Richmond Hill residents shocked at 37 storeys planned for Yonge & Bernard

Council voted to raise the maximum building height from 15 storeys

Yorkregion.com
May 7, 2019
Sheila Wang

John Li’s jaw dropped when he found out 37-storey towers were allowed in the neighbourhood.

Richmond Hill council voted to raise the maximum building height at the Yonge Street and Bernard Avenue intersection from 15 storeys to 37 storeys on April 16 at a special council meeting.

Council members made the decision after coming out of a closed session where Ward 2 Councillor Tom Muench put forward a motion to revise the current secondary plan for the Yonge and Bernard key development area (KDA).

The motion -- voted separately in two parts -- garnered support from the majority of council.

“This is the right thing to do,” Muench said in a full five-minute monologue, touting the importance of increasing density in order to address traffic woes, housing affordability, and to keep up with the neighbouring cities.

By a 5-4 vote, council approved the 37-storey height limit with the opposition of Mayor Dave Barrow, councillors David West, Godwin Chan, and Karen Cilevitz.

“In fact, we have more projects going on than either Markham or Vaughan,” the mayor said. “We’re increasing density all over the community and I just don’t think this area is one of the places that should be used for this type of density.”

Council voted 6 to 3 to further remove existing restrictions on intensification in the 19.6-hectare area, including elimination of public roads, increasing development density and reduction of parking standards.

“Is this a joke?” asked Li, a 10-year resident of Brookside Road, just north of the KDA. “With this motion, they’re reducing roads, reducing parking and even changing the definition of density. How crazy!”

Li has been at the forefront of the fight against overintensification in the KDA which straddles Ward 2 and Ward 4 since 2016 when high-density development was first proposed in the area.

Council adopted the secondary plan in November 2017 following extensive public engagement, an elaborate background research report, and a 93-page transportation analysis that was developed during a year-long development freeze as a result of an interim control bylaw.

The KDA plan that limits the building height to 15 storeys also outlines the distribution of height, density as well as new public streets.

Developers who sought to exceed the height limit appealed the plan to the then Ontario Municipal Board, now renamed as the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).

But they were not the only party that appealed. Residents on both sides of Yonge Street were not happy with the plan either, noting 15 storeys were already "too much" in an area that has long been plagued by traffic gridlock and car crashes.

Council was expected to provide direction for the appeal of the KDA plan which is scheduled for a hearing in July, Muench said, and that's why he introduced the changes.

“But you're not building Richmond Hill. You’re destroying Richmond Hill,” pleaded resident Sherry Zhang of Westbook, who was simply dumbfounded by Muench's motion.

She said she couldn't believe council “secretly” altered a plan that she and many other residents were actively involved in two years ago.

They have received no letters or any notification prior to this council decision, she said, questioning if it council "intentionally" left residents in the dark.

Ward 4 Councillor David West said he was taken by surprise by Muench's motion that came to council at the last minute.

"I find it unbelievable," West said. "I find it unbelievable. There is no rationale or traffic study or justification that would justify whether we would be able to do that without causing traffic chaos."

Why 37 storeys?

Residents also cast a doubt over how the new 37-storey height limit was determined when no feasibility studies or public consultation has been done to support it.

“By putting together old news and quoting irrelevant data, Councillor Muench’s motion deliberately confuses and misleads others,” Li said.

While acknowledging some residents have taken issues with the amended plan, Muench said “my ‘whereas (clauses)’ in the motion are all evidence-based.”

The new maximum was chosen in comparison to the approved highrise buildings in Markham and Vaughan, Muench explained, noting two neighbouring cities have allowed at least 37 storeys in their non-KDA areas.

He cited one example from Markham where two apartment buildings -- 34 storeys and 37 storeys -- were to be built south of Highway 7 and east of Bayview Avenue.

Li finds the example “not applicable” for the Yonge and Bernard area as those buildings are planned in southern Markham close to major highways with sufficient parking.

The Yonge and Bernard area, on the contrary, is far from any highways with its south-north traffic restricted by the bottleneck at Yonge and Major Mackenzie, Li said.

In the motion, Muench referred to the direct access to Bus Rapidway Transit and the North Yonge Subway Extension as grounds for the amended plan.

“But nothing has changed,” Li argued, noting the original KDA plan has already factored in the BRT system which Li describes as “the backbone” of the plan.

Meanwhile, the subway extension -- eight kilometres away from the KDA -- is not happening any time soon, he said.

Higher population density than downtown Vaughan?

Yonge and Bernard is “the wrong place” for that type of population growth, area residents say.

A background report in 2017 states the Yonge and Bernard intersection was mostly a commercial destination surrounded by plazas and vacant land with a senior home located in the northeastern corner.

The designated area was home to about 12 residents and 81 businesses at that time.

It is now 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 -- 612 residents and jobs combined per hectare, according to the secondary plan.

In comparison, 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.

"The planned density of Bernard KDA is already far beyond its capacity," Zhang said. "With the new motion, you want to double this density with fewer roads to exit, by telling people that your YRT bus can take thousands of local people during rush hours to a subway station to be completed in 10 years or more?"

The motion won't affect the population density originally estimated in the KDA plan, Muench said.

Highrise properties, such as 37 storeys, are only allowed at or close to the Yonge and Bernard intersection, while the height of the buildings will transition down to the rest of the KDA, he added.

Residents find it hard to believe, especially when "proof or evaluation" is nowhere to be seen.

"With no way in and no way out, they're building a prison," Zhang summarized.

Go to richmondhill.ca to read the motion.

Visit community website betterybkdasp.com to find out what residents have to say.