Setting Standards

Livability in Oakville

NRU
Jan. 18, 2017
By Andrew Cohrs

Concerned about the effects of rapid growth on stable residential neighbourhoods, Oakville is introducing a manual of urban design guidelines to promote design at a human scale and provide a single reference for developers.

“For generations, people have felt this dissonance and discord between what’s coming in and what is already there, and this community and many others have wrestled a long time with how [to] balance property rights with community rights,” Oakville mayor Rob Burton told NRU.

Oakville’s Livable by Design Manual is a collection of documents providing guidance on all matters related to urban design. Initiated in 2011, the town has been incrementally approving sections of the manual to create a framework that brings a sustainable and human approach to development.

Urban design manager Christina Tizzard explained to NRU that the design manual encourages developers to connect at a human scale, not just a vehicular one.

“It’s about the scale of our community. We want to be able to have our places connected. Livability has become our corporate and town goal ... It’s [about] creating environments that people want to get out and enjoy, and it’s connecting them from a cycling and pedestrian point of view.”

The manual has three components. Adopted in May 2014, the first part provides design guidelines for municipal infrastructure and facilities, as well as all types of private development. Tizzard says that this part is the foundation of the manual and establishes a design direction that includes creating complete streets, accessible and memorable public spaces and appropriate residential and non-residential buildings.

“Some of the attributes [for public space] are a multi-modal [transportation layout], creating convenient connections, barrier-free and safe design, and creating space for public life... In the non-residential sections it’s [about] having prominent entrance ways ... oriented to the street ... and [addressing] levels of glazing and penetrability, whether it’s multiple entrances or windows, to really give a presence on the street.”

The second part of the manual comprises area-specific design documents and is a work in progress. It includes guidelines for stable residential neighbourhoods, midtown Oakville and north Oakville.

Approved by council on Monday, the final section sets site development standards focused on the site plan approval process. It provides standards for hard and soft landscaping, parking areas, lighting, pedestrian and vehicular access, and circulation. Tizzard explains that this part of the manual provides specific standards from multiple town departments.

“We took the material [from the first part of the manual] and synthesised it with engineering standards and transportation standards ... so it was not only [providing] the urban design piece but also the materials from other departments ... in terms of what they would be looking for as components that they review as part of the site plan process.”

Burton says that the benefits of the manual are two-fold: It provides a one-stop reference document that assists applicants and provides clarity to residents about what development will look like. In this regard, the design manual reduces conflicts between existing communities and prospective developments by setting standards and expectations ahead of development applications.

Tizzard says the manual will become a web-based resource that is easy to navigate, is user-friendly and provides linkages to other town documents and policies. It will be launched online by the end of February.