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Thornhill

Disparishun said:
Yes, exactly. Or, more accurately, your parents brought you along for the ride, unless you were on about ricers, mommies, and donuts in Jo'burg. And your parents moved to ... where? You're sort of proving my point. They're still coming. If only you could better educate them not to!
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I still don't know what your point is, tbh. I never said people shouldn't live there, or that lifestyle, all I said was that I have no interest in joining them.
 
Disparishun said:
Thornhill has subsidized housing, high-rises, and other features, but it's still predominantly residential, predominantly families, and generally a lot more homogeneous economically than, say, the riding that combines Rosedale and St. Jamestown.
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I get the impression that most of the people who have joined this discussion come from the Vaughan side. The Markham side is much more residentially diverse, and for whatever reason was also developed on average 20 years earlier than the Vaughan side. The absolute wealthiest and lowest income parts of Thornhill are on the Markham side, and similar to Rosedale, essentially on the other side of the tracks from each other.

Markham's side is definitely more residential than Vaughan's, but is much more focused on Yonge. The Vaughan side more closely resembles Mississauga, while the Markham side more closely resembles North York. If I had to predict the future, I would guess that the Vaughan side will end up more dense overall, however the tallest condos and the neigbhourhood with the strongest urban feel will be in Markham.
 
I've been (jokingly) calling Disera Drive "Downtown Thornhill" for sometime, so I'm glad that I'm not alone. Chuck, I live on the Vaughan side of Thornhill and yes I do find it notable that the Markham side of Yonge was developed so early. The area east of Yonge from Steeles up to Highway 7 is definitely much older than its counterparts on the Vaughan side. I think the Vaughan side of Thornhill was developed en masse from 1980 up until...well...the present probably.

Chuck, I think the Markham side of what is called Thornhill is also larger than the Vaughan side. Thornhill is considered to go all the way until the 404 I think while it's border in Vaughan is Dufferin. That's the reason for the residential diversity.

BTW, the Country Style being referred to might be the one on Centre beside where Centre Deli used to be before they moved to the plaza next door. That Country Style has been there as long as I've been in Thornhill (1989) and my father said that it was one of the only things along Centre Street pre-development along with an old Esso (replaced by the newer one) and some of the older houses along Centre.
 
Chuck said:
I get the impression that most of the people who have joined this discussion come from the Vaughan side. The Markham side is much more residentially diverse, and for whatever reason was also developed on average 20 years earlier than the Vaughan side. The absolute wealthiest and lowest income parts of Thornhill are on the Markham side, and similar to Rosedale, essentially on the other side of the tracks from each other.

Markham's side is definitely more residential than Vaughan's, but is much more focused on Yonge. The Vaughan side more closely resembles Mississauga, while the Markham side more closely resembles North York. If I had to predict the future, I would guess that the Vaughan side will end up more dense overall, however the tallest condos and the neigbhourhood with the strongest urban feel will be in Markham.
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I think part of the disparity is also cultural. The Vaughan side (with the exception of the Glen Shields area) is overwhelmingly Jewish. Meanwhile the Markham side is only about half Jewish, with a huge Chinese population and other random population.

The Markham side is also more diverse in terms of employment, as it actually contains some light industry in the Doncaster and Green Lane areas.

Regardless, both have extremely wealthy areas, relatively poorer areas, new developments and very old areas (old Thornhill is 300 years old!).

As for urbanity, without a doubt, outside the areas directly adjacent to Yonge (which are slated to become an extension of NYCC basically) the Vaughan side is going to be denser in the future. More and more towers will go up around the Promenade, and the entire Steeles corridor between Yonge and Bathurst is zoned to be vastly higher density than it is now, with hopefully a vastly more 'urban' feel to it. Still waiting to see what pops up south of Clark across from the Promenade.
 
I don't think you are being constructive or fair at all. As a longtime resident of Thornhill, I am a complete advocate for higher density and condo construction. And I know many other people who agree wholeheartedly. The great thing about Toronto is that we have higher density going up everywhere, rather than in one or two core areas. Condos can go up in NYCC and Thornhill and it is only for the betterment of our city.
 
Epi said:
Still waiting to see what pops up south of Clark across from the Promenade.
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Yes, I moved to thornhill in 1980 and have been waiting with bated breath for this long to see why the land next to the fire station has never been developed. I treked that strip countless times to go to the 'Nade from the Mullen side.

Now if they could only fix the traffic going N and S on Bathurst.
 
York Region as a whole is apparently dedicated to the principles of New Urbanism. Not that you can see much of it now, but its nice to know that even the 'burbs are beginning to see the light; somewhat. My girlfriend lives in Markham and her parents think nothing of driving around the corner on a beautiful summer day to pick up some groceries....they think walking is for the 'poor'. How do we change this suburban mindset?
 
Epi said:
Still waiting to see what pops up south of Clark across from the Promenade.
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probably owned by a jewish congregation or something, and will be developed as a jewish community centre of some sorts in the future.

On a separate note, I think much of the traffic on Bathurst st between steeles and highway 7 can be attributed to All the big box stores and Promenade mixed in with the 407 ramps. Pretty much everybody in Thornhill does local shopping in that district. Not to mention the a million streetlights around everywhere.
 
Vaughan is moving forward in intensifying and urbanizing Thornhill. Plans are afoot to create an "urban village" along Centre Street between Bathurst and Dufferin. While a number of options have been put forth, I think a mid rise, moderately dense zoning will be the likely result. They are discussing running LRT/BRT along this section of centre diverting the HWY 7 rapid Transit (what ever form it takes)through this new development strip.

I only became aware of this plan when I was invited to attend a public meeting by a group intending to fight the plan. http://www.facebook.com/gila.martow#!/events/216928565052367/?notif_t=event_invite

It looks like it's exactly the type of intensification Thornhill needs.

See the entire study here
CENTRE STREET CORRIDOR URBAN DESIGN GUIDELINES
AND STREETSCAPE MASTER PLAN STUDY

Purpose:
The purpose of the Centre Street Corridor Urban Design Guidelines and Streetscape Master Plan Study is to prepare a preliminary design framework and detailed Urban Design Guidelines for Centre Street from Bathurst Street to just west of Dufferin Street, and to prepare a Streetscape Master Plan and Phasing/ Implementation Plan for the same area. These three components will detail the comprehensive set of planning and urban design principles outlined in the Thornhill Centre Street Study, and support Vaughan and York Region Official Plan objectives.


"One of the greatest challenges within the corridor is its transformation from a primary highway and major transportation corridor to an attractive urban space that reinforces the connectivity to the surrounding community."


Location:
The Centre Street Corridor Study Area is approximately three kilometres in length and extends from Bathurst Street in the east to just past Dufferin Street in the west. The corridor includes lands fronting Centre Street on the north and south sides of the street.
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I'm interested to see how this re-development pans out. I wonder what will become of north-south traffic since it'll all be local roads leading in and out of this area from the south. Contrast this development with the maturity on the east side of Thornhill, closer to the 404, where you have very nice communities on generous-sized lots nestled west of the 404 and south of the 407. There still exists the condos and high-rise developments but those are kept primarily on the major streets, making the east side a very peaceful, desirable area located close to highways and still reasonably priced.
 
Chuck said:
The absolute wealthiest and lowest income parts of Thornhill are on the Markham side, and similar to Rosedale, essentially on the other side of the tracks from each other.
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The lowest income area do you mean Yonge and Clark?
 
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