Richmond Hill residents fight proposed ‘behemoth’ Hall Street development

Yorkregion.com
May 15, 2023

A fresh, green and white sign appeared at 107 Hall St. this spring, startling the quiet Richmond Hill neighbourhood.

The proposed development, by Hall Street Development Corporation, includes two apartment buildings, 10 and 14 storeys high connected by an eight-storey podium at the property. The building proposes 265 units and 307 parking spaces (surface and two levels of underground parking).

“This is a historic part of the town and it’s got a certain feel to the neighbourhood, a certain character,” said Agnes Parr, who lives steps away from the site. “A large, behemoth like this is a total misfit.”

Deborah Tobin, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 30 years, said the proposed development is not to scale for such a small parcel of land.

“My grandparents came to Richmond Hill after WW2 and settled on Garden Ave. I expect change,” she said. “But I expect change to fit with the character of the community I’m living in and preserve the heritage core.”

The subject lands are located west of Yonge Street on the east side of Hall Street, between Wright Street and Benson Avenue. Considered the uptown district of the downtown local centre, the applicant has proposed retaining and relocating the existing Langstaff-Holmwood House, a heritage property built in 1849 that sits on the land, to the front of the property with a connection to the apartment podium.

“If we want our downtown to be thriving and vibrant and economically positive, we need to have people,” explained Murray Evans, planning consultant for the property's landowner, at a May 2 public planning meeting. “Centres and corridors are still a main form of development where people and populations should be directed.”

Parr has been through this before. From 2015-2017, a proposal was brought forth and approved for 22 townhouses, she explained, but nothing was ever built. A large sign advertising registration for “Modern Towns” by LiVante Developments still sits on the site.

Sandra DeMaria, manager of development, site plans, explained that the original application was approved by the OLT and the order was issued in 2019, but “the applicants at that time did not follow through with entering into a site plan agreement or following through with their approval of their draft plan condominium application.” The city received the new application in Feb. 2023.

Coun. Scott Thompson said he felt “miffed” by the whole thing. “If we already have an approved proposal to build a development that more or less met with the intent of the city’s official plan, would respect the character of the surrounding neighbourhood, would be compatible with adjacent residential properties … then why is this coming back to council four years later?

“I don’t understand why shovels didn’t go into the ground when we had that approval that seemed to meet everything we needed at the time.”

At a makeshift outdoor meeting on May 6, neighbours expressed concerns about construction, losing sunlight due to the immense height of the proposed structures, increased traffic, the environmental impact and congestion on a narrow residential road and the fragility of relocating the heritage house.

Sonia Grimman, a real estate agent and resident of nearby Mill Street, said the new proposal was an “insult” to the neighbourhood.

“If you look from Major Mackenzie down to Highway 7, they’ve built, like, 40 buildings in the last 10 years,” she said. “Our area is single family homes. We are not the community to have condominiums standing in our backyard. They want to make us look like downtown Toronto, which we don't want.”

Neighbours believe allowing this proposal to go through will shape future development for years to come.

“They are proposing something that is exceeding the height and the density of the already-allowed bylaws and official plans,” said Parr. “If it’s approved, these developers, they’re all watching each other, and if this guy gets it, they're going to want it, too. It will be precedent setting.”