King residents slam 'vertical trailer park' proposal on Keele Street

yorkregion.com
May 12, 2017
By Simon Martin

Local residents and council seemed to be in lockstep in their derision of the proposal from the developer.

“It looks like stacked mobile homes, sort of like a vertical trailer park,” Shirley Moffatt said. And that was just beginning. Among concerns raised: not enough parking, too many units, too tall, and inadequate setbacks.

“It represents the worst of what we think of developers,” King City resident Gordon Brown said.

Some members of council couldn’t help join the fun and voice their disdain. “If this is gateway to King City, I’m going to leave King City. To me, it looks more like a prison,” Ward 3 Coun. Linda Pabst said.

The stack townhouses would be located at the corner of Keele Street and Clearview Crescent. In the proposal, each block contains a basement level where 24 parking spaces are located for a total of 48 underground spaces, with 10 visitor spaces being provided at ground level.

The proposal includes an outdoor garbage storage facility, retaining walls, landscaping and stormwater management features. Access is proposed from one driveway located on Clearview Crescent, about 45 metres from Keele Street.

Town staff said at this time there are no four-storey buildings along Keele Street. The staff report said there was a shortfall of 14 parking spaces in the proposal.

While there was general consensus from residents who spoke at the public meeting that this parcel of land should be developed, it was clear that nobody who spoke was enamoured with what they saw.

“It’s not exciting right now,” said Ward 5 Coun. Debbie Schaefer.

It’s not hard to see what the developer sees in the property as it located in the village core of King City.

“You can hit a driver from this property to the Go station,” developer spokesperson Murray Evans said. “If we don’t intensify here, where should you intensify?”

While King needs intensification targets set by the province, it doesn’t mean it has to cram 48 units at the site, Mayor Steve Pellegrini said. “Intensification can mean going from one unit to three.” Others at the meeting spoke in agreement that 48 was simply too high a number for the site.

“It’s a site that should be intensified. My question is, to what degree?” resident Bruno Artenosi said.

Bill Patterson, who lives on Elizabeth Grove, voiced his displeasure with the townhouses being just two metres from his rear property line. Elizabeth Grove, with bungalow units, also doesn’t provide a good transition to four storeys.

Pellegrini advocated for the developer to take part in community consultations to help develop a proposal that works for everyone. “We have done this in the past and it has worked,” he said.