'In a dire condition': Richmond Hill property owners still frustrated by zoning in old village core

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 7, 2024

Upstairs over coffee and cakes at the BB Café, the opinions of people who own much of Richmond Hill’s old commercial village core are stated plainly and unhappily.

The stretch of Yonge Street north of Major Mackenzie Drive, Richmond Hill’s historic downtown, must be redeveloped or it will fall further into decline, and the longer city council frustrates that development the larger the new buildings must be, members of the Downtown Richmond Hill Property Owners Group say.

The group, 35 people with more than 60 properties along Yonge, formed last year to comment on Official Plan Amendment 18.6, the city’s newest zoning plans for the village core.

But a delegation from the group in November, and support from the Village of Richmond Hill Business Improvement Area, didn’t change councillors’ minds, Mahdi Moradi, spokesperson for the owners group, said last month.

“The more we told them, the less they wanted to hear from us,” he said.

Mahdi Moradi
Mahdi Moradi is spokesperson for the Downtown Richmond Hill Property Owners Group.

Mike Adler Metroland
OPA 18.6 passed. After many years restricting development in the old downtown to heights between three and five storeys, the city is allowing nine, though Madhi maintains an angular plane restriction on the east side of Yonge makes nine-storey heights there impossible.

The owners group and BIA, however, wanted buildings of 12 to 15 storeys permitted, as they are along Yonge to the north and south of the old village.

With costs going up, 12 storeys is now a minimum for profitable projects; knowing this, the city, despite raising heights to nine, “intentionally wants to freeze any development,” argued Mahdi.

“Status quo is good for some politicians.”

Heritage advocates and longtime residents may want to preserve the village core’s older buildings, Madhi said, but stagnation has a way of accelerating their decay and demolition, “as it has in the last 20 years.”

In a letter to Mayor David West and councillors, the BIA said a densely populated downtown area “undoubtedly holds the potential to invigorate businesses and serve as a beacon for attracting even more enterprises to our city,” but the area today is “in a dire condition,” with many businesses moving away and properties underused.

“This trend can be primarily attributed to the paucity of new developments, which, in turn, stems from the restrictions imposed by existing secondary and official plans,” the merchant group’s statement said.

Property owners objected to previous city policies for the village, while residents and council members were strongly opposed to taller buildings there.

Richmond Hill Village Core
Some properties (indicated in red) along Yonge Street whose owners belong to the Downtown Richmond Hill Property Owners Group.

Property Owners Group graphic
In an interview, West said he understands landowners want a return on properties and everyone in the city wants a vibrant downtown.

But the old core, with its relatively small lots and narrower space for traffic, restricts how much density there “is appropriate and functional.”

The city still intends to keep the old downtown as a unique area, “less large than some of the other areas on Yonge Street,” said West, but added he’s confident realistic development plans can succeed, particularly if different landowners combine parcels and work together.

“That is an opportunity that is up to them,” the mayor said.

“The physical constraints will be there no matter what.”

Councillor Scott Thompson, whose Ward 2 includes the village east of Yonge, said he’s inclined to think council got the village plan right.

“On this one, I think you’ll find almost everybody’s not happy,” including residents who have told him approving nine-storey buildings in the village “is ludicrous.”

Does he think the historic core looks good now?

“Absolutely not. But the opportunity exists to make it better,” Thompson responded.