Newmarket's 'landmark deal' with developer raises bar for environmental, affordable housing standards

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 7, 2022

An agreement between Newmarket and a developer to include an exhaustive list of features in the Shining Hill subdivision is being heralded as a model that could set a new standard for development in Canada.

“I would call it a landmark deal that introduces a new blueprint for partnering with developers to build more sustainable communities,” said Mayor John Taylor, who doesn’t know of another agreement of its kind in Ontario.

“I would argue this is significantly different. I’m really excited that this is a new and better way of doing things.”

Shining Hill is a large development overlapping northern Aurora and southern Newmarket west of Yonge Street on either side of St. John’s Sideroad.

The Newmarket deal takes in what will be 1,300 or more future homes.

The agreement says the developer must provide:

• A minimum of 80 acres of environmentally significant lands conveyed to the town and at least six kilometres of public trails.
• 5,000-plus trees.
• $1 million to establish a green environmental fund for initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• $12,500 per residential unit -- a total of $16 million -- for the green environmental fund, the Mulock House heritage fund, the town’s public art fund, and multi-use paths and active transportation an initial focus on Mulock Drive.
• Very high environmental standards for home construction.
• 30 homes that will go even beyond those standards that the town can showcase as the gold standard for environmental sustainability.
• 25 homes with basement apartments.
• Land for Habitat for Humanity homes and a non-profit housing project.
• A new clubhouse with 12 racquet sports courts.
• Land for a community garden and dog park(s).
• Low environmental impact development features for dealing with stormwater runoff.

 

Walter Bauer, Dave Kempton and Peggy Stevens, members of members of the Drawdown Newmarket-Aurora community group fighting climate change, applaud the deal.

“The mayor and council should be proud of what they have achieved,” they said in a joint email.

“To those, and this includes us initially, that raised objections to further development, in our view, this agreement is an excellent compromise and we at Drawdown Newmarket-Aurora hope it becomes a starting point for other developers throughout Canada.”

They said the agreement provides for three crucial features -- protecting at least 80 acres of environmental lands in perpetuity, providing a variety of affordable housing and ensuring a high standard of Green construction -- in what will become an “iconic” neighbourhood.

Paul Bailey, owner of Bazil Developments Inc., is one of the owners of the Shining Hill lands and project lead for the development.

He said the agreement was born out of the developer’s push for the town to remove a development ban on farm fields on the site, while at the same time recognizing the need to protect environmentally sensitive areas.

In 2003, council banned development because the lands are on the Oak Ridges Moraine, while at the same time being designated as a settlement area.

Taylor says the ban is no longer needed because the provincial Greenbelt now protects swaths of green spaces in southern Ontario and argues new development should go in urban communities like Newmarket to stop urban sprawl into green spaces elsewhere.

At the same time, he acknowledges the town probably wouldn’t have reached this deal if the 2003 council hadn’t put such strong development restrictions on the land.

When finished, Bailey said about half of the approximately 400 acres in Shining Hills in Newmarket and Aurora will be in public hands.

He’s pleased with the deal.

“These are different times, as you know. We’re in the development house building business. We’re interested in some new approaches to things, new communities,” he said.

“I don’t see it as just another subdivision and I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to create some new forms of housing, hopefully more attainable, more accessible housing, more interesting forms, more interesting relationships of housing on the property, looking at better ways to deal with energy and water conservation matters on housing going forward.”