Decreased densities approved by York Region - Density swap

NRU
March 30, 2016
By Geordie Gordon

Rejecting staff recommendations, York Region council voted to allow Markham official plan amendments that reduce the density on a Markham site that had previously been zoned for high-density residential development. While the lost density will be transferred to another site owned by Times Group, regional staff argue that the amendments do not conform to the Provincial Policy Statement, the Growth Plan or the York Region official plan.

In 2013 the OMB granted Times Group permission to build 393 units in an eight-storey condominium and 12 units of townhouses on its site at 4002 and 4022 Highway 7. Subsequently in 2015, Markham council approved an official plan amendment allowing the developer to reduce the density on its site from 405 units to 56 units. As a condition of approval Markham council required the Times Group to transfer the lost 350 units from the site on the north side to land it owns on the south side of Highway 7.

The amendments to modify the Markham official plan were then supported in an 11-to-5 vote by York Region council March 24.

York Region staff recommended that council refuse the amendments, writing in a report that “the amendments do not conform to York Region’s approved official plan policy direction and do not reflect good planning.” Previously, Markham planning staff had also recommended that its council deny the proposed official plan amendments, on the grounds that they are not in keeping with the city’s development objectives for the Highway 7 corridor.

York Region chief planner Valerie Shuttleworth said that staff gave regional council its best professional advice, but it’s only one factor in council’s decision making. While York Region’s vision for Highway 7, and the transit-supportive densities along it, would still be realized, she said the preference of staff would have been to maintain the density on the site.

“From an overall regional official plan objectives perspective, it would have been the best of both worlds to have the density already approved for [the 4002 and 4022 Highway 7] site, and additional density on the south,” she said. Speaking on behalf of client Times Group, Kagan Shastri partner Ira Kagan told NRU that the amendments were always about the quality of the building that his client could construct on the site. Providing high-end amenities in a condominium was not possible in an eight-storey building.

“If someone was prepared to allow [the owner] to build a 20-storey building on the north side of Highway 7, that would have been a different story. But the north side of Highway 7 in this stretch is different from the south side, and that wasn’t going to fly,” he said.

Kagan said that the decrease in density shouldn’t set a negative precedent for other developers to reduce density in York Region. Because Times Group has entered into an agreement with the city for its site on the south side of Highway 7, Kagan contends it sets a positive precedent for other applicants looking to reduce density.

“What makes this unique is that the guy that owns the north side owns all of the south side, so he can deliver the loss of units [from the north to the south side]. Anyone else on the north side that wants to try the same thing, I don’t know how they can deliver the loss of units,” he said.

Markham deputy mayor and York Region councillor Jack Heath, who voted against approving the amendments, told NRU that he thinks it is the wrong decision to downzone the site. Locating density along Highway 7 is appropriate. Also, he has no doubt that this decision will impact other applications
for downzoning in Markham.

“The options are either you’re intensifying along the major corridors, [and] Highway 7 is the major east-west corridor in Markham, or you’re putting more houses up on the farmlands
to the north,” he said.

Shuttleworth said that regional staff remain concerned about the number of applicants seeking to reduce density and will continue to recommend that council maintain approved densities. [NRU reported in its April 22, 2015 issue that there have been eight applications for downzoning in York Region since 2013.]

She said that there is a strong policy in the York Region official plan, which prohibits the approval of local municipal amendments that would have the effect of reducing density on sites that are approved for medium- or high-density development. However, Shuttleworth echoed Kagan’s comments, saying the Time Group site presents a unique situation, with the owner being able to transfer density, which may not be possible with other sites.

“I think [council] felt the overall densities aren’t being reduced,” she said.

City of Markham ward 3 councillor Don Hamilton told NRU that building the townhomes on the site in his ward is the right thing to do, and something that residents of the area want. Furthermore, transferring the density to the lands south of Highway 7 reduces any impact that the loss in density might have had on the longer term objectives for Highway 7, which is designated as a Transit Priority Network in the York
Region official plan.

He added that there is already too much development slated for the north side of Highway 7.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s way too much going on on the north side of Highway 7, far too many buildings and condos.”