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A Vibrant, New Community
Development is well underway for the Seaton Community, as one of the largest combined residential, employment and commercial developments in Canadian history. Seaton is designed to develop a complete community, offering a range of housing types, employment lands and land densities.
Seaton Zoning By-law |
| Seaton Zoning By-law - a consolidated zoning by-law directing land use within the geographic area described in the Central Pickering Development Plan. |
Who's building in Seaton? |
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Currently, the major residential builders in Seaton include: These builders also own lands designated for future commercial uses. Contact them directly if you're interested in investing in future commercial uses. The Province of Ontario and the City of Pickering also own employment lands within the new Seaton Community. For information on these lands, contact our Economic Development Department at econdevl@pickering.ca. |
What's happening now in Seaton? |
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Construction is ongoing for a number of development needs, including new roads and transportation connections, sanitary and storm water sewer networks, water lines, hydro and natural gas delivery and telecommunication expansion. Major infrastructure projects are under construction including the new Whites Road extension and it's connection to the new interchange at Highway #407. This interchange is nearly complete and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020. In the spring of 2018, residents began to occupy the first of many new residential subdivisions. To locate projects under review or under construction, view the Map Portal page for Major Developments . Click through to our Current Development Proposals page to find details on specific projects, where available. |
Neighbourhood Amenities - schools, parks, shops and more |
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The Central Pickering Development Plan describes a broad vision for Seaton as a sustainable urban community, integrated with a thriving agricultural community, and an extensive Natural Heritage System. Subsequent work done by the City sets in place policies for the development of urban Seaton as a walkable, transit supportive community at densities that support an attractive community and an active street life, including neighbourhood shops, social facilities and parks. Seaton has been designed to include six neighbourhoods, featuring mixed housing of single and semi dwellings, townhouses, and apartments to meet a variety of lifestyles and incomes, as well as designated employment lands to support job creation. New community facilities will include:
For details on commercial amenity locations, review the following six Seaton Neighbourhood Plans in the City of Pickering Official Plan - Edition 9, and Schedules:
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Seaton FAQ - the who, what & where |
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1. What is Seaton? Seaton is a vibrant community, being developed in central Pickering. The vision for Seaton is guided by the Province of Ontario’s Central Pickering Development Plan, and the community is planned to accommodate 70,000 new residents and 35,000 new jobs. 2. How big is Seaton? Seaton is made up of over 7,000 acres of land, over half of which will be preserved as open space lands. The developable land will include approximately 815 acres of employment land and 3,064 acres of living area for residential, commercial, and institutional uses. 3. Who owns the Seaton Lands? Most of the lands in Seaton are owned by the Province of Ontario and five private landowner groups: Lebovic Homes, Mattamy Homes, DG Group, White Sun Developments and Seaton TFPM Inc. The Province has marketed its developable lands in Seaton. These lands include 800 acres of employment lands and 269 acres of residential and mixed-use lands. The lands are managed by Infrastructure Ontario – please visit their website for more information on the sale. 4. What new community facilities will be included in Seaton? Along with mixed housing of single and semi-detached dwellings, townhouses, and apartments to meet a variety of lifestyles and incomes, a number of community facilities are planned for Seaton:
5. How can I get involved? A significant amount of public engagement has already occurred. Any opportunity for future engagement in the use of community facilities and spaces planned for Seaton will be posted under the ‘News’ or ‘Public Notices’ feed online at pickering.ca. 6. What kind of jobs will Seaton have? Commercial nodes located within, and adjacent to, residential neighbourhoods will feature typical retail, office, and a variety of personal service and public service jobs. Approximately two-thirds of potential jobs are anticipated to be located within Seaton’s prestige employment lands. These lands are located along the Highway 407/7 corridor at the northerly limit of the Seaton community, and are now known as the “Innovation Corridor.” The majority of jobs in the Innovation Corridor represent opportunities for employment in general and high tech industry and office employment. The City is currently reviewing the recommendations of a Sector Analysis Study, which was commissioned to determine which industry sectors are appropriate for investment in Seaton’s employment lands. The City’s Investment Response Team is working with the Province to ensure that new development on these lands will produce highly skilled, well-paying jobs. Staff is reviewing opportunities to build on current industry strengths already located in Pickering, such as our EN3 cluster of Energy, Environmental and Engineering companies, information and communications technology, advanced manufacturing, as well as emerging sectors. 7. How are we ensuring that Seaton is developed responsibly? City staff has worked closely with the Province to ensure that Seaton is designed to be a sustainable, urban community, with a strong focus on economic development, livability, and the protection of the natural heritage system. Approximately 50 per cent of the lands will remain green as parks, trails, village squares, and natural areas. View some of the plans, guidelines, and studies that will guide and regulate Seaton’s development:
8. What is the City doing to protect heritage features in Seaton? The Province of Ontario is considering 20 properties for demolition to make way for the development of Seaton. The City is assessing these properties to determine their heritage value, and whether any buildings can be saved or maintained. The City’s Heritage Pickering Advisory Committee recommended that six of these properties be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, based on the heritage assessment results, and City Council has adopted this recommendation. 9. How will traffic be impacted? The Region of Durham is planning to accommodate traffic in Seaton by making a number of improvements to surrounding regional roads and intersections. Brock Road and Whites Road, for example, are both planned to be widened, and transit lanes will be introduced. A full understanding of the Regional road network can be found online at https://www.durham.ca/en/living-here/roads-and-traffic.aspx. Seaton will contain approximately 26 kilometres of either new or reconstructed Regional roads, 20 kilometres of new City arterial roads, and 105 kilometres of new local roads. 10. How will bike lanes be incorporated into the new community? Bike lanes have been incorporated in all of the arterial road designs, including both City and Regional arterial roads. The smaller arterial roads will have bike lanes on the roadway, and the high-traffic arterial roads will have bike lanes accommodated on off-roadway bike lanes/multi-use paths. 11. How does Seaton affect airport plans for Pickering? The Federal Government owns lands immediately north of the Seaton community that have been designated for airport purposes. No decision has yet been made on proceeding with an airport, but the development of Seaton will not affect the development of an airport. For more information about the federal airport lands please visit the Government of Canada’s website. |
Doing Business in Seaton |
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Providing opportunities for residents to work close to home is a key component of ensuring the sustainability of both the Seaton Community, and the City of Pickering as a whole. Our goal is to attract investment in a wide variety of industrial, commercial and retailing businesses throughout Seaton. Seaton supports a balance of residential and employment growth, by providing up to 35,000 jobs when fully built out. The majority of job creation will occur within a prestige employment area within the Highway 7/407ETR corridor. There will also be 'population-serving' jobs throughout the community, including personal service, office and retail employment. Transportation infrastructure has been enhanced to support new business growth. Highway 407 now spans the breadth of the City of Pickering and Durham Region, connecting directly through to Highway 115/35. Wherever your destination, full interchanges at Brock Road (existing) and Whites Road (opening late 2020) make the movement of goods and people quick and easy. Contact our Economic Development Office to explore new business opportunities in Seaton. |
Sustainable Seaton |
| The City of Pickering adopted the Seaton Sustainable Place-Making Guidelines to help create a walkable, transit-supportive community with an active street life, including neighbourhood shops, social facilities and parks. All future neighbourhood plans must meet the minimum standards set out in the guidelines in order to move forward with development.
About 50 per cent of Seaton will remain green, through planned parks, trails, village squares and preservation of open space. Sustainable neighbourhood planning strives to achieve long-term socially, environmentally and economically healthy communities. In 2011, the Seaton Sustainable Place-Making Guidelines created for Seaton focussed on:
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Central Pickering Development Plan (CPDP) |
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The Central Pickering Development Plan (CPDP) was developed by the Province of Ontario, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The Plan establishes land use, transportation, and design policies for Central Pickering, to achieve the vision of a sustainable, urban community in Seaton integrated with a thriving agricultural community in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve and an extensive Natural Heritage System. The CPDP affects a large area of land located generally between the CPR Belleville rail line and Highway 7 in central Pickering. The Plan is made up of 3 main components:
Land Use designations for Central Pickering - Schedule 2 to the CPDP: shows the main existing and future roads and some transit facilities are shown. Natural Heritage System - Schedule 3 to the CPDP: identifies the location of features such as forest, wetlands, and the Lake Iroquois Shoreline. Transportation Network - Schedule 4 to the CPDP: indicates both existing and future Major Roads and Transit Facilities. Servicing System - Schedule 5 to the CPDP: shows proposed water mains, reservoirs and pumping stations, and trunk sewer mains and pumping stations. The plan provides for a population of up to 70,000 people and 35,000 jobs in Seaton, with a vision for compact urban neighbourhoods that provide a range of residential, mixed use and employment uses. Consultants: Planning Alliance Inc., as lead consultant, with input from numerous sub-consultants Status: The Plan was approved, and came into effect on May 3, 2006. Currently, the Plan is currently being implemented by the construction of approved projects. |
History of Seaton |
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The idea for Seaton was born in the early 1970's when the provincial government of the day proposed the development of a new community northeast of Toronto. The new community (which came to be known as North Pickering) was to have 150,000 to 200,000 people and be built in conjunction with a new federal airport to the north. However, for a variety of reasons the airport was not built, and the Province reconsidered its plans for North Pickering. Over the years, a number of different concepts for these lands have been proposed. In 2006, a plan called the Central Pickering Development Plan was completed by the Province. This Plan calls for the development of the urban community of Seaton having up to 70,000 people and 35,000 jobs on the east side of the West Duffins Creek, and an agricultural area on the west side of the creek. Over three quarters of Seaton received conditional approval for development in late 2013 and early 2014. This includes the approval of the Seaton Zoning By-law for all of the approved lands. Building the foundation for this master-planned community began in 2015, with the construction of infrastructure for water, sewers, roads, power, gas, and telecommunications. A variety of builders are currently marketing and building new homes in Seaton with residential construction commencing in 2017. The first residential occupancy of Seaton took place in the spring of 2018. |