Mississauga imposes restrictions on restaurant growth at Ridgeway Plaza

Restaurant growth at a popular commercial plaza at the centre of several complaints in Mississauga, Ont., is now restricted.

Mississauga city council voted unanimously Wednesday to implement several recommendations in a staff report, including a zoning bylaw change to the size of restaurants at Ridgeway Plaza, reducing it by 15 per cent of its current levels.

The proposal would only impact new and expanded businesses, not those currently in place, and the change would be temporary, with plans for adjustments as the months pass.

The report, which was first presented last year, found parking at Ridgeway faces “constrained conditions” during weekend and evening periods, and that the space was operating “close to capacity.”

It focused on parking across Erin Mills Centre in the north and Platinum Centre to the south, which make up the overall Ridgeway Plaza, located at Ridgeway Drive and Eglinton Avenue West.

Ridgeway features 115 restaurants, making up the majority of the land use at the plaza. Due to the number of restaurants, and the parking and pedestrian traffic that comes with it, the City of Mississauga has said it has received 112 complaints since 2022.

Those complaints have included congestion, unauthorized uses, waste storage and noise.

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In response to the issues, council put in place an interim control bylaw on Sept. 11, 2024, that would temporarily prohibit new restaurants, entertainment and other “parking-intensive uses” for the plaza and surrounding lands for a year, though it was extended until Jan. 16, given the study.

— with files from Sean Previl