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The intersection of Derry and Trudeau in Hawthorne Village, Milton. Beautification? Check.

Recently, local blogger and candidate for Milton Town Council in Ward 8, Zeeshan Hamid has strung together a series of posts discussing the ‘beautification’ or lack thereof, in Milton.

Hamid makes the case that Milton should position itself as an ‘Escarpment Community’ and that it’s future development and infill projects should take this into consideration. He’s essentially saying that Milton, from an urban planning and design standpoint, needs to separate itself from the rest of the urban sprawl west of Toronto.

Yes, this means you, Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville (north of the QEW, at least).

He’s correct. Oakville has Lake Ontario and by extension it’s signature Lakeshore Boulevard strip with its quaint shopping, restaurants, parks, etc. Mississauga has the lake as well and in addition, has more of a ‘big city’ downtown in the vicinity of Square One. Not all that great to some, but the city has become a major Canadian business centre because of it. Brampton has, well, um, not much. Sorry.

Moving west, the intersection of Derry and Holly has hanging pots of flowers.

Milton? Well, we’ve got a lot going for us.

We’re a small but growing town nestled in at the foot of the scenic Niagara Escarpment. The town’s amenities have increased ten-fold in the past decade and yet the downtown core — albeit not to be confused with Lakeshore Boulevard in Oakville — is quaint, somewhat scenic and is home to events such as this weekend’s Downtown Street Festival and the weekly Farmer’s Market. Milton is also a hop, step and a jump away from any number of conservation areas and farms with recreational opportunities abound, unlike Mississauga and Oakville.

Milton truly is a place where city meets country — and that’s a unique and strong selling point, especially in the GTA. With controlled growth and a little extra attention to detail, Milton was in a position years ago to truly become the jewel of the GTA. Seriously.

And how are we doing?

So far, not great.

Okay, Milton’s expansion hasn’t gone horribly mind you (we’ll talk traffic at another time), but things could have been better.

In Milton's newest development, Hawthorne Village on the Escarpment, things are looking a little bland.

Zeeshan is right — situated against Ontario’s most prominent geographical feature, the Niagara Escarpment, Milton should absolutely be positioning itself as a special place to be — an ‘Escarpment Community’ as he has coined it. A community where, from a design point of view at least, a little bit of that rural touch is brought in to soften the hard visuals of wider roads and new subdivisions.

The new housing developments themselves aren’t too bad. Hawthorne Village in the town’s southeast corner, is a decent-looking community with a nice mix of different sized houses and some nice designs. Well-done Mattamy. If you drive around in the older areas of Hawthorne Village where the trees have had 7+ years to grow, the streets actually have quite a nice character to them.

HV’s signature intersection of Derry and Trudeau was also well-executed from an ‘Escarpment Community’ standpoint as Zeeshan pointed out, with a good-looking median lined with trees and flowers. Is it a coincidence that Mattamy has their main Milton office situated on this corner? Probably not.

At any rate, most of Hawthorne Village, from a housing standpoint, was decently thought out. As you head west however, it’s a different story, and again, the Z-man nailed it with his recent assessment that the urban design is indeed regressing as you head toward the escarpment.

The Derry/Holly intersection has a concrete median with hanging flower pots. Trees and planted flowers would have been better, yes, but there was at least some attempt at beautification. However, moving into Milton’s newest area of development, Hawthorne Village on the Escarpment, it leaves us not only wanting more, but also disappointed.

I remember when Mattamy and other new home builders announced their plans to develop the land to the west of the existing town — I assumed these new developments would be pricey and exclusive and of the highest standard of both design and quality, given their proximity to the escarpment.

I was wrong.

The Hawthorne Village on the Escarpment area south of Derry and west of the CN Rail tracks is simply sub-par given it’s proximity to and sightlines of the escarpment and even in comparison to Mattamy’s earlier work in the east of town.

I don’t mean to dump on Mattamy or HVE residents here — I don’t know design-wise how much of this is in the hands of the builders or whether it’s the town needing to simply demand more from land developers. At any rate, there are a ton of large, exclusive homes in this area, but they are simply ridiculously sandwiched together on narrow, congested streets — even by today’s development standards — that the overall ‘look’ is simply not up to snuff.

And comparing the major intersections — Scott and Derry for example, leaves a lot to be desired in comparison to Holly/Derry and Trudeau/Derry. Overall, the development looks rushed and not well thought out — very ‘anti-Escarpment Community’ — not good considering it’s unfortunately ironic placement.

You also need to look at the new shopping plazas in town. Not a pleasant sight for the most part. Very wide open, lots of concrete and again, you get the feeling there was zero thought put into the design here. The Metro Plaza at Thompson and Louis St. Laurent has ‘urban sprawl’ written all over it. The Superstore plaza beside the GO Station? Well, that’s simply too much of a disaster to go into at this point, as is the whole intersection of Thompson and Main Streets — let’s save that one for another day.

So what types of things does Milton need to consider — from an urban design point of view — moving forward?

I believe Milton needs to position itself right now as the ‘Escarpment Community’ where urban and rural living collide.

In future new development and infill projects, some care absolutely needs to be taken to try to beautify the town where possible and begin to try to set it apart from neighbouring cities.

Newly built major roads and intersections, especially those leading in and out of town absolutely should have medians that allow for trees, plants and flowers. Let’s not forget about pine trees or cedars as well which maintain their look throughout our long winters.

Speaking of major roads, let’s do our best to keep homes from facing onto major arteries like Derry Road, and where homes do face onto major roads, let’s allow for trees as a buffer. Forget about fences — an ‘Escarpment Community’ needs to incorporate nature and natural elements as much as possible.

And speaking of ‘buffer zones’, let’s work on our shopping plazas and business centers. If parking lots need to face out to roads, can trees be planted to hide the sea of concrete from view? What about trying to get some storefronts facing out towards the road instead of toward the inner parking lot? Wouldn’t it look so much better to drive along roads like Derry or Bronte and see storefronts, trees, sidewalks and benches instead of bland back entrances, garbage bins or parking lots? Can we not try to avoid unmitigated disasters like the townhomes on Kennedy Circle that have the arse-end of the Metro Plaza stores staring back at them in their living rooms? Of course we can.

Infill is critical as well. Here’s hoping this type of care and consideration is also taken when the design and planning of future projects in ‘Old Milton’ takes place in areas such as Main Street east of downtown. I think we can all agree that most of that area of Main St. — lined with industrial plazas — is hardly befitting of an ‘Escarpment Community.’ Ditto for most of Ontario St. and Steeles Ave. — both major arteries for visitors or passersby through Milton. If your impression of our town was based on the beautification or lack thereof along these routes, you probably wouldn’t be too anxious to move to Milton.

Granted, these areas aren’t likely to be transformed easily if at all, but any infill projects planned here in the future should take this into consideration. Even much of the industrial area along Steeles could be softened if trees could be added to the sides of the road.

Honestly, I think the formula is pretty simple. Urban sprawl such as what Milton has experienced over the past decade, seems to be synonymous with open, bland spaces and lots of concrete. If nothing else, the thought process from now on should be: when in doubt — trees, trees and more trees. Oh, and plants and flowers too.

You get the point. Milton has a lot to be proud of — it’s geographical location included. I think it’s time that the town seriously considers trying to capture a sense of that as it continues to grow. This isn’t about property values, it’s about pride. It’s about making Milton a special place to be. Milton should (and still could) be the jewel of the GTA.

The disturbing thing for me, is the fact that the town was essentially a blank canvas a decade ago. As Zeeshan has pointed out, no one bothered to look at the mistakes made by other Municipalities like Mississauga, Oakville or Brampton in their years of aggressive development — or even the successes for that matter (speaking specifically of Mississauga’s policy of infrastructure before population growth). And now, here we sit feeling the brunt of some of the decisions made years ago with little thought given to any sort of vision for Milton’s future.

Who’s to blame? I’m sure you could come up with a laundry list of people, politicians and organizations, but at this point I think it’s best to look to the future.

Milton’s rapid expansion has still only barely begun and there is still plenty of time to right some of the previous wrongs with regard to urban planning and design — as well as continue to improve older areas via sensible infill strategies.

I’ve been saying it for years: this is a pivotal time in the history of this town. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinions, concerns and support for the candidates you think can help achieve the vision you have for Milton.

That’s right, this is yet another call for voter turnout in this Fall’s Municipal election. It’s time for us to get actively involved in shaping Milton.

Should Milton be satisfied with simply becoming another generic GTA suburb, or do we take steps to make our town a special, desirable place that is unique and stands out?

I knew you’d agree with me. The time is now.

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Milton Urban Planning Fails is a regular feature on MiltonSearch.com.

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