Development proposal for stacked townhouses on Main Street in Stouffville draws heavy criticism from residents

Plan to build 60 stacked townhouses from 6461 to 6487 Main St., east of Park Drive, has local residents up in arms

Yorkregion.com
April 11, 2023
Simon Martin

Development is coming fast and furiously on Main Street Stouffville.

There is the eight-storey Liv Green Condo being built across from No Frills. There is the six-storey affordable housing development being built next to Metro. There is also the 16-storey building that has been approved next to the McDonald’s plaza.

The heritage district of Main Street has mostly been spared from development proposals until now. A proposal from 6481 Main Street Stouffville Limited Partnership to build 60 stacked townhouses from 6461 Main St. to 6487 Main St. east of Park Drive has local residents up in arms. They voiced a litany of concerns with the development at a public meeting late last month.

“The number of units and overall density is far too high for that area,” Dave Nicoll said. “A reasonable number in our opinion would be 30 to 40 units.”

Nicoll helped form the Stouffville Village Ratepayers group to respond to the original proposal, which was for 106 stacked townhouses.

The new proposal may have shaved 46 units off the original, but resident Kathleen Thielen said the first proposal was so outlandish that any concessions should be approached with skepticism.

“The proposed development is the first of many on the east side of the heritage district of Main Street,” she said. “The allowances we give this development will be allowed for coming developments.”

The developer is asking for several zoning amendments, including changing the maximum height from 12 to 14.85 metres, decreasing the minimum lot area and reducing the required number of parking spaces.

“The proposal outstrips what is allowed in the town plan and the bylaws in almost every aspect and will tower over adjacent residential on the east, west and south sides of the property,” Thielen said.

Sophie Cunha lives near the proposed building and is concerned about its height. “Let’s not turn the core of our town into towering complexes that will ruin the look, feel and the use of our beautiful Main Street,” she said.

Mick Olivera said the development’s park plan was substandard, with a total of 94 parking spaces for 60 units. “I expect the applicant is unable to physically fit the required 120 parking spaces within the plan for the proposed 60 units, which actually demonstrates that the proposed 60 units is too much for this .6 hectare property.”

Thicketwood resident Brian Phillips can see the development from his backyard and had concerns about the drainage from the property. “It is a floodplain,” he said, pointing to water currently pooling on the property. “Where is it going to go?”

Other concerns raised included garbage disposal and privacy concerns with rooftop balconies.

The esthetic appeal of the development was also blasted by residents and council alike. The 60 stacked townhouses are proposed in four blocks. Resident Michelle Britten said the residents’ group has described them as cellblocks, ugly and dystopian.

“Not only is this property within our heritage district, the developer demolished three heritage properties to facilitate this development,” she said. “The integrity of our heritage should be respected in the build style of infill development and quite frankly we don’t understand the continual refusal to do so.”

That sentiment was echoed by Mayor Iain Lovatt.

“It’s our heritage district, which we just approved last term so we're not throwing that out the window,” he said. “This will be the hill that I die on.”

Lovatt told the developer to go back to the drawing board and come back with something more appropriate to Main Street.

With neighbouring Main Street properties up for sale, residents and council felt the added importance of getting the development right.

“You’re going to be the prime example for the rest of Main Street. What we do here will be important for the rest of these developments,” Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said.