Developer scraps plan for condo tower, proposes 74 townhouses on Newmarket's Eagle Street

What's Going Up: Newmarket council wants to ensure public has its say

Newmarkettoday.ca
July 20, 2021
Joseph Quigley

Newmarket council wants to ensure the public has its say on a proposed 74-townhouse development on Eagle Street making its way through a tribunal process.

Milford Developments Ltd. recently submitted a new proposal for residential development at 55 Eagle St. after scrapping a proposed 12-floor condominium tower that was part of an application opposed by the town 10 years ago.

The updated proposal includes 53 side-by-side townhomes, 20 back-to-back townhomes and one triplex. With the changes, the number of units was reduced from 196 to 76.

Town staff is still reviewing the resubmission, and needs to further discuss with the applicant the site design, traffic and parking, technical requirements, and natural areas on the property.

The previous version of the development is going through an appeal process with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. In a meeting today, council asked staff for a question and answer section on the town website to ensure the public can stay informed.

“If somebody just has a simple question, staff can take a creative look at that,” director of legal services Karen Reynar said. “We want the public to be involved, and they don’t have as many opportunities as usual.”

The developer held a public information centre July 13. Councillor Bob Kwapis said the proposal has been met with concerns about traffic and parking from the public.

“We already see a sufficient amount of confusion on Eagle Street,” Kwapis said. “Adding on the extra amount of traffic that this development will add, without any modifications to Eagle Street, is a major concern."

The proposal includes 126 parking spaces. A developer-submitted transportation study completed by Nextrans Consulting Engineers found that “the proposed development can adequately be accommodated” by the existing transportation network.

However, Kwapis said the public remains concerned given the study was done during the pandemic, which impacted traffic.

The previous version of the development with the tower has two outstanding appeals. The municipality opposed the proposal previously due in part due to the removal of 1.3 acres from a portion of the property with a natural heritage system and woodlot designation in official plans. 

A case management conference is scheduled for July 26, which will deal with procedural matters such as determining parties for the hearing. Director of planning Jason Unger said the public could attend the conference and apply to be a participant or a party to provide input in the process.

“We can keep the public up to date,” Unger said.

The case management conference will start at 9:45 a.m. July 26, access code 888-487-525 at the following link. More information on the proposal is available on the municipal website.