Mississauga considering changes to Ridgeway Plaza amid complaints over noise, crowding

A city report is recommending changes to Ridgeway Plaza in Mississauga to limit expansions by restaurants amid complaints including over noise and overcrowding.

A Mississauga plaza that has become a gathering place for residents is the focus of recent recommendations by city staff to limit restaurant spaces further than they already are.

The recommendations were made as part of a report presented to the city’s planning and development committee on Monday, with members of the public also suggesting changes to the area, as a way to reduce congestion.

The report, as outlined by city planner Trista James, found that parking faces “constrained conditions” during weekend and evening peak periods, with people flocking to restaurants both dine-in and take-out, leaving a “limited ability to absorb” any added demand for restaurants.

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

“The study found that parking across the Ridgeway Plaza lands is operating close to capacity, with heavy congesstion and full occupancy near restaurant clusters during busy evening and weekend periods,” the report notes.

Included in staff recommendations is a zoning bylaw change to the size of restaurants at Ridgeway, reducing it by 15 per cent of its current levels, though legally existing restaurants and take-outs will continue to operate but cannot expand further.

Ridgeway contains 115 restaurants, which the report says is the majority of land use in the plaza. In total, there are 63 at Erin Mills out of 151 units with 52 of 126 units at Platinum.

But with the sheer number of restaurants and the parking and pedestrian traffic that comes with it, the City of Mississauga says it has received 112 complaints since 2022.