Residents 'don't have a life': developer tells Markham opponents

Yorkregion.com
May 31, 2017
By Tim Kelly

Unionville resident Jane Lewis had a straightforward question for Markham staff and council when she came to Monday's council meeting:

Why are you set to approve a 10-storey addition on an 18-storey building when the Markham Official Plan states the maximum height for residential buildings is 15 storeys?

"I'm confused," Lewis said, relating tales of 30-storey and 40-storey building plans for Hwy. 7.

"I feel we're getting scammed here," Lewis said, as she waited for an answer about why buildings are going beyond the 15-storey bylaw limit.

After confirming Lewis was exactly right in her reading of the latest edition of the Markham Official Plan, Development Services Commissioner Jim Baird gave a somewhat long convoluted answer that boiled down to this: While the Official Plan limits buildings to 15 storeys throughout the city, there are precinct plans such as for Downtown Markham, which allows for additional height such as 18 storeys and "a site-specific bylaw amendment" allowing for an additional 10 storeys.

The long or the high and the short of it, is that it was approved Monday night by a recorded 9-2 vote with only councillors Alan Ho and Valerie Burke opposed. Karen Rea and Logan Kanapathe were absent.

In the end, the key to getting the extra height approved was a letter from Transport Canada that lifted the ceiling on building height above the 18-storey limit along Hwy. 7. That letter was official as of Friday, May 25, clearing the way for council to approve the height increase for the Times building.

In addition to height worries, traffic concerns were raised as were issues about shadowing of increasingly tall buildings along Hwy. 7.

Lincoln Lo, representative for the developer, gave an effective presentation on shadowing showing that buildings along Hwy. 7 on the south side would not be affected throughout the year by the skyscrapers.

Hashem Ghadaki, president of Times Corporation, spoke after the council meeting about the Transport Canada letter and said it was the linchpin for the 10-storey addition. “One year I worked to get the approval and today, I got the letter from Transport Canada,” said Ghadaki.
“Everything takes time; I cannot go higher (until receipt of the letter),” he said, insisting the building is now 14 storeys high with 9-foot ceilings.

Ghadaki is also applying for 1,600 more units for his buildings along Hwy. 7, another 120 storeys he said. They will be spread among, “10 or 12 buildings,” he said. And he admitted that one of them will be 42 storeys high. The application is expected to be dealt with by council in the fall.

“We are planning, yes, a 42-storey (building), yes. It’s not a big deal. This is Downtown Markham. I am just surprised ... they (who are opposed), don’t have a life,” he said in exasperation.

He said those opposed to what he is doing should listen to the City of Markham and the Province of Ontario.

“This is a growth area, this is where they want the density. Here is where they want the growth,” the developer said.