Community

Palermo United Church is located at the north-east corner of Bronte Road and Dundas Street West in the Town of Oakville .  It is conveniently located near the geographic centre of Halton Presbytery, and it offers quick access to highway 407 and the QEW while being within a short drive of highways 401 and 403.  Once a small village and stagecoach stop between Toronto and Hamilton , the community of Palermo has long since been amalgamated into Oakville .  Farming and agriculture was a mainstay of the local economy.  For decades, the lands within a 2 kilometre radius east, south, and west of the church building were agricultural.  There is a long history of cattle farming and crop growing in this the north-west corner of Oakville .  As is often the case in a rural area, the population base was small and it was spread-out over a vast space.  However, things have been changing at the corner of Bronte Road and Dundas Street West .

 

The area surrounding Palermo United Church is an area in transition.  While it was once a farming community, in the last five years, land developers have acquired vast properties and they have proceeded to build massive subdivisions.  It is estimated that, in about two years time, a total of 8,000 new households will have moved into the immediate area surrounding the church.  This represents a population of some 20,000 people.  One congregant who used to live in a house on the south side of Dundas Street West commented how, when looking out her kitchen window, she could see the farms off in the distance 4 kilometres south of her home.  Now, a new subdivision with new townhouses butts-up against her former backyard fence.  Were she still in her home looking out that same window, all she would see is a row of townhouses about 100 feet from her kitchen.  If you were to drive along Dundas Street West on a Monday and if you were to make the same drive on the Friday of that same week, you would swear that more homes had been erected over the course of those 5 days.  The truth is, you would be correct.  The rate at which new homes are being built is astonishing.  The area around Palermo United Church is in transition from a rural community to a community of subdivisions with new residents, and the change is happening with lightning speed.

 

Not only is the landscape in transition, but the composition of the people that make up the community is also changing.  Once, the overwhelming majority of residents in the area were of northern European descent and their families had been in the area for generations.  Now, most of these families have moved out of the Palermo area.  New people, with no family ties to Palermo or to Oakville, are moving in.  Some preliminary and anecdotal research and observation suggests that many of the new people moving into the area are still of a northern European background, but there is a noticeable minority of individuals of African, Caribbean, Indian, and Asian heritage.  As new homes are still being built and as more are to be built in the near future, the final ethnic make-up of the community is still in question.  However, one can be sure that there will be some degree of ethnic diversity.

 

As you may have noticed, all of these developments are happening south of Dundas Street West.  The reason for this is that the lands on the north side, from Tremaine road (2 kms west of Palermo United) over to Trafalgar Road (about 10 kms to the east of Palermo United) are subject to a “Special Study” by the Town of Oakville.  The Town is unsure as to whether or not it will allow further residential and commercial development north of Dundas Street West as far north as highway 407 which is a mere 1 kilometre north.  The speculation is that the Town will allow development and that even more people will be moving into the area.

The Town of Oakville presently has big plans for the area surrounding Bronte Road and Dundas Street West ; it is meant to be more than just a massive subdivision. 

 

The Town is considering building a new “ Palermo Village ”.  The expectation is that, on the south side of Dundas right across the street from Palermo United Church , a new “village downtown” will be built.  The Town would like to see a mix of commercial and residential buildings that will serve as a new “downtown” for the community.  New condo towers, possibly as high as 10 stories, might be in the plans.  A new transit hub, for Oakville Transit and GO Transit, is to be built in this area.  It has been proposed that a new regional hospital will be constructed at Dundas Street West and Third Line (2 kilometres east of Palermo United Church ).  In time, the new Palermo Village is expected to be the most densely populated part of the Town of Oakville .  Therefore it seems that the area that surrounds Palermo United Church is in transition from a rural community to a suburban community today, but that the plan is to transform the area into a more urban locale tomorrow.