Richmond Hill intensification: towers to townhouses

NRU
June 28, 2017
By Dominik Matusik

What began as a proposal for two towers - 16 and 18 storeys - has evolved into a proposal for 103 three-storey condominium townhouses on former industrial land at 153 16th Avenue and 370 Red Maple Road in Richmond Hill.

According to ward 6 councillor Godwin Chan, at issue is the town’s transportation infrastructure capacity. The level of intensification proposed by the original two-tower proposal cannot be supported by the transportation network, at least until the Yonge subway is extended into Richmond Hill, he told NRU.

“In this case, the medium density [is] far better from an infrastructure capacity standpoint than the 400 units planned for the two [towers]... [The town] is constrained. On one hand, I’m sure the development industry would say ‘this is definitely the corridor for public transit and the subway is coming’, but the reality is...it is still years away.”

Signature Communities proposes to build 103 three-storey townhouse units - both stacked and ground-oriented - on its 1.34-ha lot, with a density of 77 units per ha. It is also proposing 200 parking spaces in an above-ground structure that doubles as a safety barrier between the units and the CN railroad tracks to their rear.

An earlier proposal was for two towers with 396 units, at heights slightly exceeding the 14 storeys permitted under the official plan. However, the site was designated neighbourhood, meaning only low-rise residential development is permitted. When the town failed to make a decision, Signature Communities appealed to the OMB.

However, there was significant community opposition to the intensity and height of the two towers proposal. Much of this opposition came from residents of a high-rise complex just to the south of the site.

“There is concern,” Chan says, “particularly from existing residents in the area, about high-rises coming in very quickly. It appears, beyond what can be accommodated at this point in time...The majority of the people that came to the meeting to oppose the two high-rises are people who live in the other three high-rises...People say ‘I don’t want to look out my window at another concrete block’. Which is totally understandable.

Since the revised proposal to lower from 18 storeys to three storeys for townhouses, the voices of opposition have been diminished.”

Richmond Hill mayor Dave Barrow says that townhouses are an appropriate use on this site. He told NRU that the town has plenty of density and is having no trouble meeting provincial intensification targets, even without towers on sites such as this one.

Signature Communities submitted its revised proposal for the site in 2015, this time proposing townhouses rather than towers, which staff supports.

Representing Signature Communities, Goldberg Group principal Michael Goldberg told NRU that they are happy the application could come to a resolution without a contested hearing. He says that the new proposal is a compromise acceptable to both Signature and the town.

“[Signature] decided [it] can make a go of it with a combination of conventional and stacked townhouses. And that was something we could negotiate with staff and the town council. So [Signature] compromised.”

Last week, Richmond Hill committee of the whole recommended that council approve the settlement at its meeting June 27, and directed staff to attend the July 20 hearing in support of the settlement.