Last Greenfield Site: Developing the Line

NRU
May 9, 2018
Rob Jowett

The last remaining greenfield site in Mississauga is set to become a new mixed-use community.

The largely vacant 350-ha site stretching from Highway 403 to Highway 401 along Ninth Line has been under study for over 10 years, but a final report will be considered by council this summer.

“[We want to make] efficient use of the last greenfield lands that Mississauga has available—getting this last bit of development built right and at the right density to support transit,” Mississauga planner Romas Juknevicius told NRU.

Mississauga and Peel Region staff are preparing a final report detailing the proposed official plan and zoning by-law amendments to implement the land use concept. It is anticipated to be considered by the planning and development council on June 18.

“[It’s] still a few years out for sure on any kind of active development taking place here,” he says. “It’s really just to set the policy framework for development to occur.”

The concept integrates the development with the planned 407 Transitway, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.

“Discussions about these lands and planning for… these lands started way back in the late ‘90s with the province identifying… the 407 highway corridor through here for the transitway,” says Juknevicius. “A big impetus for the development of these lands is to plan for that transitway and have densities and development land uses that would support that.”

“The Ninth Line lands have a unique planning history and status,” Peel principal planner Liliana DaSilva told NRU. “It was the result of a regional and municipal boundary adjustment through annexation from Halton/Milton to Peel/Mississauga in 2009.”

Two new transit stations are planned as part of the concept to enable residents to access the transitway. The stations are to be built at the intersections of Ninth Line and Derry Road and Britannia Road.

“We’re hoping the higher density will build up… so that people can go over to the GO train and take it into Toronto or whatever and get out of their cars,” says Ward 10 councillor Sue McFadden. Most of the greenfield site is in her ward.

The land use concept envisions a mix of housing height and density, mostly townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings.

“[We want to have] a community that’s providing a lot of different housing options [with] what we like to refer to as the missing middle,” says Juknevicius.

Staff anticipates around 8,500 new residents will live in the area when the development is complete.

The residential areas will be anchored by business employment zones at either end of the site, which staff expect will create up to 500 jobs.

The neighbourhood will be designed with a focus on natural spaces, says DaSilva. She adds that a natural heritage system corridor will increase the amount of natural area accessible to residents.

“The plan also protects and enhances natural heritage features including wetlands and woodlands significant to the area,” says DaSilva. “[It] proposes… a linear multi-use trail, and public open spaces.”

McFadden says she expects the development to be completed in about five years. But she adds that the community centre is ready to be built.

“That’s a 65-acre parcel that the City of Mississauga owns. So we’re developing that first…and we hope to have that done by 2020.”

Macaulay Shiomi Howson was the lead consultant on the study. Brook McIlroy wrote the Urban Design Guidelines. Wood plc was the lead engineer, Hemson Consulting prepared the population and employment allocations, and Natural Resources was responsible for the subwatershed study.