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Yonge-Steeles corridor study

C

canarob

Guest
High-rise plan sparks study

Jan 5, 2007
By David Fleischer, Staff Writer
www.yorkregion.com/yr/yr4...5185c.html

A new plan to build a mega-condominium project near Yonge Street and Steeles Avenue has encouraged Markham to re-evaluate its plans for the area.

In November, Liberty Developments presented a plan to redevelop 7161 and 7171 Yonge St. The current site has a Canadian Tire gas station, Wendy's restaurant and a plaza anchored by Pharmacy One, Galleria and Fabricland.

Under the proposal, that would be replaced by two 39-storey towers, two 32-storey towers, a 10-storey office building and a three-storey office. The condo towers would have retail on their ground floors.

The four-hectare site would house about 3,100 residents and 2,410 parking spaces, mostly underground.

"It didn't surprise me because it's right on Yonge Street and we have the (Viva) transit,†Markham Councillor Valerie Burke said."But I didn't expect that sort of density."

Maxed-out sewer capacity was a prominent issue in the recent election and so it's hard to imagine adding even more development right now, Ms Burke said.

The town will also have to consider if community services such as schools can handle so many new residents, as well as traffic effects and other concerns. She also wants to make sure the housing is affordable and sustainable.

As a result, Markham has decided a comprehensive planning study is needed before any major changes take place.

The town is selecting a consultant for the $150,000 study, which is scheduled to wrap up before the end of the year.

Public meetings on the development proposal would not be held until after the study is complete and town staff have had their concerns addressed.

Even back in 1989, concerns were raised about the road and transportation infrastructure, traffic infiltrating adjacent residential neighbourhoods and overloading other community services.

The owners of nearby Centerpoint Mall expressed concerns that new development in the area would compromise the accessibility and viability of the shopping centre.

Since that time, numerous initiatives, including Ontario's Places to Grow plan and York Region’s centres and corridors plan, have been directing new growth to already developed regional nodes such as Yonge.

High-rise plans are also beginning to surface in Vaughan where applications near the proposed subway extension are coming in. One development, at Jane Street and Hwy. 7, would house nearly 4,000 people in six towers topping out at 34 storeys.

"The heights in this application are pretty unique in Markham," said Ron Blake, manager of development for Markham's west district.

The town was already planning to update its policies for the neighbourhood when the development came in.

"Yonge Street is an area in transition," he said.

The Yonge-Steeles corridor study will include extensive public consultation to develop an overall framework for the area.

Even if approved, servicing allocation would not be available for the development until at least 2011, so the towers aren't coming just yet. "This has to fit in with our community," Ms Burke said.

John O'Gorman, a member of the Grandview Ratepayers Association, was philosophical about the need to redevelop.

"I'm interested in seeing the details. The devil is in the details," he said. "Any development should have a human scale and have the qualities of smart growth."

Mr. O'Gorman acknowledged the need to intensify, even when that redevelopment is set to swallow up the garden he has nurtured and the home in which he has lived for more than 25 years.

While not happy about developers and land speculators taking advantage of the situation, "intensification is proper and inevitable and required", he said.
 
Also, here are some maps and drawings:

http://www.markham.ca/markham/ccbs/indexfile/Agendas/2008/Development%20Services/pl081007/Yonge%20Street%20Corridor%20Study%20Attachments.pdf

yongestelles.jpg
 
Unfortunately on the other side of Yonge, Vaughn has fairly different plans. They have purchased or expropriated most of the land, and have a scheme that will involve partnering with the Sorbara Group and SmartCentres to build a 'mixed use lifestyle centre' 50% larger than the 400/401 area. There will be a number of unique international retail offerings like H&M, The Gap, and Pier 1. Eight gelato places have already signed up. Parking will be conveniently located along the street in accordance with the city' new Mixed Use Corridor Guidelines. Five office towers of 4-6 storeys will be the highest in the city and redefine the skyline. With the number of lawsuits the city is facing the sidewalks and bikelanes have been cut from the plan, but the City has received 0 complaints about this to-date.
 
^ That would be true were Vaughan's share of Thornhill not already one of the more (to coin a useless phrase) "urbanistically responsible" suburban areas in the GTA.

I like wylie's civic centre relocation idea, but only if Thornhill breaks away from both Markham and Vaughan and becomes its own city.
 
Is there a Web site to this new lifestyle centre in Vaughan? That could spell trouble for Centerpoint.
 
So long as Vaughan and Toronto do their part, this intersection could easily evolve into one of the more successful regional nodes in the GTA. Unlike VCC and downtown Markham, this project represents natural intensification of an already established and desirable neighbourhood, and is along a heavily used transit corridor.

Interestingly, Yonge and Steeles has never been identified in any regional planning literature, and will have among the poorest highway access of all the GTA nodes - only Yonge and Eglinton is worse off. Being along Yonge means that a natural main street already exists, along with shorter blocks and an automatic street grid.
 
Interestingly, Yonge and Steeles has never been identified in any regional planning literature, and will have among the poorest highway access of all the GTA nodes

And if you think traffic is bad at Yonge and 401 today wait until this these things start generating traffic. NYCC, by virtue of the ring roads that keep traffic to Yonge, Sheppard and Finch, will be a mess 24 hours a day.
 
It looks like it has been many years in coming.

I recently received a notice for a public meeting because I live within the Yonge Steeles study area indicated below.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?oe=U...d=116503204096960830879.0004804cd11f38e1f03ac

It appears that the city of Vaughan is going to stop treating this intersection as the ass end of the city and has moved forward with plans to rezone and encourage redevelopment of this area.

There is a lot of info on this page here "Yonge Steeles Study" about the prefered route for development to take. They Mention building heights to 40 stories and a linear park seperating the high density development from the existing low density homes.

Overall I like the plans. My home won't be in any shadow cast by the new towers.

Some of the plans provided are pretty rudimentary but you get a decent scope of the project from this summary.

http://vaughantomorrow.ca/OPR/Yonge%20Street%20Study/pdf/march2009_presentation_overview.pdf
What's here now is in desperate need redevelopment.
 
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