Richmond Hill residents celebrate after council reversal on increased height limit

On April 16, council abruptly increased height limit to 37 storeys from 15 storeys in Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue area

Sheila Wang
May 17, 2019
Yorkregion.com

Sherry Zhang and John Li have been to council chambers many times, but this was probably the first time that they left with wide smiles and lots of handshakes.

“At least we won something!” Li, a longtime Richmond Hill resident, told a group of people outside the chambers after council voted to repeal a previous decision on May 14 on the secondary plan of the Yonge and Bernard key development area (KDA).

A majority of councillors supported a motion that proposed to repeal a resolution put forward earlier by Ward 2 Councillor Tom Muench, yorkregion.com reported.

Muench’s resolution, adopted on April 16 at a special council meeting, abruptly increased the height limit of buildings from 15 storeys to 37 storeys at and close to the intersection of Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue.

Area residents reached out to The Liberal, saying that they found themselves blindsided by the motion without any prior public consultation or supporting technical studies.

After numerous efforts bringing council around ended in vain, Li and many others have taken it upon themselves to look into traffic and density statistics, knocking on hundreds of doors to alert people to the change, and eventually filled the council chambers to show their opposition.

“I consulted the residents for you,” Zhang spoke to council -- but mostly to Muench -- as a delegate. “I knocked on the doors in your ward, asking them if they support your motion, none of them do. How can you say you’ve consulted the residents?”

Zhang was one of the seven delegates who spoke strongly against the revised secondary plan at the meeting.

The speakers were followed by two lawyers representing landowners and developers who stated their endorsement of Muench’s motion.

“ … the North Elgin Centre lands could comfortably accommodate 36-storey building with other-storey buildings on the property,” said Jeffrey Streisfield who represents North Elgin Centre, located on the northeastern corner of the Yonge and Bernard intersection.

 “We so advised staff, but yet we were even advised to go higher by some council members.”

It drew gasps from some audience members.

When asked who advised higher maximum height, Streisfield hinted it was not Muench, but the ones who sat close to him.

Streisfield represented North Elgin Centre Inc. at a Local Planning Appeal Tribunal hearing last December where 11 other parties -- Richmond Hill, developers and residents -- were involved.

While both developers and residents both expressed dissatisfaction over the secondary plan at the time, they were on opposite sides.

“I may be OK with the 15-storey height limit,” Li said. “But it is the population density I’m really against.”

The secondary plan states the area is estimated to accommodate 8,000 to 10,000 residents and 1,200 and 2,000 jobs by the year of 2031, which means about 469 to 612 residents and jobs combined per hectare, according to the secondary plan.

“Lower density than Vaughan Metro Centre” is what Zhang says she would like to see in the area.

Vaughan Metropolitan Centre -- the city’s future downtown core -- is estimated to reach a target density of 200 residents and jobs combined per hectare, according the VMC secondary plan.

Zhang said she considered the repealing of Muench’s motion a “partial success” because they will still have to fight it at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

While most of deliberations on the decision took place behind closed doors, Muench came out and delivered a somewhat bitter message.

“Hoping that you can adjourn it. I wish you well. It’s beyond council’s control,” he said before voting against the motion put forward by Deputy Mayor Carmine Perrelli.

“I hope it happens. But I believe this is a motion that is going to be down the road regrettable for those who don’t get the context of the legal ramifications and the real interest of the residents who we’ve spent a lot of time engaging.”

Li was prepared to go to the LPAT, but not without the help of area residents.

He estimated about 4,000 residents whose lives would be impacted by the development in the key development area.

If a small percentage of these residents chipped in, they’d have sufficient funds to hire professional analysts, collect evidence and fight inappropriate development in the neighbourhood, Li said.

After taking closer look at Perrelli’s motion, Li said he found it a bit disingenuous in wording.

“I don’t feel they thought Tom’s motion is bad,” he said. “They are waiting for the province and York Region to release their new population density guidelines, then they can justifiably revise the city’s official plan to suit their unreasonable height and density requirements.”