Richmond Hill community centre - traffic jam

NRU
Dec. 7, 2016
By Andrew Cohrs

A proposed Richmond Hill community centre is creating angst in its potential neighbourhood, with residents raising concerns about congestion, insufficient parking and lack of privacy. Ward 5 councillor Karen Cilevitz says that municipal staff has considered all planning impacts and worked with the developer to address the identified issues. Still, residents have submitted a petition with over 70 signatures in opposition to its proposed location.

“I completely support the recommendations in the staffreport... It definitely represents good planning... I think it is an excellent placement for this [community centre],” Cilevitz told NRU.

On Monday, the committee of the whole recommended council approve the proposal by the Jewish Youth Network to construct a two-storey, 2,405 m2 community centre with 48 car and 7 bicycle parking spaces at 9131 and 9135 Bathurst Street. The proposed building is 0.69 times the area of the lot and nearly 20 per cent of the property will be landscaped.

“[The community centre] is a really good use for the area, it’s needed... Bathurst is busier in York Region than it is in Toronto. It’s a busy street no question but that’s where the buses run and where we have young kids [who] will be cycling and busing to the site... It is a very central area,” Evans Planning principal Murray Evans, representing the Jewish Youth Network, told NRU.

Evans explained that his clients had addressed concerns over privacy and buffering by going beyond
the zoning by-law to increase setbacks, shift the building’s location and provide additional landscaping. However, residents living on adjacent streets submitted a petition to the town opposing the development.

In a covering letter residents wrote that the community centre would “aggravate road conditions for local residents ... cause serious traffic jams ... [and result in] a large number of cars that [would] be illegally parked [on local roads].”

Cilevitz acknowledges that traffic is an issue in the area, but thinks that residents’ concerns need to be considered in the wider context of the area’s development, noting that a 128 townhouse development is under construction directly across Bathurst Street.

“I am fully cognizant of the existing residents’ concerns and the petition that went around... I also believe at some point in time, [York] Region is going to have to address the matter of traffic and congestion at Birch and Bathurst, and I would imagine that at some point a traffic light is going to go there.”

The staff report does not address the impact the community centre will have on traffic along Bathurst Street. However, it does recommend that council support the Jewish Youth Network’s revised proposal, with increased parking, landscaping and setbacks.

“I honestly and truly believe that we have addressed the concerns that were brought up by residents. I held two residents’ meetings to address concerns and even met privately with the residents who back onto the site... There is no question that this application represents good planning and I believe that it is not only appropriate for Ward 5 in Richmond Hill but it is of great public benefit.”

The staff report will be considered by council next Monday.