[BCTed]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

It is stimulating the wrong kind of development. These suburban commercial sprawl complexes are being dropped in areas that require new servicing, leave a large, wasteful footprint, and are completely contrary to initiatives like Hamilton's "GRIDS" and Ontario's "Places to Grow". Their development should be more than discouraged.

Now, the usual suspects are bound to claim that big box complexes like Duffs Corners are what the customers want. It would be more accurate to say that's what they are willing to tolerate. Of my circle of friends, about half visit meadowlands regularly. They like the shopping experience within stores like Costco, but they all complain about the amount of driving required, not only to get out there, but to move around from shop to shop. Their shopping needs are being met, but the overall experience is less than pleasant.

The new development trend coming down the pipe is best demonstrated with the redevelopment plans for the sprawl surrounding Oakville GO Station. Plans call to redevelop the station and surrounding retail to eliminate the sprawling parking lots and intensify the building density with a mixed-use commercial and retail, with a multi-modal public transit hub as the central feature of the project. In short, new developments will (and should) be putting the 'smart' into these smart centres. It's too bad developers like RioCan and SmartCentres are clinging to a format approaching the trending down-curve rather than pioneering the format on the up-swing.

I miss malls.