Has Doug Ford’s gift to Lakeview Village’s developers doomed smart growth along Mississauga’s waterfront?

Last year, the PC government issued a Minister’s Zoning Order for Mississauga’s Lakeview Village development, doubling the size of the community and scrapping nearly two decades of city planning led by local residents. Now, other waterfront developments may be feeling the ripple effects.

The established neighbourhoods lining Mississauga’s eastern Lake Ontario shoreline—Lakeview, Port Credit, parts of Lorne Park—will soon be joined by new massive development projects, like Lakeview Village, Rangeview and Brightwater. Collectively, these future neighbourhoods will be home to tens of thousands of new residents.   

In a July 29th planning and development committee meeting, Mississauga council members received two reports for developments abutting the city’s southern edge, where applications for increased density have been percolating over the last year as the PCs pave the way for developers trying to squeeze more profit from high-end projects, which do not feature affordable units. 

The effect, if left unchecked, will be growth that is far from human scale, outpacing the ability to create surrounding infrastructure needed to support such rapid population increase.

Residents and elected officials inside City Hall were left shocked a year ago when Premier Doug Ford and his PC government, in a snap decision made without any local consultation, doubled the size of Mississauga’s Lakeview Village development. The Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) handed to City staff on the Friday evening ahead of a Monday planning and development meeting with zero feedback from staff or residents, doubled the transformative project from approximately 8,000 units to 16,000, with Mississauga’s planners suddenly scrambling to work out how the waterfront will accommodate almost 40,000 new residents. The MZO trampled on nearly 20 years of visionary planning the City had conducted alongside residents who do not want to see a forest of condos and congestion like many parts of the Lake Ontario shoreline in neighbouring Toronto. 

Lakeview Community Partners (LCP), the consortium spearheading the development, requested the removal of any height and density restrictions, save for buildings directly fronting the lake (to be limited to 10 storeys); the elimination of minimum setbacks for front or side yards (meaning more units with less space in between); and the reduction in required sizes for apartment amenity areas, landscape features and parking areas for residential, commercial and employment uses. The MZO also eliminated the requirement for townhomes. 

LCP has maintained the provincial government should stand by the MZO, arguing “it represents good planning.”

Now, a recent report from Rangeview Landowners Group Inc., the group behind the Rangeview development set to be constructed alongside Lakeview Village, highlighted that full build-out of the development can not happen until there are enhanced transit solutions and studies completed to accommodate the increased density proposed along the lakeshore. With the fractured ownership of the lands between Rangeview and Lakeview, along with the “uncoordinated timing of future individual developments”, the development phasing to achieve the vision of the Rangeview Master Plan will be challenging, according to the report.

Rangeview will be constructed above Lakeview Village, shown at the bottom of the three renderings.

(City of Mississauga)

During the July 29th meeting, Rangeview Landowners requested council endorsement for revisions to address issues raised through the review of the Rangeview Development Master Plan, previously presented to staff in November. The development consortium still needs to address some unresolved matters, including provisions for affordable housing under the City’s inclusionary zoning requirements; development phasing in line with transportation needs and identifying the location of an elementary school site with the Peel District School Board. 

While the number of proposed units for the Rangeview development remains unchanged at 5,300 — to be distributed between buildings up to 15 storeys, mid-rise buildings and low-rise ones up to four storeys including townhomes — an Official Plan Amendment was required since the current plan only allows a maximum of 3,700 units within a specific range. Staff want a phased approach to accommodate the increased density now slated for the area; transportation needs will have to be addressed.

“The Transportation Studies were updated to consider increased densities within the Lakeview Waterfront Major Node and surrounding areas in addition to the proposed 5,300 residential units within the Rangeview Estates precinct and evaluate and limit any potential cumulative impacts on the transportation network under interim and ultimate conditions,” the report details.

A rendering of the Rangeview project from Lakeshore Road looking toward Lake Ontario.

(Rangeview Landowners Group Inc.) 

While Rangeview’s planners admit the Lakeview Village MZO has created challenges due to the doubling of units, those behind the huge Brightwater project at the west end of Port Credit are now asking for an increase to the number of units previously approved for its development. 

The 72-acre piece of land located west of the Port Credit Marina, has been undergoing redevelopment of the former Imperial Oil lands for almost a decade. It has been labelled as one of the more sustainable developments proposed in Mississauga with Brightwater Port Credit West Village Partners (PCWVP) creating community building that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, according to its planning documents. Although it will be roughly a decade before it is built out to completion, some of its buildings are already done, with residents moving in.

PCWVP is now requesting an additional 898 units, bringing the total for the site from the previously approved 2,995, to 3,893 across the entire footprint. The developers are also requesting an increase to the maximum building height to 35 storeys, up from 29 on three apartment buildings; and changing a townhouse block to allow two new apartment buildings and a mid-rise building.

Members of PCWVP explained to City Council and staff during the meeting that since the development’s approval in 2019, the vision shaping Brightwater has changed, referencing the provincial mandate to increase Ontario’s housing supply by constructing 1.5 million homes — 120,000 in Mississauga — by 2031, in addition to provincial policy shifts to promote intensification, particularly in areas near transit.

“Within the context of all of these things that are changing, we’re here today because we have been looking at the Master Plan, which is now about a third or halfway through the master planning process to the realization process, and what we’re trying to do is build off of the investment in infrastructure that has been advancing to date and we’re trying to optimize the site even further,” Christine Fang-Denissov, a planner with Urban Strategies, representing Brightwater, told council members.  

With the proposed changes, which would put further pressure on the city’s infrastructure, several issues will now need to be addressed including: whether the existing roads and sewers can handle the demands from the increased number of residents; if the increased building height for the already approved apartment is appropriate; and whether the changes will impact neighbouring communities. Once the matters are addressed, the report states the planning and building department will bring forward a recommendation report to a future meeting before council makes a final decision on the application.

Left: A Rendering of the Brightwater site based on the 2019 approval. Right: an updated rendering provided by the applicant that reflects the requested changes.

(Port Credit West Village Partners)

Concerns were also raised by residents around the impact of the additional units on surrounding traffic, particularly the increase along Lakeshore Road during peak hours. Questions were raised about the lack of infrastructure to support such a significant population increase and how the increased height will block off views to Lake Ontario. 

Critics have also raised concern about the projects along the lakeshore, which, according to pricing that is already available, will not help those who need affordable housing. 

While the Province has been pushing for more residential units in an effort to meet ambitious housing targets laid out by the PCs, Mississauga is working to find ways to manage the density in a way that makes the most sense.

Councillor Stephen Dasko, who grew up in the Port Credit area, told The Pointer there needs to be added value to the development if he is to approve an increase to its size. 

“It's that quality in my backyard,” he said. “People want something that's going to fit, that's going to make sense and [have] complete communities where you can get up in the morning, exercise, take your children to school, then go to work, do your shopping, pick your kids up, come back home without getting in the car… a walkable community.”

“This is where we need to be moving, as a city, to build these types of communities, because the old platform of the bedroom community I don't think is great planning,” he added. “Having these types of scenarios with complete communities that are environmentally friendly, transit-friendly, these are the ways to go… because we're building out, I think, one of the most important parts of the city, and that's our waterfront.”

He does not believe the proposed increase to Brightwater was triggered by the significant bump handed to Lakeview Village’s developers by the PC government. The request mostly comes down to adaptations from a plan that was developed several years ago, he suggested. 

“It's up to them, and it's their perspective if they want to start making some changes,” he said. “Out of the pandemic they didn't seem to see a lot of the same demand out there for office space, so they're looking to keep their gross floor area, but shift it over into residential.”

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Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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