Downtown dilemma: Richmond Hill grapples with ailing village core
Yorkregion.com
October 12, 2018
Kim Zarzour
Do you care about your town’s village core?
For years, Richmond Hill has struggled to revitalize its downtown, an area that was once a picture-postcard village hub and today seems stagnant and struggling.
It’s one of the key talking points this election: will council’s recently passed plan to create a pedestrian-friendly historic core, book-ended by higher-density development to the north and south, help or hurt the beleaguered business area?
Should municipal offices be moved to the downtown? Does anyone outside the core really even care?
The town’s secondary plan calls for a walkable “main street character” unified with linking parks and plazas and a system of mews, courtyards and pedestrian areas behind the Yonge Street buildings.
The plan was also supposed to include moving town hall from its current position at Highway 7 and Beaver Creek to the land near central library, but that idea crumbled after a surprise defeating vote in June.
Now council is re-evaluating, but still hopes to bring public amenities such as park space, an amphitheatre, reflecting pond/skating rink, public promenade and gardens.
Whoever you elect this month will be tasked with moving forward.
We sought out the viewpoints of some long-time residents, former politicians, businesses and experts to hear their views.
Candidates, too, are weighing in on their ideas. You can find their views online here.
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Donna Smith has lived in Richmond Hill for 50 years and has no plans to leave.
The 74-year-old loves this town. She has raised a family here, put in years of volunteer work, been active with the United Church, all her friends nearby.
“I won’t move unless my health fails and I have to.”
But the future of the village core troubles her.
She remembers how great it used to be, hopes it will one day be great again, but sometimes wonders if the downtown matters at all to the rest of Richmond Hill.
There was a time, Smith says, when downtown was a destination. She could get everything she needed at the Richmond Heights plaza - the Woolworths, Reitman’s and restaurants, grocery shop at Dominion, drop in to Fisher’s Office Supplies, the lovely gift shop, the bakeries.
Who knew it would change so drastically?
“If you walk through the neighbourhoods, you’ll see the quaintness is still there, the way homes are kept up and people are friendly. There’s still a small-town feeling.”
But venture onto Yonge, she says, and that feeling disappears.
“It’s not that I don’t like change or growth,” she says.
“I know the last couple of councils tried to do something. But some councillors are pushing “monstrous” developments on the east side at Richmond Street.”
That, to her, is just not right.
“I know there are some on council who have the vision, but I’m afraid about what will happen with the next council.”
The multicultural character of Richmond Hill is a great plus for the area; she just wishes it could blend better with the rest of the community.
Smith, who lives in a condo near the core, would like the town hall to be relocated there, and likes the idea of laneways or “mews” that the town plans for behind the buildings to provide quiet sitting areas and frontage on both sides.
“Maybe I’m pie in the sky.”
Maybe, she adds, people in the newer parts of town don’t even care.
It’s shocking to learn that not everyone knows about what is in the village. People tell her, when she volunteers with the heritage centre teas, they never knew the centre existed, and she’s heard others say they didn’t know about the Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts.
There are gems in the core, she says, it’s time to spread the word.
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Ana Bassios may not be the town planner anymore – she left that post in 2017 - but she remains firm in her faith that the town’s strategy would, and should, revitalize the core.
Bassios says that the town heard loud and clear from residents during consultations about 10 years ago that they want to preserve the character of the historic downtown – and they do not want the core become a “canyon like North York”.
This sentiment led to a secondary plan with elevated density and development in the two areas adjacent to the historic core to support an ”active, vibrant, characterful downtown”.
Moving town hall to town-owned land south of Major Mackenzie would be a symbolic commitment to the vision by providing office employment, signalling it is more than just a high-rise bedroom community, she says.
The town has invested resources and effort into creating the downtown that was envisioned by the community, bringing the theatre, street improvements, initiating the BIA. But realizing the vision of a vibrant downtown requires sustained commitment and concerted action, she says.
Bassios worries that current council’s commitment to relocating town hall has softened.
“There seems to be a crisis of confidence on the part of leadership.”
“I think what has happened in the intervening years is that the sense of how all these actions work together to achieve the kind of community that people say they want has dissipated. Ownership of the commercial properties in the downtown has turned over and you have a new set of owners who perhaps bought with an eye to redevelopment.
“We can opt for wholesale redevelopment, but there is no other place like this. Richmond Hill is blessed with the historic base at its core. It’s not like we’re starting from scratch in a greenfield like Markham. The rest of the town is modern suburban development and if that’s what people want, if that’s good enough… We have to decide. Do you want a mall or a downtown?”
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Arnie Warner, a former town councillor and long-time resident, visits the village often.
There is the hairdresser, of course, but also his favourite restaurant Rhapsody, the walks around the beautiful tree-lined streets, old homes and eclectic buildings just steps off Yonge.
He loves his hometown’s downtown, but it disappoints him.
“It hasn’t advanced the way I wanted it to,” he says.
Warner says he put a lot of effort into revitalizing the core when he was a councillor. He refers to the Tridel condo building and the Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts.
“I believe we did a lot there…fixing sidewalks, the lights, the old post office building. Now, I think the property owners need to step up.”
The problem, as he sees it, is ownership is fragmented. Most businesses in the core are tenants. Landlords are reluctant to fix up their buildings and can’t attract higher quality tenants, and reluctant to raise rents because they think higher-paying tenants won’t come.
Those that are there, are struggling to stay alive, he says.
“It’s a vicious circle and we need to break out of it.”
As chair of the theatre committee, he says he fought hard to keep the core height low, to respect the height of church spires.
“There are many areas in Toronto that aren’t all glass highrises and they co-exist quite nicely,” he says, pointing to Leaside, a “refreshing change from intense density”.
There should be some “municipal presence” downtown, he says, but he is not in favour of moving town hall to the core.
Residents tend to pay their bills online now, he says, and it’s not likely staff would walk up the hill to patronize businesses.
“It would be a massive expense and I don’t think that’s wise for a fiscally responsible town to go into debt for that.”
Other features, like the skating rink or amphitheatre, can make it a destination and an active people place, he says.
“Do we want to make it look like Yonge and Sheppard? I don’t think so. The right thing to do is hold to the vision. It’s going to take leadership.”
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When he took over the helm of the local Business Improvement Association (BIA) four years ago, Mehrdad Sabouhi was brimming with enthusiasm and with plans to bring new life to the village core.
When town hall moved to the Hwy 7 area in …, several banks left the downtown and so did town staff who frequented businesses on lunch hour. Sabouhi says it was no longer a gathering place.
He says he has been working hard with the BIA to bring changes, “but we are not able to do it ourselves. We have an amazing mayor with a vision but we have difficulty getting the job done with different departments in the town.”
The first problem, he says, is parking. There is plenty, but it’s not obvious.
For four years the BIA, with help from local Ward 4 councillor David West, has been lobbying for better signage but they are still waiting.
He has also been asking for a sign to introduce the village. “How difficult is it to do that?
Other problems are caused by owners who take up valuable Yonge Street parking spots in front of their own businesses.
Internet is an issue for many in the core area, he says. New development might motivate Bell and Rogers to improve service.
“We can’t compete with Unionville. That has a different mood because it’s not a major road. But the village can have its own beauty.”
He’d like to see small patios and sitting areas or rooftop patios like Yorkville, “but the town is very tough. They’re not helping business.
“Businesses are coming and going… People are angry that their concerns are not being heard.”
Property owners – who believe they need more density to make it worthwhile for them to build - do not have a good relationship with town staff, he says, and they are not happy with continuously fighting for what they want.
There have been many meetings between owners and staff; some have spent years completing paperwork, facing lengthy delays for signatures and approvals from the town, only to be denied, he says.
“We have to do something. It can’t keep going like this. We’re tired of meetings and talk, talk talk. This is the town’s identity. Downtown is Richmond Hill.”
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Some call Marj Andre “Ms Richmond Hill” and for good reason.
The long-time resident, facilitator of community connections, and winner of the town’s Citizen of the Year award knows pretty much everything about this town.
And when it comes to downtown Richmond Hill, she pulls no punches.
“If you ask someone on the street, I don’t think it’s high on their list,” she says.
Like Warner, she does not agree with the town hall move to the village core.
“If you’re working in the town building, would you walk all the way up to Aneal’s or Amazing Thai? I think it’s too far to walk. I’m not convinced it would revitalize the area.”
She also sees difficulties with landlords, a lack of pride in the area, a focus on their investment and how best to make money from the property.
“Developers just want to build something higher to make more money,” she says. “We’re talking about creating something unique…What would make builders want to do it? We have to be creative.”
Property owners in the village core are predominantly Persian and for them, she says, it’s difficult to put faith in a heritage that is just over 100 years old when their culture dates back 5,000 years.
“I understand that. What we have is not much, it’s not the necropolis, or an amazing basilica or temple, but it’s what we’ve got and I see value in preserving that.
“I suppose we could tear everything down, build from scratch. It would be easier… But the town has a comprehensive plan. They put a lot of effort into it. What it requires is for developers to take a chance.
“I see it as a place of pride, interesting buildings and restaurants. The potential is there.”
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Laura Taylor, urban planner and associate professor at York University, has watched Richmond Hill’s downtown struggle and she can see the challenges.
For most residents, Richmond Hill is a suburb, she says.
“In small towns that are separate, they know downtown is the heart of the community.”
It’s different in Richmond Hill that, outside of the core, is so big, so new, she says.
“I would argue that most people there don’t have a relationship with downtown or a sense of belonging.
“If it was me, and if I decided it was important, then I would put all my energy into taming the street.”
By that, she means narrowing it, providing on-street parking, adding a boulevard, wide sidewalks, street furniture.
She would encourage businesses and popular chefs to locate there with tax incentives and networking, add pop-up shops and festivals.
In Barrie, the city fosters a festival/market culture. Kitchener, that until recently “had a horrible downtown, got rid of the curbs and gutters” to create more of a plaza feel.
That may not be practical on Yonge, but she believes more can be done – and she believes it’s worthwhile.
High-rise condos won’t bring a sense of belonging, even if there are storefronts at the street level, she says, adding it’s important to keep a low-rise focus and to preserve the heritage.
Newcomers to the area may not value that yet, but their kids will, she says.
“It’s all about sense of place…A town is all of its history and there is an interesting story to tell in Richmond Hill.”
