Newmarket resident: 'I don't want to see my neighbourhood turned into a bunch of soulless buildings'

Growth brings headaches but also paved way for expanded hospital, mall, trails, mayor says

Yorkregion.com
April 12, 2021
Lisa Queen

On her way home from work, Sibylle Foppa walks along Lundy’s Lane, enjoying the picturesque scene of pretty little houses and historic mansions as she leaves the bustle of Davis Drive and heads into her neighbourhood.

When she saw the property at 43 Lundy’s Lane was for sale, she hoped the new owner would lovingly restore it.

But she was “appalled” to learn developer Lundy’s Lane Newmarket Assembly Inc. is hoping to tear down the home and other properties and replace them with a four-storey apartment building with 79 rental units at 43 Lundy’s Lane, 592 Watson Ave. and 40, 36 and 32 Bolton Ave.

“I do not want to see my neighbourhood turned into a bunch of soulless multi-storey buildings with the inevitable associated increase in traffic and noise,” said Foppa, who fears the development is a “slippery slope.”

She's not alone.

Whether it's intensification in existing neighbourhoods or on green space, such as many voices raised in opposition in January to a large development proposed by Shining Hill Estates on Oak Ridges Moraine settlement lands north of St. John’s Sideroad.

Like many residents before her, Foppa would have loved to put the brakes on growth once she moved to Newmarket from Stouffville five years ago.

But she knows that’s not realistic.

While growth brings headaches, such as changing neighbourhoods and traffic snarls, Foppa said it has also provided residents with amenities as well as an increase in diverse cultures.

But after growing up in Switzerland and travelling throughout Europe, she questions why politicians allow developers to bulldoze historic buildings to construct cookie-cutter apartments and condos.

Foppa questions why decision-makers aren’t forcing developers of commercial buildings along busy corridors to provide needed residential units above stores.

As Newmarket nears 92,000 residents, with the Region of York projecting the town’s population to hit 110,000 by 2041, not a day goes by Mayor John Taylor doesn’t have a conversation about growth.

While growth has brought challenges, it has also delivered opportunities such as regional cancer and cardiac programs at Southlake Regional Health Centre, an expanded Upper Canada Mall, Riverwalk Commons and an expanded trail system, he said.

With Newmarket located in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) -- the fastest-growing region in North America, in large part fuelled by immigration -- and with the municipality bound by provincial guidelines dictating population targets, Taylor said it’s not possible for the town to simply refuse further growth.

Focusing growth in urban centres such as Newmarket preserves environmentally sensitive lands on the Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt, he added.

At the same time, Taylor said Newmarket is growing at only 1 per cent a year, the slowest rate in York Region, and significantly less than the annual growth rate of 7 to 10 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s.

With the GTA’s record growth, it’s important municipalities avoid the urban sprawl planning mistakes of the past, Sarah Jamal, communications manager for environmental advocacy group Environmental Defence, said.

“The low-density, car-dependent, segregated-use -- houses in one place, work or shopping in another -- subdivisions we created in the late-20th century are a millstone around the neck of Newmarket and other GTHA municipalities. They are draining public money, driving up property taxes, locking us into unhealthy, sedentary lives, and making it very hard to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets,” she said.

“We can't bring back the farmland we destroyed, but the expected injection of roughly four million extra people and 2.5 million extra jobs over the next 30 years is exactly what existing neighbourhoods and communities in Newmarket and all over the GTHA need to catalyze their transformation into places that efficiently support quality public transit and local services, allow people to live conveniently without a car, and generally serve their residents better.”

For more information about Newmarket development applications, visit newmarket.ca/planningapplications.