Inspiration Port Credit - Framework in place

NRU
Dec. 9, 205
By Geordie Gordon

Mississauga doesn’t know who will be the winning bidder to develop the Imperial Oil site on its waterfront, but, in an unusual move, the city has created a master planning framework that will guide any future development on the site.

The Imperial Oil site at 70 Mississauga Road South, together with the Canada Lands site at 1 Port Street East make up the lands known as Inspiration Port Credit. The Canada Lands site is undergoing a separate master planning process. The Imperial Oil site comprises 72 acres, 1,800 feet of waterfront and 15.7 acres of water lots. Imperial Oil has initiated an RFQ process to shortlist potential developers.

Ward 1 councillor Jim Tovey told NRU that the framework was established with extensive input from the community, BIAs and development industry representatives.

“We’ve got all the policy framework, we’ve got the guiding principles, we’ve got all of the key elements that everybody agrees we would require and want to see [from the proponent]. Now what that framework will allow the winners of the RFQ process [to do is] ... actually do the master plan,” he said.

While the framework does not go beyond establishing broad land use categories, such as residential and open space, community services planner Ruth Marland told NRU it is unusual for the city to create such a framework. However, she said it was critical to communicate the city and community priorities for the site to the future landowner.

“We’ve done a master planning framework, and that’s because we haven’t had all the information that is required to do a master plan available to us ... ” There is still information coming from Imperial Oil, such as the environmental assessment reports, which may affect where specific land uses can be located. “We want to be proactive on this site and indicate to the landowner, Imperial Oil, not only what the community priorities are but also the city priorities,” she said.

The Imperial Oil site was decommissioned in 1987 and has been vacant ever since. In 2013 and 2014, Imperial Oil initiated an environmental assessment process, the outcome of which found that development is possible once the site is remediated. Following the environmental testing, Imperial Oil entered into the RFQ process to establish a short list of three qualified bidders to develop master plans based on the city’s framework. A shortlist is expected to be announced this month or early next year and will be followed by a RFP process that will require each of the bidders to develop a master plan.

Tovey said it took some time before Imperial Oil considered developing the land, and initially it was against the idea of putting residential uses on the site. That attitude changed once the environmental testing was completed and it realized that it could put a mixed-use development on the site. Tovey also noted that the economic forces behind brownfield redevelopment have been shifting.

“Two things have been happening ... The cost of real estate has gone way up and the cost of remediation has come down. So you get to a tipping point where you go, ‘Sure, yeah, I can [develop that site]’,” he said.

Marland said that the development of the Imperial Oil site fits in with the city’s overall strategic plan that emphasises the importance of the waterfront to Mississauga’s future.

“The waterfront is a key strategic priority for the city, we had...identified three key sites, the Imperial lands, the Canada lands on the east side of the river, and then the former Lakeview generation facility .... [Inspiration Port Credit] fits into the strategic plans view of prioritizing the waterfront as a key to transforming [Mississauga] into the city that we want it to be, where people choose to be,” she said.

According to the framework, the drivers for the master planning framework are the creating a complete waterfront community and a lakefront park, respecting the Old Port Credit heritage conservation district, establishing visual and physical connections to the waterfront, and integrating transit on the site.

The master planning frame work was adopted by the planning committee December 7 and is to be considered by council December 9.