Background
The Dundas Street Corridor is a key part of the City’s transportation network and over the next 35 to 40 years, the City estimates that the number of people using Dundas Street will gradually increase over time. This growth is guided by:
- The Dundas Connects Master Plan (DCMP), which developed a vision for the future of land use and transportation along Dundas Street.
- The future Dundas Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, which will help people live, work, play, and go to school along Dundas Street and beyond.
Project overview
The City has been taking steps through different studies to advance the vision of the Dundas Connect Master Plan. Many of the studies are complete and a few are ongoing.
- Dundas Bus Rapid Transit
- City-wide Major Transit Station Area Study
- Downtown Fairview, Cooksville and Hospital Policy Review
- Dundas Street Special Policy Area Review
- Dixie-Dundas Flood Mitigation Study and Environmental Assessment
- Etobicoke Creek Preliminary Flood Evaluation Study
Official Plan Amendments
As a result of the work on this project, a decision by City Council was made on August 10, 2022 to approve Official Plan Amendment Number 141 as adopted by By-law BL-0192-2022 and to submit Official Plan Amendment Number 142 to the Regional Municipality of Peel for approval (By-law 0216-2022), which contains amendments to the Mississauga Official Plan pertaining to the Dundas Corridor. Official Plan Amendment 142 was since approved by the Region of Peel and partially came into effect on May 9, 2024, due to ongoing site-specific appeals.
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1Phase 1: Dundas Connects Master Plan endorsed by City Council
June 2018
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2Phase 2: Community engagement
Fall 2021 to Spring 2022
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3Phase 3: Draft Official Plan Amendment
May 30, 2022
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4Phase 4: Final Official Plan Amendment
July 5, 2022
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5Phase 5: Region of Peel approval
Completed on April 11, 2024
Public engagement
Virtual and in-person community meetings were held throughout the course of this project in 2020, 2021 and several times in 2022, which included information sessions with City staff and public meetings with the Planning and Development Committee.
Thank you to community members and stakeholders who participated and provided input during the public consultation period. (For reference, meeting presentations and files can be found below with other relevant project documents.)
Project documents
- Dundas Corridor Policy Implementation Project – Official Plan Amendment
- Appendix 1 – Written Letters
- Appendix 2 – Response to Comments Summary
- Appendix 3 – Public Meeting Minutes
- Appendix 4 – Draft Protected MTSA Schedules 11-E 11-F and 11-G
- Appendix 5 – Revised Character Area Policies
- Appendix 6 – Recommended Official Plan Amendments – Revised Official Plan Schedules
- Appendix 7 – Planning Rationale for Proposed Policies
- Appendix 8 – Applicable Policy Analysis
- Public Meeting Notice for July 5, 2022
- Dundas Corridor Policy Implementation Project – Draft Official Plan Amendment
- Appendix 1 – Summary of Parallel Projects Implementing the Dundas Connects Master Plan Recommendations
- Appendix 2 – Draft Official Plan Policy
- Appendix 3 – Map: Protected Major Transit Areas
- Appendix 4
- Public Meeting Notice for May 30, 2022
Frequently asked questions
Key recommendations within the endorsed DCMP include the following:
- Implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Dundas Street
- Encouraging mixed-use development that supports transit
- Creating more open spaces and community facilities
- Maintaining existing and supporting new affordable housing
- Maintaining four traffic lanes along Dundas Street
- Providing safe cycling infrastructure along the length of the Dundas Street Corridor
- Enhancing pedestrian space and providing street trees
- Encouraging street-related retail while supporting existing businesses.
Learn more about the specific recommendations in the endorsed plan.
The Dundas Connects Master Plan (DCMP) recommendations have been endorsed, yet they have not been formally established as official City policy. This is partly due to ongoing studies, which affect the implementation of the recommendations.
The implementation of the Official Plan Amendment establishes the recommendations of the DCMP as official policy.
For lands currently restricted by flooding, the ongoing flood mitigation studies, environmental assessments, and construction of mitigation measures must be completed before the recommendations of the DCMP can be fully realized.
At the same time, any conversion of employment areas to non-employment uses will continue to be subject to City Official Plan policies and Provincial requirements.
The implementing Official Plan Amendment may include the following key recommendations of the Dundas Connects Master Plan (DCMP):
- Implement height range recommendations of the DCMP along the Dundas Street corridor.
- Identify lands within the Dixie and Mavis-Erindale Employment Areas that could be considered for conversion from employment to mixed-use residential subject to land use compatibility assessment to determine appropriateness. (If appropriate, this will entail land use changes initiated by development applications.)
- Establish where appropriate urban design and built form policies for lands along the Dundas Street corridor.
- The development of open space and public realm networks to support the expected residential development and complement the anticipated job growth.
- Define the Dixie Community Node boundary, which is currently unspecified in the Official Plan. However, policies related to the extent of development within the node will be subject to ongoing flood studies.
- Enhance access and connections within existing blocks and future higher-order transit stations through additional roadways and access corridors.
Flood affected areas will be able to develop upon completion of the construction of any flood mitigation measures. Revised flood mapping and policies in the Official Plan and Zoning By-law must also be complete where necessary before new development is considered in affected areas. This process is likely to take multiple years.
Find more details about the related flood studies, including timelines:
- Little Etobicoke Creek Flood Evaluation Study, which looks at flood mitigation options at a larger scale throughout the entire Little Etobicoke Creek watershed from Courtney Park in the north to Queensway East in the south.
- Dixie-Dundas Flood Mitigation Study, which looks at flood mitigation options at a more localized scale, specifically for the neighbourhoods around Dundas Street and Dixie Road.
- Dundas Street Special Policy Area Review is a study that looks at updating the Applewood and Dixie-Dundas Special Policy Areas (SPAs) as identified in the Official Plan.
Currently, the Official Plan protects the right-of-way of 42 metres to allow for improvements along the Dundas Street corridor as new development occurs. The detailed design, including the width of lanes, cycling lanes, street furniture, landscaping, etc., within the right of way is part of the City’s Preliminary Design and Transit Project Assessment Process Study for the Dundas BRT.
The boundaries of the Dixie-Dundas Community Node reflect the Dixie Focus area in the Dundas Connects Master Plan, but will not include the flood prone Provincial Special Policy Areas until those area boundaries have been revised by the Province.
Contact
If you have any questions about this project, contact Luisa Galli, Executive Manager – Planning Programs, at luisa.galli@mississauga.ca.