Volume 1, Issue 12 | April 30, 2021
TOP STORY: Upgrades coming to Memorial Park!
Learn more about the park and its history!

  • Memorial Park's official address is 120 Oak Park Boulevard in Oakville
  • The park is just over 11 hectares in size (which is about 27.2 acres)
  • It's classified as a Community Park
  • There are thousands of residents who live in the apartments and homes that border the grounds

It was originally known as "Uptown Core Park" and opened in 1993. The first major addition was the Wellspring House in 2000, but the biggest addition was the Trafalgar Memorial added in 2005 on the park's eastern edge.

The Memorial recognizes the men and women from Trafalgar Township that served in WW1, WW2 and the Korean War. The prominent arch and gardens mimic the outline of Oakville's former Trafalgar Memorial Hall.

More renovations came to the Memorial in 2013, with new landscaping and the ground being properly graded and sodded for the first time.
Exciting changes and upgrades are coming to Memorial Park in the heart of Ward 5
We have some BREAKING NEWS this week!

In 2021, the Parks and Open Space Department received capital budget money to complete the planned ‘activity court’ area in Ward 5's Memorial Park; near the intersection of Hays Boulevard and Georgian Drive.

At long last, exciting new upgrades and changes are coming to Memorial Park! This project was previously tendered in the summer of 2019 but wasn't awarded as all pricing came in over budget.

Work coming to the park will include several exciting new additions to the grounds, including:

  1. Installation of a full-size basketball court
  2. A decorate overhead trellis feature
  3. Multiple seating elements
  4. Games tables
  5. Additional related landscaping

Work on site is set to begin within the next few weeks, officially scheduled for "Early to mid-May", with a target completion of late summer 2021. Hopefully we'll all be able to enjoy the park's new amenities and upgrades soon!
Looking for COVID-19 vaccine and local development updates? These weekly features are at the bottom of the newsletter
National Youth Week begins this Saturday May 1!
Canada's National Youth Week begins tomorrow, and the Town of Oakville is celebrating with daily FREE virtual activities all week long from Saturday May 1st to Friday May 7th!

Every year, Oakville celebrates National Youth Week with free activities, learning opportunities and events for youth ages 11-19. For 2021, Youth Week activities will be offered online and/or designed to meet provincial COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing requirements.

(Yes, that means all of them will be online. But that doesn't mean they won't be exciting, fun, and did we mention FREE?)

Participants are being encouraged to share their experiences this week using the hashtag #OakvilleYouth. There's also more information on Oakville Youth's social channels.
Highlights from the activities this week!

  • Kindness Bingo (ongoing all week, with prizes of Amazon gift cards!)
  • Watercolour painting workshop with Oakville galleries
  • In-hom scavenger hunt
  • Multiple workshops from different organizations in town
  • Virtual tour of an Oakville fire station
  • Kahoot Trivia (with Starbucks gift card prizes!)
  • Comic book making workshop

And so much more! Note each different activity is designed and targeted for different age groups.
Post Corner's school and Post Inn Village are both well-known locations in Ward 5. Have you ever wondered where they came from? It's over 200 years old!

It's named after James Applebe, one of the first settlers in Trafalgar Township in 1815. He worked as the Postmaster and the area at the time was called Postville - with his house on the corner, the name has stuck! Click here to learn more from these historical archives.
PSA on Cyber Security!
As people are staying home, there's been a small increase of targeting cyber crimes and online theft happening locally.

Here's one really good tip: If you get a request by phone, email or over social media (like Facebook and Twitter) asking for things like money or gift cards, check with the personal who claims to have sent it first. If it's honest, all is well! But this is a great way to alert friends and family someone is pretending to be them and/or trying to scam you.
COVID-19 vaccines now for several groups!

Currently, anyone in Halton 60 years of age and older and those in several qualifying groups can book an appointment to receive their COVID-19 vaccine at a Halton Clinic. All adults age 40 and over, however, can book a vaccine appointment at a pharmacy as well.

Remember the best COVID-19 is the first one you are offered; all vaccines in Canada are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19.
IMPORTANT VACCINE UPDATES!!!

A large number of groups can now book their COVID-19 vaccination appointments both in Oakville and throughout Halton Region. Here is the full list:

  • Individuals (age 18 and older) with highest-risk and high-risk health conditions and one essential caregiver:
  • highest-risk health conditions include: organ transplant recipients; hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients; and people with neurological diseases in which respiratory function may be compromised (e.g., motor neuron disease, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis), haematological malignancy diagnosed within the past year, or kidney disease (eGFR <30): and
  • high-risk health conditions include: obesity (body mass index over 40), or receiving treatments causing immunosuppression (e.g., chemotherapy, immunity-weakening medications), and intellectual or developmental disabilities (e.g., Down syndrome).
  • Essential workers (age 18 and older) who cannot work from home (Group 1 as identified by Province):
  • elementary/secondary school workers (including educators, custodial, school bus drivers, administrative staff);
  • workers responding to critical events (including police, fire, special constables, children’s aid society workers, emergency management, and critical infrastructure restoration workers);
  • enforcement, inspection and compliance roles (including by-law enforcement, building inspectors, food inspectors, animal welfare inspectors, border inspection officers, and labour inspectors/WSIB field workers);
  • all licensees, employees and students on an educational placement who interact directly with children in licensed child care centres and in authorized recreation and skill building programs;
  • licensed home child care and in-home service providers, employees of a home child care agency and students on an educational placement;
  • foster care agency workers (including customary care providers);
  • food manufacturing and distribution workers;
  • agriculture and farm workers; and
  • funeral, crematorium and cemetery workers.
  • All adults 16+ in an identified hotspot area (living in Milton's L9E postal code area.)
  • Remaining health care workers, living or working in Halton and who cannot work from home.
  • Indigenous Peoples of all ages (also including First Nations, Metis and Inuit and all household members.)
  • Pregnant women of all ages
  • All previously eligible groups (including all adults age 60 and older.)

In addition, all Halton Residents age 50 and older who cannot work from home will be eligible to book an appointment on Monday, May 3rd 2021.

So far, Halton Region has given over 190,000 doses of vaccine!
You can attend councils, police board and library meetings!
Councillor Knoll sits on multiple boards and councils, and they all have meetings open to the public with ways of watching them both electronically (from your home) and live! Repeats of recent meetings can also be viewed at these links. Here are the links for each of them:

OAKVILLE TOWN COUNCIL
Recent meeting: Monday April 26th at 6:30pm

HALTON REGIONAL COUNCIL
Recent meeting: Wednesday April 21st at 9:00am

HALTON REGIONAL POLICE BOARD
Recent meeting: Thursday April 29th at 9:00am

OAKVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
Recent meeting: Thursday April 22nd at 7:00pm
Interested in Developments across Ward 5? Here's the list!

Current Ward 5 Development Applications:

1 - Residential Property at the Northwest corner of Trafalgar Road and Glenashton Drive. A permit is wanted to build a six-storey residential unit. (Learn more about this application here)

2 - Dunpar Homes wants to 75 townhouse units on land from 1020-1042 Sixth Line. Density would be 55 units per hectare. (Learn more about it here)
Current Ward 5 Site Plan Applications:

1 - Silwell Developments wants to build a "12 Storey Mixed Building with 229 residential units and 1,080 square metres of retail space and underground parking." (Learn more here.)

2 - New walkways, a new bus lay-by and added parking space at White Oaks Secondary School.

3 - Di Carlo Homes wants to build 58 four-storey rear lane townhouses which includes 12 visitor parking spaces. (Learn about the application here)

4 - IMH Queens Ltd. is applying to build a ten-storey residential apartment building containing 159 new residential units at 297 Queens Avenue.

5 - Branthaven McCraney Inc. is changing a previous application. The new project is a nine-storey, 219 unit residential building, reduced parking and an elevation change at 1105 McCraney Street. (Learn more here.)

6 - Lastly, the HCDSB wants to add a child care centre and outdoor play area to St. Michael Catholic Elementary School. (Learn more here.)