Newmarket councillors to get first glimpse at revised, controversial clock tower plans next week

Intensification needed to ensure Main Street success, mayor says

Yorkregion.com
April 11, 2016
By Chris Simon

Newmarket councillors will get their first official glimpse of the revised plans for the Main Street clock tower redevelopment next week.

The town's committee of the whole will review the zoning bylaw amendment application for 178, 180, 184, 188, 190 and 194 Main Street, during a meeting next week. The proposal should be referred to a public meeting for input from local residents after that.

"What's being recommended is that we go through the public process," Mayor Tony Van Bynen said Monday.

"I know there are a lot of people who have varying degrees of opinion about the clock tower. To make Main Street sustainable, we need to have intensification. The clock tower is a great example of the intensification we need. It's just a matter of finding out what is workable, in terms of being sympathetic to the heritage district. I'm optimistic we can make the clock tower work; there may need to be some fine tuning on how we get there. But this is the kind of invigoration Main needs if it truly intends on being sustainable in the longer term."

Forrest Group recently submitted an amended application for the site, which calls for the construction of a 165-unit, seven-storey apartment unit complex near the Main and Park Avenue intersection. If the proposal were constructed as presented, it would include five ground floor retail commercial units fronting Main.

The building would consist entirely of rental apartments of up to two bedrooms in size between 400 and 900 square feet. Some of the suites could be two storeys.

There would also be underground parking for tenants and visitors.

However, the clock tower proposal is one of the town's most controversial redevelopment projects and it has already drawn the ire of one of the leading advocacy groups for the downtown.

The Main Street District Business Improvement Area's board of management passed a resolution opposing the redevelopment late last year.

Newmarket's heritage advisory committee also asked council to deny the application, while several residents have publicly opposed the project because of anticipated parking, population intensification and community ambiance issues.

Forrest Group had previously sought the construction of a 150-unit condominium building with 10 retail commercial units. At that time, the developer proposed a three-storey complex on Main, with nine storeys constructed along Park.

"Let's give council the opportunity to take an objective review of what's available," Van Bynen said. "Let's review this within the context of what the objective of revitalizing Main was all about. The fact is there’s been modifications talks about the desire for the developer to find something that will work. We’ve learned through Glenway that polarity doesn’t help anybody."