Green Lane future includes more houses, stores, roads

YorkRegion.com
May 4, 2017
Simon Martin

More houses, more apartments, more townhomes, more schools, more stores, more roads, more trails, more parks, more traffic and fewer farms. That’s the future of Green Lane in a nutshell.

Council chambers was packed in East Gwillimbury May 2 as residents got a first look at what the future of Green Lane will look like as the town is in the process of developing its Green Lane Secondary Plan.

While things are still very much in preliminary stages, Paul Lowes from SGL Planning and Design told the audience that Green Lane is a key growth area in the town.

The plan outlines how the development of the Green Lane corridor will be concentrated on emphasizing the main intersections at 2nd Concession and Yonge Street as core areas of the community.

In the two land-use planning options developed for resident comments, those core areas had residential and commercial mixed use designations. Also, both main intersections had high-density housing zoned nearby. Low-density housing was generally located farther away. Medium density was generally located around the main arteries.

The open house was one of several that are happening in 2017, with another one scheduled in September before a public meeting to take place in December.

As part of the road network is a proposed east-west collector road the town is slated to build north of Green Lane. With an estimated cost of $50 million, the east-west municipal road is proposed to run between an extension of Harry Walker Parkway and Bathurst Street. It's intended to help pave the way for new development in Sharon and alleviate traffic on Green Lane. The four-lane road’s preferred route would run south of the Sharon Burying Ground and reach Bathurst south of Morning Sideroad.

The proposed route intersects Yonge, 2nd Concession, Leslie Street and Murrell Boulevard. A five-span bridge will also be required to run over the East Holland River, GO Transit tracks and the Nokiidaa Trail.

The town’s consultants estimate the cost of the crossing at about $17 million.

By 2041, East Gwillimbury’s population is projected to soar from its current 25,000 to 108,700 people, according to the region’s growth targets.

Development of the Green Lane corridor is dependent on the town getting more sewage allocation from the proposed sewage facility in Queensville, which is being held up by the province.

East Gwillimbury’s population is already booming without the new sewage plant, and could grow by 51 per cent over the next four years. Planning director Nick Pileggi said the town has already added an estimated 1,000 people since the York Durham Sewage System extension became operational last fall.

Pileggi told council at a special meeting on growth management on April 11 that, so far, there have been 253 new home occupancies, but those numbers grow almost daily. There has already been 2,352 permits issued for new construction, with a total 7,000 units available to the town as part of the YDSS extension.

For more about the plan, visit eastgwillimbury.ca