This is what Lakeview Village could look like with nearly double the density in Mississauga

The fight against the near doubling the density of Lakeview Village in Mississauga continues with a community association.

The community, along with the City of Mississauga, was shocked when the Ford government announced a Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZO) that would allow Lakeview Village to nearly double in density from 8,050 units to 16,000 in May this year. The waterfront development plan had been a community-driven project nearly 13 years in the making.

Minister’s Zoning Orders allow the province to override any municipal decisions on developments.

A group of developers known as Lakeview Community Partners Limited, which is developing the piece of lakefront land east of Cawthra Road put in a request to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for the zoning order.

After Ontario Housing Minister Steve Clark resigned amid the Greenbelt scandal in September, there was new hope that this decision could be reversed.

And in the wake of a change in housing ministers, the Lakeview Ratepayer’s Association hopes to get the attention of new housing minister Paul Calandra.

A visualization of the project could motivate the public and Calandra to action.

John Danahy, a professional landscape architect and director of the Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) provided 3D images for the Lakeview Ratepayer’s Association.

It is difficult to visualize how the doubling of the density would look.

“I felt it is important to give you an image of what that means,” Danahy said in a ratepayer’s meeting on Nov. 22.

The MZO also allows no requirement for townhomes, no minimum front and/or exterior side yard setbacks for apartment buildings, reduced amenity areas for apartment buildings, reduced parking standards for residential, commercial and employment uses, and building heights limited to 10 storeys for waterfront-facing buildings but unlimited everywhere else.

The image is a first sketch of how the development could look.

“I think it speaks for itself,” he said. “The numbers are off the scale for what a project should be in this kind of context.”

John Danahy, a professional landscape architect and director of the Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) provided a 3D image of what Lakeview Village would look like with nearly double the density.

It could bring up to 50,000 people to this area of the city.

This type of density may work in other places with subway lines and sufficient roadways to handle the population, he indicated.

This is what Lakeview Village would look like as initially planned before the MZO.

The association sent their comments in a letter to Calandra and has launched a petition.

The petition asks for community support to revoke the MZO at Lakeview Village.

“The MZO, an order issued by Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing bypasses local decision-making processes,” the petition reads.

The community of Lakeview/south Mississauga “invested countless hours working closely with city planning staff, council and developer”, the petition reads. The community wanted a residential development rather than a power plant.

The final plan was approved in November 2021 and the MZO threatens “the well-thought-out plan that has been made and approved for our community growth,” the petition continues.

“The MZO issued by the Province of Ontario in May 2023 does not reflect the care and attention to detail considered as part of a vibrant and complete community, it does not consider the infrastructure needs of an additional 40,000 people in just one development along our Lakeshore Corridor,” the petition reads.

For more information on the Lakeview Ratepayer’s Association’s meeting and plans, see the website page here.

To sign the petition, visit the Change.org site here.