Thornhill neighbourhood vows to continue fight to keep subway extension on Yonge Street

New Royal Orchard station not enough justification for Metrolinx to tunnel under neighbourhood, say residents

Thestar.com
Jan. 19, 2022
Heidi Riedner

Opposition to the Yonge North Subway Extension is stronger than ever despite a revised route announced by Metrolinx in December and the addition of a Royal Orchard station.

Thornhill Coun. Keith Irish and the Keep the Subway on Yonge residents' group say the designation of Royal Orchard as a Transit-Oriented Community, to facilitate developers offsetting the costs of subway infrastructure, provides an even stronger business case for scrapping the extension’s current route, which tunnels under the Thornhill neighbourhood.

“More developers and businesses would benefit from ‘Main Street’ exposure and storefront presence if the subway route goes straight up Yonge to Richmond Hill,” said Irish.

That would also avoid tunnelling under the community, which has long been opposed not only by many residents, but also Markham and Vaughan councils and the York Catholic District School Board.

Metrolinx insists, however, its new green alignment takes the community’s concerns into account while providing the most project benefit.

“Through our work, we have reduced the number of single-family residential properties that we're tunnelling below by 50 per cent and on average, 10 metres deeper below the community,” said project lead Stephen Collins during a virtual open house Jan. 5.

Thirty-five properties remain affected, with plans for subway tunnelling directly beneath 20 homes and travelling below either the front or back yards of an additional 15.

Close to 400 additional residents are also impacted since the new alignment will veer east of Yonge Street, below the 220-unit Gazebo condominium at 8111 Yonge St., before travelling below Bay Thorn Drive, Pomona Creek and into the final curve before reaching the CN corridor and eventual above-grade stop at High Tech station in Richmond Hill.

Metrolinx seems “bound and determined” to go ahead with a plan that it appears no one wants, says Keep the Subway on Yonge committee member Peter Palframan.

“This is not a solution, especially when we've been able to show that there's a perfectly good alternative.”

Transit Action Ontario (TAC), an independent group of experts, submitted two alternative routes to Metrolinx for analysis, including one that keeps the subway alignment along Yonge Street before angling to the east just north of Holy Cross Cemetery and proceeding through what is now an industrial area to the High Tech station.

Despite being deemed “technically feasible,” Metrolinx nixed the option, saying it was more complex to build and would cost significantly more than its green alignment.

“The capital and construction cost is a minimum of $230 million more than our green alignment, which does not include provisions for the significant cost impacts this route will have on the existing approved secondary plan and the timing for the plan to the Langstaff Gateway development,” Collins said.

Markham regional Coun. Don Hamilton said the current route is clearly designed to accommodate the Langstaff development interests since it deviates from Yonge to the middle of the Langstaff lands.

He added the issue concerns the whole city of Markham and not just Thornhill residents.

“If the provincial government can impose their will in Thornhill, then they can do so anywhere in Markham. This accommodation for future residents at the expense of current residents is simply wrong.”

Palframan agrees.

“The rights that they have given themselves, under this new building transit faster initiative from the government, are shocking and they are sacrificing the present for the future because they're completely ignoring what's here today.”

Since Metrolinx announced it was swapping out the original Yonge Street alignment last March, the emotional drain has taken a toll on many of the community’s residents, said fellow committee member Roz FitzPatrick.

“Stress, anxiety and sleepless nights have been the norm as concerns mount regarding the adverse environmental, economic, health and social impacts of tunnelling under our homes, especially as we know there are other options available that keep the subway on Yonge,” FitzPatrick said.

"While getting a walkable Royal Orchard station is great, there is still no justification to have the subway tunnel under our neighbourhood."