Community Update - July 2025

Midtown Official Plan Amendment (OPA 70): Where We Stand

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has posted Oakville’s Official Plan Amendment 70 (OPA 70) for public comment, with a deadline of June 29, 2025. This indicates that Ministry staff are recommending OPA 70 for approval by Minister Rob Flack. While this is good news, we should expect that certain developers and landowners may try to derail this progress by pushing for exemptions or opposing the plan altogether.

In response, We Love Oakville (WLO) submitted a formal letter to Minister Flack urging him to approve OPA 70 without delay or amendment. Our message is clear: the development of Midtown Oakville must move forward under one integrated, comprehensive plan that reflects both provincial goals and our community’s needs.

We argued that OPA 70 provides a smart, realistic vision for Midtown—balancing growth with the needs to address floodplain risk, traffic congestion, infrastructure limitations, and fragmented land ownership. OPA70 is the product of years of professional planning, community input, and Council deliberation. It’s not just a technical planning document—it’s Oakville’s blueprint for a livable future.

OPA 70 reflects our belief that Midtown must be developed as a complete, inclusive and livable community—not as a speculative cluster of investor-driven condo towers.

Mandating OPA 70 for all of Midtown is a clear win–win. It delivers the growth and intensification the Province requires while fully aligning with the objectives of the TOC program.”

The Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) Proposal: Where We Stand

WLO’s letter to Minister Flack also emphasizes that we are standing firmly against the Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) proposal from Infrastructure Ontario and its private developer. That proposal will apply a separate vision and set of planning parameters to a small portion of Midtown—ignoring the principles of OPA 70 and threatening to splinter Midtown into disconnected zones of hyper-density.

Unfortunately, the TOC situation has become more complicated and more threatening. The Ford government recently passed Bill 17 – the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, which grants Infrastructure Ontario (IO) broader powers over the TOC program and expands its reach to include the entire GO Train network. Even more concerning, the government has given, via an order in council, the Minister of Infrastructure the authority to issue Municipal Zoning Orders (MZOs)—a tool that can override local planning processes entirely - without appeal. At this time, it is unclear whether the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will retain any jurisdiction over TOC projects. 

In a recent public meeting, Minister Kinga Surma stated that “we're finalizing our submission with the Town of Oakville for the ongoing Oakville TOC. 

Minister Surma seems to be sending Oakville a clear message that IO is moving ahead with its TOC proposal— independent of OPA 70.   As we point out in our letter to Minister Flack:

“Proceeding with this project on a separate track outside OPA 70 risks fragmenting the planning process, undermining infrastructure coordination, and compromising the development of the remaining 60 developable hectares. It would also disadvantage over 40 other landowners who are expected to align with the OPA 70 framework.”

The Bottom Line 

The risk of Infrastructure Ontario mandating an unacceptable TOC on Oakville is real and escalating.  We we need to be ready to respond aggressively and effectively when a final TOC submission is released. 

We will continue to monitor developments closely and keep you fully informed.  

Read Our Full Letter to Minister Flack and our website to learn more about our campaign to “Save Midtown” and how you can become involved in this important undertaking. www.weloveoakville.org