Huge 7-tower development would shake up quiet Ontario neighbourhood

A significant increase in density planned next to a Mississauga transit station could prove controversial for the quiet, low-rise community it would tower over.

Infrastructure Ontario has proposed a new transit-oriented community (TOC) for a 3.86-hectare site at 2130 Bromsgrove Rd. in Mississauga.

Currently home to a surface parking lot at the southwest corner of Southdown Rd. and Bromsgrove Rd. serving Clarkson GO Station, the province aims to redevelop the property with seven towers, far surpassing the heights of anything in the surrounding area.

The plan calls for a cluster of Zeidler Architecture-designed towers ranging in height from 25 to 45 storeys, constructed around a channelized stretch of Sheridan Creek.

The complex would be constructed across three development blocks, referred to in plans as Block A, Block B, and Block C.

Block A would include three towers ranging from 25 to 40 storeys, containing 930 residential units. A 45-storey tower housing 430 residential units is planned for Block B, while Block C would include another three towers ranging from 35 to 45 storeys. 

Following the TOC model of high-density development in proximity to transit, the plan would introduce 2,434 new residential units within walking distance of Clarkson GO on the Lakeshore West Line. 

Locals would also get access to 2,161 square metres of retail space planned across the ground floor of the complex, while a total of 6,570 square metres of land, or approximately 17 per cent of the overall TOC footprint, would be allocated to new privately-owned publicly accessible spaces.

The complex proposes a public road network that includes future provisions for a bus terminal in the event that Clarkson GO's connectivity needs increase in the years to come.

And while the area south of the Lakeshore West rail corridor has already been built out to some degree with high-rises, the area immediately north of the proposed development site is an established low-rise community of single-family suburban homes.

Only the Nine Creeks Trail would divide residents of these communities from the proposed high-rise development.

And with the project being pushed through under a provincial policy allowing high densities in "Major Transit Station Areas," it's more than likely that the plan will move forward with little revision.

Further limiting recourse for area residents, the site also lies within the Clarkson GO Major Transit Station Area Master Plan, developed by the City of Mississauga, in partnership with the Region of Peel, to guide new high-density development in the area.

It's a clash of built forms that will only grow more common in the years to come, as sites near transit stations are automatically earmarked for density, regardless of existing building heights.