Thornhill residents: What's your vision for Promenade area?

Racco to head committee addressing Promenade area development

Yorkregion.com
March 7, 2017
By Simone Jospeh

A group of Thornhill residents is determined to find out what you want done with land near The Promenade Shopping Mall.

The Beverly Glen Ratepayer Association held its annual meeting Sunday night, attended by about 35 people.

The group has decided to distribute a survey to gauge public opinion on The Promenade issue.

Development company The Torgan Group has proposed developing the area around The Promenade Shopping Centre, including The Promenade Village Shoppes which is a plaza just south of Centre Street.

The company proposed building seven 27-storey condo towers. The vision for the area was presented to the public in December 2016 by land use planner Weston Consulting and architect Les Klein of Quadrangle Architects.

The developer plans to apply for an official plan amendment, so it can make a change to the potential height and density allowed in the area.

According to the city’s official plan, developers can only build up to a maximum of 14 storeys.

Residents at the December public meeting expressed concern about potential traffic and dangerous streets.

Traffic concerns are “legitimate,” said Sam Cohen, one of the owners of Torgan Group, back in December. ”We need to deal with it and find solutions,” he said, pointing to public transportation as a solution.

But he pointed out that Thornhill residents requested this development.

A newly-formed committee aims to address this promenade area redevelopment project by communicating the community’s interests to Vaughan council. Mario Racco is head of this new committee called Centre Bathurst Community; Josh Martow is a member of the committee.

“We want to make sure Vaughan council has the community’s interest (in mind). We want to hold their feet to the fire,” Martow said. ”We believe people won’t be comfortable with extra density and height but we want to have real data.”

Racco is president of the Brownridge Ratepayers Association which includes Promenade Circle. Josh Martow was re-elected Sunday night as president of the The Beverly Glen Ratepayer Association.

“Be ready. It is going to be a challenge,” Racco said. “They (the developer) can afford to buy any architect or planner and we cannot.”

At Sunday’s meeting, Thornhill resident Itia Golan asked: “Why can’t we get more people with power on our side?” She went on to say: “From what I heard, it is already a given”.

A given meaning the developer’s plan for the Promenade area will go ahead.

The reason some say the outcome is “a given” is the issue will likely go to the Ontario Municipal Board which has final say on municipal planning decisions. The board has been criticized in recent years for often siding with developers.

Thornhill Councillor Alan Shefman put forward a motion at a Nov. 15 Vaughan council meeting that a secondary plan, meaning a detailed plan for the area, be approved. Council passed this motion.

This detailed plan would map out an entire block, from Bathurst Street to New Westminster Drive and from Centre Street to Clark Avenue.