conversation so far. So there you go. The great military theorist von Clausvitz uh once observed that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. A plan is absolutely essential but a plan must not be a straight jacket. Uh as a previous delegation noted, plans are based on ideals but decisions are made in the real world. And as councelor Omira noted earlier, almost every development that happens in town will require amendments to the official plan. This project has been reviewed by town staff. Uh dedicated professionals who have no political axe to grind. Staff who are in the best and most correct use of the word disinterested. These professionals have concluded that the project proposal as it's been adapted meets the town's goals in a way that is sustainable and appropriate. This project provides affordable and stable housing as well as social supports for residents and as we've heard for more than just residents. And we know from available research that investment in affordable housing results in reduced downstream costs in several areas including emergency healthcare, social services, and policing. Everyone agrees we need more affordable housing just so long as it's somewhere else. After a lot of work and partnership post residents developed a proposal after public consultation, they made adaptations to that proposal in response to concerns. The town's professional staff have examined that adopted adapted proposal and have recommended the proposal and the required changes to the official plan be approved. I have not heard anything this evening that persuades me the staff recommendation should be overturned. Thank you, >> Mr. French. Thank you very much. You weren't expecting monk clouds of vets, were you? >> Mr. Clerk, the next delegation. >> Um, Gar Brown. >> Mr. Brown, welcome. >> Council would like to hear from you now. >> Thank you, Mayor Burton. Councilors, it's a pleasure to be with you this evening. My name is G. Brown and I've been a resident of Oakville since 1999. I thank you for the opportunity this evening to address the vital need the supporting support of housing post residents will create. I may stand here alone but I have the pleasure and privilege of being part of the Halton faith network. Many are here in attendance today and many are joining every week. Um, we all realize and we all see the need for change and so we support the post residence proposal in part for the reasons I will share with you this evening. While Oakville is a beautiful community to reside in and continues to have a reputation for affluence, it also provides the largest concentration of social housing beds throughout Halton Region. Most of these homes are in the Glen Abe area right in my backyard. And I'm pleased to see the diversity of households served by our schools, community center, plazas, and health care system. Rather than touch on points other delegates delegates will and have elaborated on, I'll focus on three stories tonight. Stories about families who have been lifted out of poverty by the kind of homes post residents will create. More than just bricks and mortar, the residents will benefit from outreach and supports customized to ensure their best chance to move forward with their lives and brighter futures, not just for themselves, but also for their children and for their grandchildren. When you when we make the resolution to break the cycle of poverty with the proven supportive housing model Post Residence offers, we make conscious decisions that will benefit a family for generations to come and we truly create a livable Oakville for everyone. In 2013, I built my first legal secondary suite in a small Burlington bungalow. The two-bedroom basement apartment was created to support families in need. The first tenant to move into the unit was a woman and her daughter escaping an abusive relationship. When I handed them the keys, they had tears in their eyes and I had tears in mine. With safe, secure, and affordable housing, the benefit of a rent subsidy provided by Halton Region, and vital outreach supports, this is the key, outreach supports from a housing agency. Mom was quickly able to secure a full-time job at a company she still works at to this day. She and her daughter moved out within a year because she could afford market rent housing with her secure income. 13 years later, her daughter is now immersed in post-secary studies with an exciting career on the horizon. Supportive housing works. In 2014, when a family from the Mid East moved into the main floor of that same bungalow, they were expecting their second child. New to the country, they were very grateful for a secure roof over their head. His income, their only income, was dependent on extensive hours driving Uber. With guidance and customized support from a local agency, he studied to be a registered massage therapist. Fast forward to three months ago. I was at a medical clinic here on Spears Road for a scan. My name was called and as I walked out of the waiting room and down that hall, we all know that hall, the medical technician who greeted me was the same man that was driving Uber 13 years earlier. He had changed his life and the life of his family thanks to provision to the provision of safe, secure, and affordable supportive housing. He kindly shared photos of his family, including his daughter, born shortly after they had moved into our home back in 2013. The beautiful full circle experience wasn't lost on me. I had helped him over a decade ago, and now he was providing priceless help to me in that diagnosis clinic. Supportive housing works. When another family moved into our home, they were facing an uphill battle. Mom had been a family doctor back in the Mid East, but needed to study and pass several exams to meet and exceed Ontario Ontario standards. Having a safe, secure home with a rent subsidy and effective and compassionate outreach provided by a local agency allowed her to focus on her studies and pass exams one after the other after the other. It took her more than a year for her to reach her goal. In a year and a half, she was a family doctor practicing here in Canada. Supportive housing works. Three stories, three realities, three families needing our social system and today contributing to our social system. Since that first legal secondary suite, I've built several others here in Oakville, throughout Halton, and beyond. Most have provided homes for households on the region's Hatch housing wait list. And the resilience and creativity of the families I've had the privilege housing over the past decades is humbling. Their stories, their success are testimony to the unbridled potential of our community and our country. Please allow the innovative living model of post residence to thrive. The benefit to the community within the building and throughout our town will be resounding. This housing is only the beginning of initiatives required throughout Oakville to fill the significant deficit of supply of affordable homes here in our community. The vision of this model to serve single mothers and their children, families escaping abusive relationships, seniors, and other groups with agencies who support their progress on site provides a proven model to help these households build community in and outside of the property. and build their lives and futures. As a result, there will be opportunities for all of us to love our neighbors in new and meaningful ways. For these reasons, I respectfully urge council to approve the application and allow this important project to move forward. I thank you and I welcome your questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. Um, questions, council, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mayor. >> Mr. Clerk >> Jennifer Monte. >> Miss Monte, welcome. Council's ready to hear you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Counselors. My name is Jennifer Monty and I'm the president president of the Halton Particular Council of the Society of St. Vincent Paul. We've been in Canada for 180 years. So, we're old. Um, I live in Oakville in the Glenn Abbey neighborhood. Um it's an area with six-story buildings next to town houses and detached homes um at Doral and North Service Road and third line across from the Glen Abbey Rec Center. So we have these buildings as G had mentioned. Gridlock usually is not from these buildings. It's not from these buildings. It is coming from the GO station everyone heading home up to Dundas. I've been caught in it numerous times going cross ward. So in Oakville there are roughly 200 volunteers with St. Vincent Hall. We understand the importance of stable housing for our neighbors who are vulnerable. We visit with those who call us, anyone in need, in their homes, at our churches, on the street. We build relationships. We provide grocery assistance, whatever is needed. And we help navigate the supports available in the community. In 2025 alone, we helped over,300 people, 874 adults and 464 children in Oakville. We dispersed over 500,000 into the community. I'm here today to advocate for post residents because I believe in the right of each person to safe, affordable housing. to have a community hub designed around a complete model of support is the ideal solution. So, I'm going to tell a story or two as well. I met with a teenage girl and this is in Glenn Abbey, but these stories that I'm telling any of my volunteers could tell throughout Oakville. We hear this all the time. This particular girl, she's in teenage, she's a teenager and with her mother and her siblings, they'd been in a shelter for over a year. Her studies were continuously disrupted due to distance to the high school and tech issues. She was sent to live elsewhere apart from her family. Finally, the family was placed in a suitable home with a portable housing benefit making the rent more reasonable. She had stability and could get on with her high school studies. Her siblings, they love school. They were so thrilled. I've never seen little kids so excited to be in school. And the teenagers, they couldn't wait to start a part-time job. They had stability. They were no longer dealing with that trauma of what they had experienced and not knowing where they would live. This future for them was so positive. Too often um the members of St. Vincent Paul, we step into a situation of crisis, especially with our neighbors who are most vulnerable. often is a situation caused by a series of small mistakes and miscommunications as simple as lost mail and voice messages not received. The situation escalates until it's a full-blown crisis. Our neighbors get cut off of services to which they have the right to access. And that's just because they don't have enough minutes on their phone for the necessary phone call or they don't have the proper phone number or they don't know if they can trust the person who answers their call. I've walked away from visits with seniors crying crying in Oakville because no one in Oakville should live as these seniors are living. They're isolated and forgotten. Everyone has the best intentions and I know because I work with many people at Halton Region. I've called the town before. We're all doing our best. I believe that. But vulnerable persons are falling through the gaps in our social assistance network every day. The key piece missing is the p practical support a community hub can provide. Safe, affordable housing with a built-in community. When a vulnerable person knows who they can talk to and they're in that same building and it is their neighbor or they know when they go downstairs to that office they trust that person has their best interests in mind that changes everything with proposals such as post residence we speak about number of units I know the people who need these units they have faces they have stories their journeys are daunting We're being asked to be a bit uncomfortable with something coming into the community. These people live lives like you would not believe. I've walked into unsafe basement, those illegal basement apartments, into market rent homes that cost so much in this inflated market that there's no money for food or clothing. I've had conversations outside tents with women who are desperate for real walls and with women who need an escape plan. I've also had those conversations when the neighbor calls to say they have found a home. The relief and joy in their voice, it's real. We need to care for all persons in our community. Give them a safe, stable place that they can call home. post residences fits the need. For these reasons, I respectfully ask urge council to approve the application and allow this important project to move forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Monte. Um, thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. >> Karen Hicks, >> Miss Hicks, welcome. council looks forward to your information. >> Okay. Um I'd uh like to say hello to all the members of the council and I'd like to acknowledge the fact that in Oakville we need affordable housing. Hello, my name is Karen Hicks. I'm speaking here today on behalf of affordable housing for the unhoused and also on behalf of my special needs daughter Britney. For a special needs person, having affordable housing and a special community is important. Here she can be supported and she can um get help from other people in that community. I would just like to know that my daughter would after my day she would have she would have a chance for a a place that's affordable and that is safe and it's somewhere that she can call home. My next area of concern is for the vulnerable unhoused person. They need shelter out of the cold as we had a really extreme winter and also from the intense heat in the summer. And one thing for sure is if you do not have a fixed address, how can you possibly hold a job or have the ability to access basic human needs such as food, shelter, medical care and other services that we all take for granted. I'm sure there are people who who believe that the unhoused person should be in a shelter like the lighthouse or the women's shelter. But if there is no place available in those shelters, where is the unhoused person going to get help? And if you dial the 311 number after hours, you will not always be able to access immediate help. And you might also have trouble finding the unhoused person because they they have relocated some other place. So, um I just like to say that um that I really support this need for un for housing for for everyone to make everyone feel included in this beautiful city of Oakville that we are privileged to be a part of and it's part of our community and I'd like everyone to have a belong being there and to feel loved and cared by their neighbors. And thank you for listening to me to me today. >> Thank you, Miss Hicks. >> Mr. Clerk, >> Kathy Grevin. >> Miss Graven, >> welcome. Council looks forward to your information. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Mayor Burton and the councilors of Oakville. Uh, it's my pleasure to be here this evening. I'm uh representing the first of all the Halton Faith Network. I've uh about a year ago January, a group of us got together and we've extended an invitation to all of the faith communities in Halton to join us. And we started off with our first project being looking out for the unhoused and trying to find housing for everyone. So this evening I've been asked to bring a letter to you from uh Ron Shance who will um introduce himself in his letter. To Mayor Burton and members of Oakville Town Council, I am writing to express my strong support for the official plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment applications submitted by Post Residents, Inc. The project represents responsible planning and a meaningful investment in the well-being of families in our community. My support is informed by decades of del direct experience in community development and nonprofit housing. I founded KSM 1996 to 2008, co-founded Frontline Outreach 2009 to present and have served as executive director of Prince Charles Place, a private nonprofit housing community since 1994. Through these roles, I have seen the profound positive impact that stable, affordable housing has on individuals, families, and the broader community. It strengthens lives, reduces long-term costs to taxpayers, and creates pathways to independence, as we've been hearing in these wonderful stories. I also speak from more than 20 years of close partnership with Home Sweet Hope. As their current landlord and someone who has journeyied with the organization since its inception, I can attest to their integrity, professionalism, and transformative work. They have been an agent of change for many single mothers, most of whom are now thriving economically, socially, and relationally. Home Sweet Hope is a credit to this town, and their track record speaks for itself. Regarding concerns about building height, I believe this issue must be viewed in the context of today's urgent need for more housing, particularly supportive and affordable housing. The proposed height is modest and entirely reasonable given current planning re realities. In fact, just down the street at 1265, there is a sevenstory apartment building situated comfortably among single family dwellings. This demonstrates that the neighborhood already accommodates buildings of similar or greater scale without negative impact. The height proposed for this project is well within what is appropriate for the area and is essential to achieving the number of units required to meaningfully support home sweet hope families. In my experience, overseeing nonprofit housing, a building of this scale is both practical and necessary to ensure long-term sustainability and the ability to deliver stable and supportive housing. Traffic has also been raised as a concern. As someone who travels this section of road multiple times a day, weekday and weekend, morning, noon, and evening, I can confidently say that traffic is generally smooth and manageable. The only congestion occurs during school drop off and pickup times, which is expected given the adjacent school and unrelated to residential development. Additionally, the majority of Home Sweet Hope residents do not own vehicles, which further minimizes any potential traffic impact. This proposal aligns with Oakville's values of compassion, inclusion, and responsible development. It provides safe, stable housing for families working hard to build a better future. And it does so in a location with excellent access to schools, transit, and community supports. For these reasons, I respectfully urge council to approve the application and allow this important project to move forward. The benefits to the families served and to the town as a whole are substantial and lasting. Sincerely, Ron Sha. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Graven. Mr. Clerk, the next delegation, please. >> Dan Negriano. >> Mr. Welcome. Council looks forward to your information. Hello. Um, my name is Dan Negrano and I am here to speak in opposition to the project. Looks like there was a mix in the order how we can hear. I'm a bit um nervous. It's not my type. Um I do speak um oh I have it here. I do speak in front of people executive talking about IT risk and cyber attacks but looks like um his discussion hits close to home literally. um looking to the proposed the the new set of uh documents what um what I've been able to to look at um nothing change or nothing substantial change in this proposal the same six floors and the same number of affordable well units um affordable units I I cannot contest This um what um has been uh presented by other people here is there is no transition between this six-story building and the rest of the neighborhood. Uh which I have to Oh, okay. um which I have to um to acknowledge. Um there is um still non-compliance with the parking. I understand that some people um believe that residents will not have cars or not that many cars which I disagree with. We do not live in a bikable country or town. Um we are not in Amsterdam. Um, and I do believe as the time goes by there will be cars and I'm just wondering if they have u provision uh charger for the 103 spaces they are providing. Um, nonetheless there is uh less uh parking than the bylaw says it should be. uh and and also there is a um the type of parking are blended. So uh the total number of um 71 um parking sorry um total of 100 uh three provided um put them together with the visitors and daycare spaces and um office spacings and reduce the uh overall number of parking lots per parking spots per um per unit. Um now um six line is um um critical arterial for north south and links to to go station and to the city hall for that matter. Um and uh there is nothing in the presenting material that will consider the grow north of Dandas as we know they are building there uh a lot it's empty space it's supposed to be there um and um when it comes to traffic even if they um we we trust the study um I think there is still difference between the real world and whatever a study can can make. Um and I'm not going to to get into these numbers but uh no specialists will go um but uh I do believe we are already uh to a um um crowded to crowded roads uh looking um on six line and also Mccanei. Um there is no as as we noted there is no um enlargement of the roads. So we will still rely on the two two lanes one per per direction. Uh the the only thing that has um provided is a 10 seconds increase in the cycle uh of the the lights. um school traffic is there and is there to stay. We have school buses, we have people dropping kids and this will increase with um with the fact that there's going to be a daycare in there and potentially will accept children from other um for people living outside of the um of of that proposed building. uh moving forward or are we uh because looks like um six line at one point will become 401 parking lot uh because of the congestion. Um the the last point in in in this uh slide um I wanted to to say that um nobody discuss here about fire station. If we have a and And I do believe when the city has been uh designed they put fire stations along upper middle because it would be easier to go north and also south. If we block six line with traffic and there is an emergency it might be the difference between um life and and death at one point. Um so I am surprised that no nobody has um have noticed this or or have um of um you know mentioning it and there is Sheridan College. I know that um has been said that this is not a student um facility, a campus, but if I remember from the last meeting, uh there were some units designated for char charities, charitable for people with low income. But if I did the math correctly, um they will not sum up to 190, which tells me and the fact that there are a lot of single uh bedroom units tells me that it's easy to advertise it across the park to the students at the Sheridan. um even if it's recognized it or not um is quite possible that this will be um will will happen I don't know one year two years after um because there's discrepancy between the number of units and the fact that there is um um um the college is there and there is um there is big number of unaccounted units for unprovided. Now as I said I I do speak um different matters with different people and I know that usually 10 to 20% of the slides are the one that remain in the in the memory of the um audience and if I can guide your um your visual memory to this slide at 10% um which is pretty much whatever I covered here. Um and one more thing I um like someone else before changed the speech during uh during the meeting. um the fact that I was, you know, planted to have my speech uh uh outside of the the opposing part. Give me the the time to um to feel for you counselors because looking not looking listening to everybody else. I know I have one minute and a half. Um we are speaking some of us English, the other side French. Uh none of the opposing parts oppose the charity part. We were opposing the building is too tall is um high density which is not good for the for the community. The other side have been talking about the charity part which again none of us would be against against it and I feel for you because you have to take a decision to make a decision based on two different things and if I can um answer a question that I haven't been asked by or actually to Mr. Rome if I have to if he will ask me the question that he asked earlier what the mitigating factor sorry I'm speaking in IT terms what the mitigating factor would be here for this to be accepted or at least have a chance from the community I think is the answer will be cut the top three floors and this will have plenty of space for the charities and will not be uh you know um out of context building or out of out of the zoning building. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much Mr. Negrroni. >> Um Mr. Clerk, the next delegation, >> Andrew Hannerford and Oz Colonel Camill >> uh council and public. Uh these uh folks are from MHPC planning. They handled the file. So councelor Giddings I call that I I mentioned them to you earlier with for your question. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor. >> Let let they have a presentation first. >> Thank you. >> We'll get there. We'll get there eventually. Um welcome, sir. We look forward to your information. >> Thank you. Uh good evening, mayor, members of council. U my name is Andrew Hannerford. I'm an associate with MHBC planning. I'm here this evening on behalf of our client Post Residences Incorporated for their property at 14936 Line. I'm joined this evening by Oz Kamal, partner with MHPC Planning and the owner, Blake Hampton Davies, who's also president in the audience tonight. We're very pleased to be here tonight um to support the recommendation that your staff have brought before you for approval of this application. This project proposes a six-story 190 unit fully affordable rental development in the town of Oakville. As you know, and I don't have to tell you this, it's a critical project for the town of Oakville. It addresses a significant and urgent need for affordable housing supply. This development is the result of strong partnerships with several community organizations, some of whom you've heard from earlier tonight. We'd also like to specifically thank town staff for all of the collaboration and diligence that they have put into helping us bring this application forward to you tonight. This isn't in my notes, but you've heard a lot of opposing viewpoints tonight. Um, I think it's important to recognize that those aren't divorced viewpoints that don't relate to each other, as may have been suggested. There's the land use planning side, which obviously I'm qualified to speak to, but the land use planning side has real impacts on the societal and social aspects that you've also heard from tonight. I think it's really important that we don't separate those, but that we recognize how one impacts the other when we're talking about what's before you, which is an official plan and a zoning bylaw amendment. That's what you're actually approving. And when we talk about planning, planning is planning for outcomes that you want to see. That's the where you want your community to go. And that's what town staff and previous councils and yourselves have worked quite hard on through the town's official plan. But recognizing that um the outcomes you want to achieve aren't always implemented by plans planned in the past. The outcome of this application is 190 units. Multiply that by however many live people live in each of those units. It's housing for those people. It's supports for those people. And it's a development which seeks to really bring the community together rather than, you know, pull it apart as maybe suggested. I'm here to answer any questions that you might have. So again, we're we're very pleased to be here tonight. Um there were some questions for the previous delegates that may not have been answered. So I'm happy to speak to those if you have any more. And uh yeah, we're available should you have any questions. Thank you. >> All right. Well, we have two counselors who were waiting been waiting for you. Councelor Elgar and then councelor Giddings and then councelor Omira. And I'll add more as I see the hands. Uh councelor Elgar. >> Yeah, thank you member Bergen. Thank you for coming. Uh you mentioned fully affordable. Okay. What is fully affordable? because it certainly seems to be a big spread between CHC and the province what they say it is. So is the CHC says up to $4,070 a month is fully affordable. The province says it's between $1317 to $2,379. What are we what are we charging here? >> Sure. And thank you for the question and through the mayor. So this application by fully affordable, what I meant was that all 190 units are affordable. And I think that's important because we do a lot of affordable housing projects across Ontario. This is the only one I've ever worked on where 100% of the units are affordable. It's rare and it's quite special. In terms of the actual affordability level, um you're correct. CHC defines uh affordable as someone not paying more than 30% of their housing costs towards renter housing. I think you you've raised the figure which changes every year. For this development, affordability will be set at the Ontario Affordable Housing Bulletin rates, which are updated every year, and secured at those rates for a period of 25 years. I don't have the exact rent for you today, but it it will be at the Ontario Affordable Housing Bulletin rates. >> And what happens after 25 years? Why is it only why isn't it two? Why is it 25 years? That's my question. >> It's a fair question. um and through the mayor. Um I think it's hard to plan for things past 25 years. There's a reason why most plans have a horizon of of 2015 in the planning world, for example. I don't think there's an intent to necessarily end affordability after a 25-y year period. It's just legally committing it to a period of 25 years so that you're confident that the approval that you're bringing forward isn't vanishing in the near future. I don't there's no intent to to end that after 25 years. just to ensure that you're protected so that no one comes back and says in 5 years from now, you know what, the math doesn't work. We can't do it affordable anymore. That that's not the intent here and and that won't happen. >> Now, when you said the Ontario affordability is every every year, what is it for this year? I know it won't be built this year, but what is it for this year? >> I apologize, councelor. I don't have that exact figure on me for you tonight, but I >> I'm sure staff will have it. So, no, I appreciate that cuz I just look at CHC in the province. So, I'd be interested to see what what Ontario says. So, I'm sure they'll have the answer when we get to that point. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming. >> You're welcome, counselor. Um, I I thought you were quoting the Ontario number and contrasting it for being lower than the CHC number a little earlier. Did I misunderstand? >> Burton, I was trying to, but maybe I'm wrong. And that's the reason the provinces arrange from 13 to 20 2379. So I thought I'm trying I this is what I just don't understand. So I appreciate it. >> I took your information to be true. I'm sure that >> um anyway uh we'll see if we'll see if if there's different information. Uh councelor Giddings. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor. I understand the 190 affordable including the 35 deeply affordable. What about accessible units? Uh how many of those? >> Thank you. And through the merit. Yes. So 30% of the units which is 57 units would be fully accessible units. So so wheelchair friendly accessible under the building code. Yeah. >> Good stuff. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> And councelor Omira. >> Thank you very much. just had a a question about the NHS designation and about the the sort of that that's important to the people not just in the community but to people who are going to live there and I'm just wondering if you can elaborate on what the plans are um for greenery and for green space on the property and and and how that might help benefit not just the community but the future residents are going to live there. >> Sure. And thank you for the question and through the mayor. Yeah. So, uh, staff alluded to this in their presentation, but to elaborate, um, so this site obviously has a large kind of wood lot at the at the back of it, which ties into the mccrainy valley trail system, connects everyone to Sheridan College and the various town features. Um, the site also had an existing residence on it at the front. Um, through the regional official plan when they prepared it, they do a desktop analysis to kind of in broad strokes paint natural heritage systems across all of Halton. Um through that they did identify our site our site as a regional natural heritage system. The amendment before you for the official plan amendment seeks to remove that from a portion of the site and make it residential high density. Um the intent behind that is to recognize that there are existing natural features on the rear of the site. And we have studied that through an environmental impact statement prepared by our consultant NRSI if I get the acronym correct. Um and so through that they did and this was reviewed by town staff as well as conservation Halton uh confirm the boundaries of those natural features and and what is to be protected. Um in addition to that there's a 10-meter buffer from those lands to ensure that there's no impact from the development um negatively on those protected natural lands. Um so the development will occur fully outside of that. Um those lands were to be protected um in perpetuity through easements. So they can't be developed. Um and ultimately it's just kind of protecting an existing asset um through the development which is tied into the trail system and is also a uh a benefit for residents of the development because it's part of the site. It becomes almost an amenity. Access to nature obviously is very important. Um and we are proposing um to tie into that existing trail system on the south side of our site which ties into the park system as well. Um so yeah, it's um we've planned purposely to take advantage of that while also protecting for the natural features. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor. Councelor Grant, >> thank you for confirming the 10 meter buffer. Um, I'll move on to the next one then. If uh if if parking demand does exceed, what's planned? What what steps can you take? >> Sure. Thank you. And to the mayor. Um, so yes, we are proposing a parking reduction for this development. If in the unlikely event that parking demand does exceed supply, I I'd say a few things. first that um as you've heard there will be multiple operators of of units within this building. Parking spaces are not tied to the units. They would be managed by each of those housing providers. So, it's not a guarantee that if you have housing in this um development that you will have a parking space. So, that helps to ensure that we're not providing units to those who require parking. For those people, it would be said that this isn't an appropriate development because there is not that parking supply to support your needs. Um, so I think it's a very unlikely scenario that we would see that over subscription of parking because it's being managed from the outset and there's everyone all of the partners are aware that there is limited parking on this site and that's also part of the appeal of this site. It it makes the units more affordable. Um, it serves a part of the market that does not need that those parking spaces. We've also worked um closely and extensively with town staff to um demonstrate that the rate that we are proposing is appropriate for this development. So, we surveyed a number of um similar um and I say similar in that there's an affordable component of those rental developments. Um none of those developments were 100% affordable such as this one. And in those proxy sites, we saw a demand of.33 to.37 spaces per unit, which is um bang on what we're proposing. And in the visitor parking rates, we surveyed 0.5.05 to 0.06 spaces per unit for visitors. We're at 0.1. So, we're actually exceeding the visitor parking of what we saw was the actual real surveyed demand in those developments. So, we are quite confident that we won't see a parking issue from this development. Um, and that's why it's been been brought for you today as as it's proposed. >> Great. And I probably know the answer to this, but it was a brand new fear brought to my attention today. Um, studentification. What um what would prevent students from trying to sublet one of these? >> Sure. Thank you and to the mayor. Um, I would imagine that the housing providers who work very hard to find housing for members in the community who need it would not be quick to sublet those units out to students. Um, if there are students with real housing need, I would imagine they would be eligible. Um, but no, this is not a student housing building. It's it's very purposeful to um address a real need in the community. >> Thank you, Councelor Grant. Councelor Hazard. >> Thank you, Mayor Burton. Um, thank you for doing such great research on the uh the traffic needs and the car needs. Um, it's all really helpful data. Um, is there any thought or discussion about car share? So, uh, you know, individuals, uh, lots of places don't need a car um, most of the time. Um, but they do periodically need a car. So, has there been any discussion with the the partners that are involved on potentially if if there was going to be an over uh demand for cars to implement car share? >> Thank you for the question. It's a good question and through the mayor. Um yes, we have discussed car share um with the the ownership group. Um it's something that I think will be explored a lot more a lot further through the site plan process to follow. we have purposely overprovided um visitor parking for this development. So there's definitely the opportunity for some of those visitors parking spaces to provide for a car share vehicle that could be used by any of the I mean the community at large ultimately but also the tenants. Um so absolutely it's something that we would look into and we have discussed. I don't have a firm commitment at at this stage that tends to be finalized kind of when the building is more real when the site plan and you know building permit stage but absolutely we're looking at it. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um the other question that that that I um I see that there was a environmental design uh from the Halton police done on the site. Are there additional security needs um uh required for the facility? Uh and have they been factored in? >> Thank you for the question. So yeah, um following the last council meeting, I believe councelor No actually brought up uh liazing with Halton Regional Police Service. So we did do that. We had a few meetings with them and I believe Halton Regional Police also met with town staff regarding this development. Um quite honestly I think the conversation went quite well with Halton Regional Police. Um we've incorporated a number of the elements that they were looking to see including glazing at the ground level. Um lighting adequate lighting around the site. Um the things that really just prevent dark corners, areas that aren't visible to to people. Um the Halton police also um mentioned that they liked that we were integrating with the trail system, the way we had positioned the building to to address the streets. So I think we're quite confident that we've access we've um implemented the recommendations of Halton Regional Police and I believe a lot of those matters are more like detailed site plan matters when you get into site lighting and those specifics. So we'll continue to do so through the site plan process. >> Thanks very much. >> Thank you counselor. Counselor No. I meant to take my hand down. Councelor Hazel asked my question. Thank you for asking the question. That's what I wanted to follow up on. >> All questions are good. Thank you, Councelor Chisum. >> Yes. Just a quick question with respect to um um disabled parking is one thing, but do we have any is there any within the plans of a circular uh point where where a wheelchair can get out of their van and roll in uh into the front entrance rather than in parking? because uh and sometimes I have a close friend who's quadriplegic and so it's impossible when they're parking to get through to get to the the front door. So uh consideration to have a drop off zone would be really really good. >> Thank you and through the mayor. That that's a great suggestion. Um we have looked at accessibility obviously with 57 accessible units that is important for this. I think we'll take that back through site plan to look at that specific scenario. Um, but I would say that we have looked at ensuring that the drive aisle is wide enough that a vehicle could stop at the main entrance and vehicles could still pass by so they're not obstructing traffic. We also worked very hard to make sure that the building accommodates um an accessible transit vehicle and turning around in the site so that those vehicles are not dropping off the street. They can drop off in the site. Um so we have looked at that and we'll continue to do so through site plan. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you, counselor. And uh thank you uh sir for uh the time you gave us. >> Thank you councelor >> uh council. Um uh I need a mover and seconder for this. Are there volunteers? Councelor Chisum and uh councelor null. And uh before uh councelor Elgar asks, I'm going to call for a recorded vote. Mr. Clerk, would you uh councelor Grant? Yes, you may. Uh, all you need is to let me know. >> Okay, >> so >> all right, you're up. >> Thanks. I uh I understand why many residents are uncomfortable with this proposal. It represents a meaningful change for the area, and I don't dismiss the concerns about traffic, parking, neighborhood character, environmental impacts, or the cumulative effect of growth along six line. I live within walking distance of this proposal. I could probably stand to walk a bit more. Uh, but I understand them. I spent considerable time looking at the reports, the submissions and technical analysis before coming to a decision and including listening to people tonight. In the end, I conclude this application meets the plan test required of council. The sites on Ontario road near transit, school, parks, commercial services, and Sheran College. It's within a corridor already experiencing intensification and six stories is significant but I believe the location can support it especially given the setbacks landscaping and other mitigation issues that'll be dealt with at site plan. What weighed heavily in my decision is nature of the proposal. It's not simply an apartment building as we've heard the proposal is 190 affordable care rental units. I mean it it's deeply affordable units, accessible units together with on-site child care and support services. The projects was developed in partnership with organizations that we all know and trust including Home Sweet Hope, Community Living Oakville, Halton Women's Place, and others who've worked very diligently with vulnerable residents and her families within our community. Um during this process though, one resident did approach me and warn about the kind of people who might live there. Um, more than anything else I heard during this process, that comment clarified what concerns me most. It reminded me that affordable housing conversations can sometimes stop being about the buildings, the traffic, setbacks, and policy and become about assumptions regarding the worth or character of the people who may come to one day call a place home. I cannot support that way of thinking. The future residents of this building are not strangers to our community. They're people who've already lived here, seniors, struggling families, people with disabilities, women leaving unsafe positions. It's residents working to find a better place for themselves in our community. And Oakville has never become a stronger place by pushing people further away. So, I believe there's value in creating this housing project into an integrated and stable community and not isolate them in some faroff place or or high density development. uh the building and the inclusion of child care services and on-site support is going to help create a more and stable environment and I believe enrich the surrounding community. That doesn't mean the surrounding resident concerns are invalid. They're not. The the project move forward. I I will cons continue to push for strong attention to the parking management, traffic impacts, and all the rest, tree replacement, everything as we go through the site plan process. I I know some may disagree with this position. I respect that. But after reviewing the full record, I believe that supporting this application is the responsible choice for the surrounding and broader community. >> Thank you, Councelor Grant. Um I um I I I have to praise the eloquence that with which you just spoke. Um, and uh, you said my heart. I I will have nothing extra to add. Thank you, Councelor Null. You're next. >> Thank you, worship. I also want to say ditto to everything that councelor Grant said, except maybe the he needs the walking thing. That's that's his own decision. Um, a couple things I wanted to say. First of all, just from a general principle of the of the principle that a complete community makes room for everybody. And going from that, um I want to thank everybody that spoke in favor of this uh uh proposal tonight. Like councelor Grant, I represent the area and I know that a number of our constituents are expressing concerns about that and and uh their their concerns are certainly ones we've heard. Uh I know there's been some mitigation to address some of those issues around crime prevention through environmental design and such. So we we we're very grateful for the fact that some of those issues were addressed. However, the reality is that in our society, a complete community makes room for everybody. We need to make the opportunity available for people who built this community to live in this community, to stay in this community. We need a place for our kids to be able to grow up and rent homes when they grow up and want to start their own lives. We need to be able to have communities that support people who are merely one or two life disasters away from homelessness or desperation. So on based of all on all those principles and the fact that this is something that is desperately needed in in in Oakville and not just this development, we need to duplicate this as much as we can across the board in small manageablesized chunks so that people can assimilate in the community and benefit from the collective experience, the collective value uh of the neighborhoods that these these homes are built in. Um, the second thing I want to say is thank you Blake Hampton Davies for uh investing and putting your money where your mouth is and putting your money where your heart is and uh uh showing that private investors and private industry and the free market can actually supportive and affordable housing. This is a trend that has to happen in order for us to get to break the back of this problem across the country. It's not the problem of government alone. It is all of us collectively, nonprofits, the the uh uh investors, uh everybody needs to take a piece of this and and actually put their their money where their heart is, their money where their mouth is. And Blake Hampton Davies, I I salute you for for doing this. And uh I am very much in favor of this proposal. I just wish I could have moved it. Thank you, Councelor Chisum. I'm just kidding. >> Uh you could perhaps bargain. Uh >> a point of order to your worship. Um, I I could relinquish that to councelor null if it's really in his uh best interest. >> Thank you. >> Your your offer is accepted. And um instead of seconding it, uh who's seconding it now? Councelor Grant. All right. Then are there other speakers? And if not, may I ask Councelor Elgar? >> Are are we going to be able to ask our questions to staff or have we already passed that point? Like I was waiting because you said I was first in the list, Mayor Burton. Did I miss something? >> Councelor, I I called you first for questions. >> I didn't I I sure didn't hear you. Hello. >> Oh, I >> I'm sorry. I apologize, but before we get to the vote, I I do have a few questions of staff. >> Councelor, >> I'm sorry. >> Counselor, go ahead. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. So, I'd like to say I first ran for council was elected in 2000 to ensure that as Oakville grew, we would have what we know now as a natural heritage system across Oakville for Halton region, which was the first in Ontario at the time. When I read today that we have whittleled away the natural heritage system, I need staff to tell me if we are president doing a precedent setting decision and also if going forward we it's not about this particular one. I know it's minimal. However, I'm concerned that this will be a precedent setting decision and I want to know if going forward we at the town can hire our own staff because we all know know the old saying is from years ago he who pays the piper calls the tune. So when you get into environmental assessments, if the town going forward can do something about making sure that in fact we do the independent studies because I really am concerned about that Piper calls it, you know, Piper pays the money calls the tune and this is probably just a small little widget. However, there's an awful lot in North Oakville that has not been developed yet and we have to do this correctly for the residents and for the wildlife. Like this is a huge issue and I don't want to see a concrete jungle. And I I honestly I'm just hoping that going forward that we at town staff can hire the person because I then know we have an independent ruling on what is environmental and what isn't. And I get a staff. I'm going to ask staff to start by explaining the difference between the North Oakville natural heritage system um and the uh natural heritage system that we subsequently created at the region with the uh and Hazny actually mentioned it in her presentation but perhaps she was too softspoken uh for you. Um, the region's natural heritage system basically has a policy that says the the boundaries of the natural heritage system are to be determined by the science on the ground when we get to that uh particular property. There there was there was no detailed study of the boundaries when we created that. If we could turn to the staff now to uh to flesh that out for you, I hope that'll be helpful to you. member, maybe you missed my real point of what I was trying to say. What I'm trying to say, I know all of that information you're talking about, but what I really want to know is if we as staff, I trust staff 100%. To hire an independent person to make sure what is ground truth. Okay, it's I I just don't like going forward that the developer hires the person. And maybe you missed the point about the piper who who pays the money calls the tune. That is my biggest concern going forward across Oakville, the north Oakville. >> All right. Well, then I think that's a question for the director. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Charles. >> Thank you, Mayor Burton, and through you to the counselor. Uh, the application as we received it included an environmental impact statement and that was reviewed by our environmental planners. So we have environmental planners on our staff within our department and that was reviewed by them and they had concurred with the findings uh that were made in in the EIS. For for reference when this site had originally been for lack of a better term mapped uh in as part of the 1984 plan the NHS did not go as far as six line. It actually went to about midway through the property, maybe two, a third of the way into the property. From there, the region had updated that that mapping uh when the regional plan was updated because of conformity requirements, the town's mapping, mimicked or copied what was done at the regional level. And that was then had to be reflecting our zoning. So to to the mayor's point, the work had not been done to identify the entirety of the site as being within the the NHS. It was what I will effectively call a mapping error at at the time. So that was clarified through the on the ground work that was done in the EIS. And again, we have reviewed that. We're comfortable with the findings. So going forward, m uh director Charles, is it possible that we could hire our own external consultant to assist our staff instead of using the developers in environmental person? Is that a possibility going forward for North Oakville? To your Mayor Burton, we always have the option, councelor, of getting additional assistance and expertise if it goes beyond the the scope of what staff's capacity is or is just simply there there's a workload issue. So we do have the ability to to do that. We have done that in the past. We are currently working through our RO review program as as as council is aware. One of the things that we do have to do is some more ground truthing on the NHS as well and that's for both north and south and that's looking at what was done at the regional level what's done at the local level noting of course that with the northeast secondary plan what was done through the work through Noxus through the north creeks of wershed study that was taken and ingrained right into the regional uh official plan and that continues to to be um a cornerstone of of the NHS system within the region. So, we will be going through a little bit more work over the next few months to have that available for council's review. >> Director, I I truly appreciate what you're doing because I do trust I've never seen a staff report where they've done it where there's been anything I I've ever questioned. So, if we could do that, I I truly appreciate it. Now, the other just for clarification on when I mentioned the $2,379 Bear Burton, it was the Canada Ontario housing benefit called the COV, which came up and said that's the program ceiling reference point. It's not a legal cap though. So, just for that 2379 from the province, it's it's a called COB. I anyway it it it's really interesting and I've learned a lot tonight about everybody's using the term but nobody knows what the number is and uh and I know we have a housing issue. This is I my whole night tonight was not about uh that whole issue. I agree with everybody what they said and uh it was my concern was basically the fact that uh it was NHS and oh just one question uh the picture we saw tonight of the whole property tre can we get confirmation that that is not that was a bit of an old picture perhaps >> anybody been able to do that and confirm >> yes councelor Hnney gave that confirmation again. >> I Well, I I missed I'm sorry. I I heard of a that that it certainly was a lot more than 51 trees on that picture. >> Has could you repeat your reassurance to the counselor that the picture's not accurate >> to you, Mr. Mayor, to the counselor? Um the picture that we saw on the screen earlier is not accurate. There has been trees um removed on the site. >> Would you say most of them? There's only 51 left. There was a few hundred trees on that property based on the picture everyone that watched the the council meeting tonight would have seen. Is that correct? >> That is correct. Most of them that are not located within the NHS and uh uh and the NHS would not be any trees will be removed from the NHS. >> Well, I I I thank you. I thank you very much for the information. I'm I'm sure everybody's sick of me talking, so I'll I'll shut up and vote. Thank you, >> counselor. Thank you for your contribution tonight. Um, seeing no other hands, I'm going to once again bravely ask the clerk to uh call the recorded vote. >> Thank you, Mayor. Councelor Rome. >> Yes. >> Councelor Mcnes. Councelor Mcnes. >> Oh, >> yes. >> Kids pick up everything. >> Dick. >> Yes. >> Councelor Chisum. Yes. Councelor Yes. >> Councelor Giddings. >> Yes. >> Councelor Elegar. >> Yes. >> Councelor Longo. >> Yes. >> Mayor Burton. >> Yes. >> Councelor Null. >> Yes. >> Councelor Grant. >> Yes. >> Councelor Adams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Nanda. >> Yes. >> Carries. Mayor. >> Uh, thank you everybody. Um, I now would turn our attention to item 8.2. Um 8.2 is our is a financial analysis that council has asked for on our interest in a community improvement plan. And I'm going to call on Sevel Bonel, the manager of Midtown Oakville and special programs to provide a presentation. Pardon? Uh council, I've I'm hearing request for a recess. We you've sat for three hours, so uh that's very reasonable. And uh we'll be back in 10 minutes. I'm calling council back to order and we're going to take up item 8.2, the financial analysis update of the community improvement plan idea. And I'd like to call on Selvon Kursel, the manager of Midtown Oakville and Special Programs to provide a presentation and answer your questions. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's uh lovely to be here. I know it's been a long night, so I'll try to go through these slides relatively quickly um and uh let you get home in a reasonable time. >> I would I would ask you not to do that. This is fairly important and I for one would benefit from being able to consider it carefully. So, so please don't worry about the hour. >> Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you. So I will go through um with starting with the staff recommendation provide a brief brief background uh give you a little bit of an overview of the preliminary financial analysis some key findings benefits of uh of the recommended CIP program types and then talk about next steps. So the recommendation for tonight is fairly simple. it's to receive the the financial analysis um and and the report uh dated April 21st uh per the request of council. Um just in terms of some background or of you know why we started talking about community improvement plans. You'll recall back in March of 2024 so two years ago um I presented to you the planning act tools to facilitate development of affordable housing. And in that um at that meeting with council, we talked about various tools including doing a community improvement plan and the direction was to investigate that further and report back. Um and so in September of 2025, we did bring forward the uh housing needs assessment which identified what are the housing needs of Oakville uh as well as the community improvement plan background and options report. And at that meeting, council asked that we do a bit of a deeper dive on the financial analysis in terms of potential programs that we could bring forward for council's consideration. So after some considerable um analysis that was done by our uh plan our consultants SHS who are here in the um in the audience and and we will also be able to answer your questions and some um meetings with our technical advisory committee. uh SHS updated that background and options report and included more information around the financial analysis to the extent that they can without necessarily delving into the nitty-gritty of what the community improvement plan program would actually be. And so here we are tonight to to present that information to you for your consideration. So, you'll recall from September of 2025, we presented to you the housing needs assessment and we identified four key housing gaps um which are that we need more affordable housing. We need more rental housing. We need to diversify our housing stock and we need to provide housing for priority households uh like the group that we just um heard from in item 8.1. And we identified that a community improvement plan could be used to uh could be leveraged to create those or to to bridge that gap. Um, we could use the community improvement plan to provide for more affordable housing to incent intent, excuse me, incentivize purpose-built rent rental housing as well as um larger unit housing and additional residential units and also to support um the provision of suitable housing for priority households. And so we did a bit more of a deeper dive without necessarily getting into the nitty-gritty financial analysis. We did it at a higher level and we looked at potentially 24 program types and then tried to narrow that down so that we weren't, you know, um, spending a lot of time and money and effort into doing the the more detailed financial analysis. And so that's sort of identified in in appendix B of the report, the the 24 options. and then using qualitative analysis to determine what would be a more appropriate uh consideration for the deeper dive financial. that deeper dive financial analysis um is a starting point and with the um if the next step in terms of these CIP programs is to to develop um the program types which would get into some much more uh details around what would be the financial commitment of of the town what would be the eligibility requirements for someone who's seeking to benefit from the CIP how long would this CIP P plan be in place, what would be the funding source? So, those are all questions that we will not be answering tonight, but it would be part of developing an actual CIP program. But what we did find was some uh types of programs that we think would have legs and could provide could address some of those housing gaps I mentioned. So in the uh report that was prepared by SHS and along with the information that's provided in the staff report there are some uh findings that I think are quite interesting and and uh very kind of timely um at right now. And so one of the key things that we found was that the resale um values for housing has gone down since the peak of 2022. So housing prices are coming down. So I guess that means some of those programs that we have in place that the province and and and federal government is beginning to um seek, you know, gets um achieving some of those goals. We are also seeing um that housing vacancy rates have increased. We actually hire over 3% which is hasn't happened in decades. Um, we also have learned that the CMHC purpose-built rental housing programs are necessary for rental housing construction. There is not a wave of moving forward with a rental housing project that wouldn't benefit from this CMHC um programs. We've learned that most new rental housing would be affordable to moderate income outfill households. And I do have a slide in the appendex of the report that talks about that moderate income in case you want to be reminded of it um who who that is. But that's the within the 40th and 60th um percentile group. Um and we've also found that uh the creation of additional residential units is facilitated by the CMHC, the building code and the availability of construction trades people right now. Um on the other side, we've we've learned that the proportion of financial assistance that is needed to support rental housing becomes significantly higher as buildings increase in size and units. that the proportion of financial assistance needed to support rental housing is much higher for the concrete construction versus uh wood construction buildings. And we found that the upfront capital grants in the order of 20 to 40% of the project costs are needed to support new purpose-built rental housing even with the CMHC loans and the town fee and development charge exemptions, deferrals, and discounts. So the bottom line is purpose-built rental housing is tough to build. So kudos to the um the proponents that we heard from today that they were able to make it work and what we would like to do through CIP is assist others in doing in being able to do uh the same. So through that financial analysis that was done by the consultants we did narrow down program types. So, one of the program types we would like to uh develop a plan for is for additional residential units. And this would be an incentive that's geared to homeowners. Um, and it would be through a capital grant. And if we were able to create more additional residential units, though, it would address uh the four gaps that we've identified um as a um as the the housing gaps that we have in Oakville. We also would like to develop a CIP program that's geared to not for-profit affordable rental. Um, and this would be to to those non-for-profit organizations that would be managing the units. Um, and what we're supporting is a forgivable loan. And we really want to leverage the that um and and you've probably seen that there a similar program is is being proposed at a at a larger scale. But the idea is um if there are developments that are close to being able to get the financing finance the um pre um pre pre-construction purchases but maybe haven't got enough to get the 70 or 80% to be able to um get the mortgages to to be able to build those units. If we can help a nonforprofit purchase some of those units, then the development will become viable and they can move forward and we also secure units for um the those not for-p profofit organizations. So, it's it's helping them to help the larger developers while also providing affordable units. Alternatively, it could be that we can help those non-forprofits purchase units that are already uh like resale units that are sitting vacant right now. So that's the idea and and with that in place um you know they could be they would buy several units within a building um and be able to provide them for for for those priority households and it could be fairly quickly uh especially if they're doing resale units. And then the third program is uh geared for purpose-built rental and this will be to developers who are uh interested in doing purpose-built rental and we do see right now there is an interest moving away from the condominium to purpose-built rental and this would be assisting them as well. Um and that would be through a tax increment equivalent grant. So that would be uh post construction and it would be based on um a reduction in the property taxes that they would be required to pay uh once the building is occupied. The so when we looked at the if you recall back in 2025 in September we identified a list of criteria in terms of how these programs would be evaluated. And so this table basically is the um just the quick list of what are those uh target what are those criteria and how do these three different programs meet those criteria and as you'll see they all three of those programs would address um the housing gaps that are identified. Um we have some preliminary costing associated with the with these programs. So you'll see if we the additional residential units uh it could be anywhere between 10 to $55,000 uh sorry $10,000 to $55,000 um for each additional residential unit that's uh constructed. In terms of the non-for-profit affordable housing, we're looking at about um these forgivable loans for about 20% of the uh the cost of the unit to assist the nonforprofits in being able to purchase those units. And in terms of the purpose-built rental tax increment equivalent grant, it would be a percentage of that annual property tax, but we haven't landed on that. And um in the report you'll see that what actually is needed and what we could potentially provide is not necessarily lining up because what they actually need is more than what the property tax would be that they would be paying. But perhaps when we use these programs and and we stack them with other programs, this would assist in getting those new purpose-built rental units in place. Um in all three cases uh the you these programs can be stackable with other programs that are being offered by the town, province and the um region and federal governments. Um we think that they all um from an administrative perspective can be done fairly e uh simply and straightforward. um the finan total financial viability both for the town and the proponent is still something we're going to need to do further dive into but at a preliminary level we think again these three programs have legs um and then they they can be implemented anywhere in the town so obviously with the additional residential units it's wherever we provide for groriented housing um the non-for-profit affordable can happen anywhere in the town and then the purpose-built rental would be geared to multi-residential apartment buildings. So, wherever those are permitted, the CIP would uh could apply. So in terms of next steps, what we'd like to do is again develop the program, start to establish what are the goals and objectives of the plan, what are the eligibility requirements, the funding amount caps, the program um and plan duration and some of the administrative aspects of developing the plan and then go out and consult um on the proposed uh or the draft plan. um we would have a statutory public meeting about it. We would host focus group meetings um to just make sure that we're we're hitting that sweet spot in terms of uh what what is a potential um maximum grant that could be provided. Uh and then we would finalize the CIP and bring it back to council for approval. And we think that by providing a CIP to that supports affordable housing, you are going to get spin-off benefits including, you know, that the social impact that it has. But when you when you house people um and in in in in a form that is appropriate uh for their needs. Um it is also in uh helps with an investment and traction because employers are looking to make sure that if they invest in uh in their business that the uh people that work for them are going to be able to live close to home. So it's it's also um an a way of uh investment attraction as well as that social impact that we're looking for. And I believe that's the end of my presentation and I'm welcome any questions. >> Well, you have some and we'll start with councelor Elgar. >> Uh Mayor Burton through you. I'd like to uh I'd like to thank staff for this report because I think when it came before us before I think it just kind of blow right through. Everybody was good with it. And this time I really looked into because of course when I I'm starting to really dig into this affordable housing thing. But but I guess I just when I look at it I'm thinking as I dug into this I dug into a little bit deeper and I'm only going to go through a few questions tonight but I got a I was had about 20 pages of written stuff here. But when I look at it this is what the region and the province in my mind were responsible for. So here we are as a little local town taking on the responsibilities. It's like downloading in my opinion of what we are trying to do for the good of the community. And I agree with you. The basement unit suites 10 to 55,000. You know, you read that from what I'm reading that is everywhere throughout all of Oakville. Now, think about it. How that would work if everybody in the street put in a $55,000 basement unit and the people move in and you've got cars parked, lawns, I don't know where all they'd park their infrastructure. There's all kinds of issues I have. Um, so I just I scribble down just a few of them here. Now, the real thing is the if the when the music stops, if the funding stops, is the town liable? Because I got to tell you that's what see nothing is guaranteed anymore with the federal government CHC or anything. And I just wondered where is the town on that and then you start reading about the giveaways the tie g tie gs the the taxi incremental equivalent grants. Oh then you got the DC exemptions. Then you got the parkland reductions. Okay. So, who's picking up who's picking up the cost? I'm elected to represent the constituents of Oakville, and I'm thinking it could be on them. So, if the CIP, if it collapses, who's on the hook? Um, what's the definition? Okay, I'm going to come back. What's the definition of affordable? I'm not sure. I'd love to know what is the maximum annual and total exposure the town is could be exposed to and I I heard you say that you don't have that yet and I appreciate that and and the CHC and the federal funding changes. Um I'm I'm just I don't know whether this is really ready for prime time. I I do think I'm only one, but I'm wondering whether we should kind of refer this back and at least have a workshop or something with all counselors so we understand it better because when I went through the report and it was one of the best excellent report you wrote, but it sure opened up gaping holes and I don't know whether you agree but to me the holes are huge and the impact on the current taxpayers or future taxpayers of Oakville could be huge because there's nowhere where I know what this real exposure could be doing this, especially since it should be the province and it should and it should be the region. So, those are my that's my rant at this time of night. I I realize it's late for everybody. You probably don't want to hear me talk, but anyway. So, you can answer later or get back to me. But I absolutely I really feel we this should go back for a little more work. So we understand as all counselors good it's good time it's election year to see where we stand on things like this. So thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you counselor. >> I don't know whether you can answer the questions or not. >> Thank you counselor for your contribution councelor Mcnes. >> Thank you through your worship. Uh try to be a little more positive than councelor Elgar there. I uh I think this is great work and I think um many municipalities are doing work like this already uh with the ARUS additional residential units. Um I believe I've seen this already happening in Burlington. Is that correct? Among a number of other ones, but here in Halton um do you know if Burlington is doing a subsidy or rebate for uh ADUs or ARUS? >> Yes, counselor. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I I have seen that. And then on the not for-profit affordable rental, I mean, we just saw a presentation on it. Um seemed like we're all in favor of it. I think there's a role that a municipality can play if we're going to get serious about um affordable housing. Um I guess my question related to that is uh would that project could that project benefit from this? I mean, maybe the timing is off, but is is that conceivable that a project like this or that was previously talked about could benefit from the not for-profit affordable rental category that you've outlined? >> The project we just approved has told us that they have all that they need. So, >> okay. But conceivably going forward, I guess it could it could encourage more pro uh projects like that. >> Undoubtedly. >> Okay, great. And then the only one I just have a few questions on the purposebuilt rental. Um I mean my understanding is that's predominantly what's being built right now as opposed to condominiums. Um that CMHC and the federal government got heavily involved about 15 or 20 years ago to to boost up that sector. Um is there feeling that the purpose built and I take it that's market rates as well. Could you confirm that? >> Uh yes I can. Okay. Um maybe just to staff it is that sort of the highest need category because to me it seems like there are actually now a lot being built and my understanding is that um it's largely to do to the loan guarantees through CHC. Um I'm just curious if if a little bit of a tax advantage is really what's holding them back or does it seem like we're starting to see an abundance? Councelor, before Sabel answers, I'll remind you that you have active applications from a corporation for uh I've lost track of the number of towers of purpose-built rental in uh on South Service Road in in Midtown. >> Yeah. I mean, we have some being built in our community right now. That's all that's being built really is is the purpose-built rentals. So, um seems to be what what the feds have done is working. Um >> could I just ask Janet is it 14 towers now there? >> It is 14. Um the first two or three that they're going to put in for sure would be purposeuilt rental and then after there's you know there's a reassessment of that. >> Okay. Yes. Thank you. >> And and the only critique I hear of those is they're exempt from any kind of rent control uh since I think 2008 or so. So, I imagine there there isn't anything conceivably that a municipality could do about that. Is that correct? >> All I know is that uh uh they've indicated that they're uh going to be going to CHC and as I understood it, CMHC has a requirement for a percentage of the units to be uh at the affordable level specified by CHC. >> Okay. And that's the Midtown project you're talking about, right? Uh >> that's the 14 tower I'm talking about. >> Okay. Okay. So overall my feedback I think this is great. Category one with ARU makes a lot of sense to me. The not for profofit affordable rental makes sense to me. Only questions I have is around the purposebuilt rental if there is actually need for the municipality to intervene. Seeing we're seeing so many applications um right now and it it seems like demand is is is being fulfilled. Um so thank thanks again for the presentation. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Romero. >> Uh, thank you very much. Um, I'm wondering if you can tell me since the province mandated three units as of right, how many ARUs have been issued or or or where we're at with ARUS? >> Uh, through Mayor, I don't actually have the number, but I have what we have noticed though is there's been a decline in the ARU applications. Um and there was some uh speculation that that might have been due to some changes to the building code. Uh but we are seeing that for um existing residential there's uh the building code requirements are not as challenging. So there is an opportunity for uh some of those existing houses to be able to create the the area. Um and this kind of an incentive would assist with maybe someone's on the not quite sure they want to um make that investment with this they may that might be the the edge that they need to to make the that decision to do so. >> Okay. Okay, cuz I I seem to remember a conversation around this council table a couple of years ago when we were talking about four units as of right and we were talking about well we already have three units as of right so it's not going to make much of a difference and at that point it was almost non-existent in the town. Um but at that point we were being offered by the federal government many millions of dollars to go ahead with programs to figure out how to do this. So, what I'm reading from our financial comments here is that should council adopt an affordable housing community improvement plan to bring more of this up, there would be financial implications related to the program as well as as its administration. Um, have we not already made this decision when we turned down the four units as of right and and the the federal government was willing to pay for the administration and do a lot of this background work that we said no to? Is it like what are we redoing a decision that we kind of already made a couple of years ago in terms of trying to facilitate how we get arus built and how we do these types of things >> through you mayor. So this CIP it would still be in the under the per permission for the three units. We're not talking about a fourth unit. We're just helping someone to make that investment to to do that conversion and create the unit. >> Sure. So, I guess my question really is is we didn't when we when we had this discussion on three units a few years ago, we didn't have any uptake. We're having this discussion on three units because we still don't have any uptake and and now we're going to throw town resources at this or taxpayer resources at this to try and get three unit uptake. Um, but we we we seem to have turned down federal money um to to try and do some sort of uptake here. So, so now the taxpayers of Oakville are going to be taking the ball on this to try and and front encouraging people to get extra units because it hasn't worked. Nothing that we've done has really had extra units. So, I'm just I'm wondering what we what is the cost going to be with the program? And I know you say if we decide to move ahead, there's going to be costs, but do you know what those costs are going to be? Or is there a scale or a scope of what we're looking at? So through you, mayor, the when we develop the the actual CIP program with eligibility requirements and um uh the duration and things like that, we would also establish a maximum a cap on what the grant would be on a perunit basis, but we can also establish a cap on what the grant would be on an annual basis. So, if council said, you know, we are willing to um put set aside x amount of dollars to implement the community improvement plan, go ahead and approve develop, you know, approve applications so long as you don't exceed that cap. Um, so we would always have an overall cap on how much we could spend annually. If we didn't spend that annual amount, we could bring it over like move it up to the following year and then add to it so that we're always um h setting aside those dollars to support the the provision of affordable housing. >> And just to be clear, that cap that money comes from our tax base or does it come from development? Where is that money coming from? >> So there there are a number of funding sources. uh tax base is probably the simplest uh source. Um there are government grants. Uh they're not as lucrative as what we might have had through um through other programs. Um as well, we can have a a specific levy. So there's there's a there's a different options. Our CBC charge could also be used to support it. So those are pieces that will will need to um further investigate once we've done a better uh job of designing the program. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, counselor. Councelor Hlet, >> thank you through you, Mayor Burton. Um thank you for the report. Um, I'm uh I'm curious how this program integrates with the regional housing strategy and how the subsidies that they are and the investment they're making which we end up contributing 43% of every dollar towards h how do you see this integrating with that strategy which is $196 million over the next 10 through you mayor. Uh the households that we would be um focusing on are those moderate households. So the the regional programs are geared to lowincome housing. So 40th and below. We would be gearing to that 40th to 60th percentile. And so what when we are able to provide housing for that income group, it takes pressure off the region the the lower income um you know that that household group relying on what's meant for the lower income households. Um and it also is filling the gap that we're not getting through just your regular market housing. So that's where the this CIP program is filling um a gap in terms of our overall housing need but also terms of a gap between what we can hope to get through our market housing and what we can get through the regional housing service manager. >> Okay. So thank thank you for a little bit more clarity on that. What is the moderate income? I mean we're talking 40th to 60th. Yeah. Can you give me the number >> in terms of >> what is the income level that the this type of housing would uh be applicable to? >> So this would be households ranging between 60 and $150,000. >> Okay. So are we aiming to to is is it really a program for the missing middle? >> It's a program for middle inome families or households. >> Okay. But we we in the criteria and the assessment to be clear we are not uh trying to duplicate or mirror the priority housing that the region takes the leadership role on >> through you mayor correct that we're we're trying to fill a gap. >> Okay. Um uh so in terms of understanding what they spend or what they contribute so to uh create housing. So they're about to create over the next 10 years 450 uh you know new homes. Um some will be supportive, some won't. And then within that scope, they're also trying to get an 1350 new assisted. Um, do we have any analysis about what the cost per unit is when they go to do that work so that we can benchmark our a potential program? We're gonna have >> I I think each each through you mayor each project is going to be different. The circumstances are different. It's not it's not going to be an apples to apples process. So we would develop a program, consult with the community on um are these uh incentives sufficient to assist in uh achieving our goals. Uh and then the those who are eligible will do their own pro-forma work to determine if that grant's going to help them to be able to deliver on the the type of housing that we're asking them to provide. But some of the work that we're finding through through that original analysis was um the the most successful are probably going to be our low and mid-rise wood construction smaller buildings. um that's probably where we'll see the best um uh what's the word link like where where our needs and their needs can be satisfied. >> Okay. Um so I I'm just going to build a little bit off what councelor McNiss was asking about when he said is Burlington doing this? Do we know what the other other um uh towns in in the Halton region are doing in regards to this? Do we have their specific programs? And do we know how many uh homes that it has generated at what cost? I saw Ottawa in the report. I saw a couple others, but I didn't I wasn't clear if we had um Halton region uh comparables. Yeah, actually I believe I thought I have it in my report. I'm just not putting my finger on it. All three municipalities have um a CIP program. Uh the Burlington one is brand new, so I don't believe that they've yet issued any um uh program like uh successful applicants. Um and in the the planning act tools to facilitate affordable housing, there is um all examples of many municipalities that are doing these programs. A lot of them are fairly new. So their success rate is difficult to determine. Uh but I do know that uh pro like the funding is being granted. There is uptake in these programs. Um, and we do know we're in a bit of a challenging time. And so what what's interesting about these three programs is that they are programs that can actually bring in new units in a very short period of time. Um, they don't require uh um many multiple years in terms of going through a planning process to be able and then construction to actually yield units. >> Okay. Um uh if if we when we get the the the next steps, if we could include uh Burlington and and Halton Hills and and Milton in the analysis, that'd be great. And if we we know what the uptake is, that would be even even better. Um I'm just I'm I'm curious if you've had a conversation with Rose Corp on their proforma and how their proform works um uh for purpose-built rental >> through you Mary. Yes, we have spoken with them and uh we've t discussed uh you know all the different ways in which we can assist with um you know any kind of rental development and you know, clearly their assistance is is needed is what we've learned through that process. >> Okay. Um I would like to agree with councelor Algar that um I think a workshop on this is probably a better format um when we get to us to a full um uh program that you want to want us to dive deep into it. It the programs what you've have in the report is excellent. there's an incredible amount of detail to absorb. Um we're not all professors. Um and um having it in a workshop format might allow us to sort of work through some of the numbers more because understanding what like we we don't even see in this report what the hit on the taxpayer could be and and the cap of that and I know that's to be determined but that's where the rubber hits the road. Um, and so, uh, understanding that more and having a more, uh, an opportunity to dig into it a little more, I I certainly would appreciate. >> Thank you, councelor. Um, councel, uh, we have another item after this and I can see that there's some uh, extensive interest in this topic. I I would like a motion to proceed past the hour. >> I don't want to pass the hour tonight. >> Councelor Null and Councelor Adams. Thank you. Is there any objection? Uh it's close but it carries. Um, so, um, I would like to, um, uh, I would like to tell council that I've been listening to the comments and, uh, clerk and I are are about to circulate to you a replacement motion that builds on the receive the report. And, uh, I've tried to capture the need for workshop. I think two is rather than one as you'll see when when you get it. And um and then I I think we also need a report on possible roles for the Halton Housing Services Manager in any CIP. And given that our our sister cities at the lower tier of Halton have them as well, there's an opportunity for us to collaborate and cooperate uh across our our local borders and uh and even an argument for the Halton Housing Services Manager uh to participate in the name of efficiency so that we don't do three version you know wherever we can we can save having a triple resource by having one and u it's about to go and in the meantime uh we can add to that if if more ideas come up councelor Adams thanks I support uh the draft that you've just put forward um I would suggest that we maybe add um as part of two perhaps it's simply an understanding that we ask staff to uh provide detailed information about the total cost the cost per unit um the funing sources and the caps uh of funding for programs as part of that discussion specifically because I think that's something that a number of us have now asked about uh and it's a point of concern I think >> right and and the purpose of the way I drafted it as two workshops was for input before there's a draft CIP and then only when there is a draft CIP would I expect to have those kinds of numbers. So, if you want to add something, I would uh I think uh gilding the lily maybe, but I would add that the draft CIP includes the full costing recommendations because basically what Sabel just told us was uh pick your number and that can be your number. So, the first workshop is an opportunity to explore our appetite. The second workshop is then see a draft that has all of that reflected. So it's a little by little evolution to a draft CIP. I'm guided by the fact that uh the CIP was a unanimously uh encouraged development during the the last three years here. And so I assume that we we all still maintain a theoretical at least interest in the topic because we were certainly very keen for it when we were when we were driving staff down this road. Uh yes, I think the um it looks like a delicious chocolate cake, but I you know, we might not want to have to walk the uh 58,000 kilometers to, you know, work it off. >> Well, before we bake the cake, let's talk about the ingredients at the preliminary workshop and uh and maybe and and specify our appetite and then we won't have too far to walk >> and and now we all want delicious chocolate cake. >> All right. Anyway, the what I'm suggesting is a little by little approach rather than a kaboom. >> Yes. >> So I so I I agree with those who have spoken before about the issues around not knowing what the total cost is and I appreciate we don't get to know what the total cost is until we actually kind of draft a plan. Um so we have that issue but we also don't really have information about what a the cost per real new unit is. you know, if we create an incentive plan, does it really create a new unit or is that a unit that would have been built? >> So, let's just I think we can agree to add to the end of number two with costing. >> Yes. And and I would be okay with that generalization of using a single word to try and capture all of these >> good issues. All right. So, um uh so there you go. Uh, now we have speakers and uh and we've gone all night. Councelor Elgar, >> I wait I think I was I not on the >> Yes, you're on the floor. I took you to be done, but >> Oh, okay. Carry on. >> So, I I just wanted to say I think in some ways it's very similar to um some other programs. I think of the heritage grant program where we have a specific amount of money that we put in each year. People apply for it under the basis of the application process. Sometimes we have an over subscription. Maybe in other years we we maybe didn't give away all the money and so it goes into the pool for the next year. That kind of thing. Uh similarly, I could imagine this being the case where we might have funding sources and I would hope that it's not just property taxes. I'm I'm hoping that there are other sources that would be the the prime sources of funding, not property taxes. Uh and and we would have to have some kind of cap uh and maybe a process by which an would get in line for an incentive payment. Um, and only until um, you know, they got to the top of the list would they actually get to achieve that. Uh, so there's a bunch of things that I think need to be talked about and I do worry that our appetite is bigger than our willingness to actually pay for it. >> Well, let's hope our eyes are not bigger than our stomach. Uh, thank you, councelor, and uh, Councelor Elgger. Uh, Mayor Burton, I just want to say thank you very much. I I I like where we're going. I must say this report really was a great report, but it really start when I start digging into it, especially with what affordable housing is and who might be on the hook. I think we owe it to our tax our people paying the taxes in Oakville. So, thank you. I appreciate it. >> Oh, you're welcome. And we should all thank councelor Adams for reminding us of the heritage grant and uh because you know it's it sounds pretty similar. Councelor has a deal. >> Thank you, Mayor Burton. Um so I I'm I'm happy that we've got this in front of us and it's going to add in with costing. Um just for some perspective, 43% of the 196 million uh from the region, Oakville will already be contributing 84 4484 million towards uh the priority affordable housing. Um and and so where I was going was um and maybe number four gets there. It's not just the possible roles, but you know, how how do how do we collaborate together and how do you leverage their experience? So, for example, I've I've heard uh concerns about the cost per unit in some of of the affordable um housing that the Halton Region's provided, but some of that is supportive housing, which has different um physical needs. Um but there's a richness of experience there and um if M Burton if you think that the report on possible roles for the Halton Housing Services managers in a CIP will get us that level of detail. I'm really looking for also the magnitude of the overall investment. So not just thinking about uh Oakville but you know we are contributing um to to the Halton budget, >> right? the if there's a beauty to this, the beauty is the two-stage workshopping where we get to u volunteer what our appetite is and then because basically uh what I think we're looking at is an allowance uh just like Halton is I mean Halton is basically that's an allowance >> and you know that's the spending envelope. So maybe instead of an allowance I'll call it an envelope. So, at our first workshop, we'll be able to uh help staff figure out what our appetite for an envelope is on this. >> But thank you for clarifying that. So then do you mean in number two that they're going to do a public workshop uh for the public first or do you mean they're going to do a public we're going to do a council workshop followed by a public workshop even though we know people can watch us in a workshop? So public workshops, two public workshops for the public and council. We're we're able to exclude the public, but we're not required to, >> right? >> And so for the and that's why I specify that it's for the public and council input for a draft CIP and then for consideration of an eventual draft CIP. So there's an extra um meeting on top of the normal number of meetings for the draft CIP. >> Okay. So one last piece of clarification. Is it going to be council's input and then take it out to the public or is it going to be public input and then come back to council? >> Council and public together each time. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> So that we're all working together. in the Oakville spirit. Can I say councelor Chisum? >> Thank you, worship. This might be a premature uh question, but if I'm looking at at the at the program, and I think it's an excellent work that you've done, but there's a lot of moving parts with the financial end of it, how this is going to come out of the wash at the end. Is it safe to say if we don't have any partners or any grants or anything else coming in and it's solely on the tax base, is this doable? >> Councelor, that depends on how big an envelope that we decide to use. and uh and and the the plan we we're laid out here that I think we agree on is to little by little derive that number. So we're not committing to spending anything. We're not even committing to adopting a CIP. I hear you. But you we're going to put together a draft of of the financials uh in the next report. Then that's the bottom line's always about money. With all due respect, that's where it's going to go, >> right? So in the one public and council workshop, we plum what we explore what people's appetite is for how big of an envelope we want to have. Then as the staff go away and they bring back a draft CIP and they spell out everything, including the cost of the envelope that we said we wanted, etc. >> Okay? And even then, >> we still can cut bait. >> Okay, got it. >> So, we're going to explore together this topic and see how far we go. All right. Um, can we get a mover and secondary for this? Councelor Adams and Councelor Elgger, I saw hands. Any objection, Mr. Clerk? There being none, that's carried. Uh, council, I'd like to invite your attention to item 8.3. And I'd like to make a suggestion in respect of the desire of some of us not to stay all night. Um, I would suggest that we just vote to receive this report and that uh let's communicate uh afterwards and if there's a need for a U council session on any of it, I certainly can call that or include it in a uh future meeting of council. And if you like that idea, somebody move receipt. Councelor has the deal. Mayor Burton, well, I was one of the ones who put up my hand that I really am kind of tired tonight. Um, I do think the presentation's important. Um, I don't know how long it is. The magnitude of these changes is farreaching. I would appreciate their insights if they're prepared to give us the presentation. >> So, the presentation merely summarizes the reports that they they've given us. And so um if if I think about our past uh behavior in in the face of these things, our questions tend to what can we do and uh it may be that uh and and they may not be prepared for that because all they prepared was to tell you what's in them. So that's why I was suggesting that you might want to uh uh proceed as I suggested. But I'm I mean it's it's in council's hands. Uh and uh councelor has a deal. Can I move on to the next counselor? >> Councelor Adams. >> Thank you. I'll give you a motion to move the staff recommendation which is to not just receive it but to submit the comments to the postings respectively uh and to circulate the report to the various organizations and individuals. >> Can I get a second? >> I'd second that. Thank you, Council Chisum. Is there discussion of the motion? Um, is there any objection to the motion? Mr. Clerk, there's no objection that carries unanimously. Thank you everybody. Um, are there any requests for reports? Seeing none, how about a mover and secondary for consideration and reading of the bylaws? >> Sorry, your worship. We skipped new business if you don't mind. >> Um, is there any new business? I I just have a note of uh congratulations. Uh I had the um if you don't mind, I had the uh the privilege of attending the Tempest Coral Society's uh bianual concert on the weekend and a former teacher of mine 35 35 years ago. Uh Brian Turbull, who is the uh the music director is retiring after 27 years of leading uh of leading the uh the coral society. Um, and it is a great gift that he gave to this community of music and it will be well missed and uh and we would like to welcome uh Crystal Pinto who will be taking over the musical director uh role of the of the Tempest Coral Society and we want to wish her all the best and we and Bronny have had uh have had them sing at our our tree lighting for the past few years and they have been spectacular and uh and we just wish uh Mr. Turbull as I I know him fondly the best in uh in his next chapter of life. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, counselor. Uh Wendy and I enjoyed the u the evening performance and uh uh and because he told a funny joke that was clean and he complained about how hard how hard it is to come up with a clean joke. I thought that was funny. When he was your teacher, did he tell jokes in class? >> No. No. Not not to a bunch of uh of grade seveny old, but did he tell you the milk joke? Was that it? >> Yes. Well, it's the same one, but no, he will be fondly uh fondly regarded. So, thank you. >> A few times, I guess. >> All right. Thank you. Um, so I have a motion to for consideration of reading of the bylaws. >> You got two more. >> There's a couple of our hands up still. >> They're lining up. >> I beg your pardons, councelor null, thank you. I I just want to ask what the milk joke was. I'm just kidding. Uh I just wanted to um uh remind everybody about police day and correct my error last week. I had everybody going to police day on Mother's Day. So it's not on Mother's Day. So mothers relax. It's uh the police day will be held on Saturday, May 9th at police headquarters on North Service Road. It's going to be a great fun day of exhibits and activities for everybody of all ages. And I hope that you will join us. It takes place from 12 o'clock to 4 o'clock. It's uh some free family fun and get to learn more about your Halton Police Service and the wonderful work that they do for re residents of our community. >> Well, thank you. It's good to know that the police remembered their mothers. Councelor Chisum, >> I have an announcement. Uh Visit Oakville uh has awarded the conference to be in Oakville. The Ontario BAS conference will be at the Bronny Conference Center April 25th through to April 28th of 27. So that's exciting for the town of Oak to Town of Oakville to host this. So congratulations to Rebecca Edgar and her and her staff and to the board. Thank you. >> Congratulations to all of them. Thank you for that good news. So I still have a motion for consideration and reading of the bylaws. Mr. Clerk, you caught the mover and secondary already. And is there any objection? Mr. Clerk, the good news is there's no objection. The bylaws are considered read and passed. And uh that completes the work of this evening. Thank you everybody. It's been terrific working with you and I'm looking forward to the next chance to do it. Good night.