High-rise builder goes to OMB
http://www.yorkregion.com/article/97773
Markham
October 13, 2009 11:02 AM
BY KEELY GRASSER
A developer is taking Markham to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) over their massive Markham Centre development.
The appeal is on the development planned for the currently vacant land on Hwy. 7 between Warden Avenue and Sheridan Nurseries. Times Group Corp. has proposed a high-density residential-commercial development, which will include condominium high-rises for the land.
The town has not yet made a decision on the development, but regional Councillor Joe Virgilio, formally the area's ward councillor, said Times Group's only ground of appeal is that the application is taking too long to go forward.
"I assume they feel they want to get on with it sooner than later," he said.
While the Times Group has been working on its development plans, the town has also started to undertake the creation of a precinct plan for that area in Markham Centre.
That's not yet completed.
After a public meeting in June, council decided to ask staff to look at the application in relation to in-the-works planning updates.
Unfortunately, Mr. Virgilio said, reports and studies sometimes take time.
"I was hoping staff would have been ready and we should have been ready for this instead of being in a reactive mode," he said.
This spring, Times Group's lawyers wrote the town to tell them the developer doesn't believe the creation of the precinct plan is in compliance with the approved planning rules for the area.
A call to Times Group wasn't returned.
Mr. Virgilio said he's hoping there can be negotiations between the developer and the town,
Council hasn't decided how to respond to the appeal yet, but Mr. Virgilio said it eventually will take a position.
A pre-hearing for the case is set go later this month.
The Unionville Ratepayers Association, which believes the proposed Times development is not in accordance with the vision for Markham Centre, is also considering getting involved in the OMB process.
However, it noted at its last meeting, it has the choice of being a party, which means it can introduce and cross-examine witnesses and evidence, or a participant, which means it can speak at the hearing but not introduce or cross-examine witnesses or evidence.
Earlier this year, the association, along with two other Unionville groups, was a party in an OMB hearing on whether or not a real estate business should be allowed to inhabit a ground level office on Main Street.
The groups spent a little on a planning expert, but thousands of dollars on legal fees, Harry Eaglesham, the association's treasurer, reported. "But it was a learning experience."
This swath of land is a large piece of Markham Centre, the town's planned high-density, mixed-use on Hwy. 7.
"The whole theme of Markham Centre is right there," Mr. Virgilio said.