Richmond Hill reduces height limit at Yonge, Bernard back to 15 storeys from 37
Change of plans adopted at 'development-themed' council meeting

Sheila Wang
May 15, 2019
Yorkregion.com

It seems some Richmond Hill council members were taking a break from their push for housing development since the beginning of the term.

At a more than four-hour-long council meeting in the afternoon of May 14 that drew a full house, council adopted a number of motions dealing with a variety of issues, including planned residential development, the library board and governance review.

More than 10 delegates addressed council about their concerns, and some of them went home with the news they wanted.

Richmond Hill to push forward with intensification, housing development
Councillors voted 6-2 to pass a motion opposing a proposed high-density development on a 1.19-hectare area on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Gamble Road.

Deputy Mayor Joe DiPaola and Ward 2 Coun. Tom Muench voted against it. Ward 5 Coun. Karen Cilevitz was absent due to illness.

Meanwhile, council voted to "reconsider" and "rescind" a motion that proposed to increase the maximum height of buildings to 37 storeys from 15 in the Yonge and Bernard Key Development Area.

Councillors made the decision after coming out of a closed session at the end of the meeting, with Muench and Dipaola voting against it.

This matter will go to a the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal hearing scheduled for July.

Six out of eight councillors did not go along with the staff recommendation when it came to the proposed development on a 1.06-hectare parcel of land on the south side of Oxford Street, east of Bathurst Street.

Richmond Hill residents shocked at 37 storeys...
The council members, led by Deputy Mayor Carmine Perrelli, supported the revised draft plan for semi-detached lots instead of the single-detached development that was originally planned in the area.

Mayor Dave Barrow and Ward 4 Coun. David West voted against it.

Library board

While development appeared to be the "theme" of the council meeting, councillors also got an opportunity to make changes to the Richmond Hill Public Library Board.

Perrelli appointed himself to serve on the board after three other council members -- Greg Beros, Muench, and DiPaola -- were added to the board at a previous meeting.

Ward 3 Coun. Castro Liu has resigned from the library board to deal with "family issues".

Amalgamation?

Council voted on a resolution endorsing the "current effectiveness of the two-tier municipal government" in response to a governance review of nine regional municipalities and their lower-tier municipalities.

The possible scenarios in York Region are wide-ranging, with options including amalgamations involving the nine lower-tier municipalities, cutting councillors, changing how services are delivered, having an elected regional chair, changing the way politicians are elected to office and more.

The motion, moved by Perrelli, states Richmond Hill supports the existing local and regional structure.

You can comment on the provincial review by May 21 at ontario.ca/page/regional-government-review.