York's intensification plan would drive new family housing away, developer says

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 19, 2015
By Lisa Queen

York Region runs the risk of creating too much higher-density residential development and driving traditional family housing to other communities if it pursues an intensification model that is too aggressive, developers say.

However, an environmental group is slamming the region for supporting urban sprawl.

As the region works toward a preferred growth scenario next spring that will create a blueprint to accommodate an additional 700,000 residents by 2041, council decided Thursday to look at two different models of intensification.

But Environmental Defence, an environmental watchdog, is frustrated council has ruled out not expanding its urban boundaries beyond growth already accounted for.

“We are disappointed by York Region council’s decision to take the growth option of no urban boundary off the table. Allowing an expansion of urban boundaries as part of the region’s growth management plan contradicts the region’s own planning report that clearly indicates that there is more than enough land already allocated for future growth to 2041,” the group said.

“Of the three scenarios put forward by planning staff, one required no boundary expansion and would have led to smarter, more compact growth to support needed investments in public transit.”

Instead, the two scenarios the region is now deciding between will require building new infrastructure, such as roads and water and sewer pipes, Environmental Defence said.

The region should consult with residents before settling on an option, the group said.

“Council’s decision to drop the most efficient growth scenario and instead continue 1950s style development patterns, which pave over farmland, shows why we need continued provincial leadership in land-use planning,” it added.

The region is looking at a 40-per-cent intensification model, the minimum allowed by the province, which allows for the most sprawl of the potential scenarios.

Regional planning staff advocated for a 45-per-cent intensification scenario, which would see more development occur in already built-up communities, but still allow for homes to be built in now-undeveloped areas.

The 45-per-cent model would balance good planning policies that discourage urban sprawl with market housing demands, the region’s chief planner, Val Shuttleworth, said.

But while she said changing demographics, a desire among some residents for a more urban lifestyle and high housing prices are already resulting in new housing types, developer David Stewart argues the demand for traditional family homes isn’t going away anytime soon.

“Family households are expected to drive demand for housing into the foreseeable future,” the vice-president of TACC Developments told a committee meeting earlier this month.

“The 45-per-cent (intensification) target will force the housing market too aggressively toward higher density residential development and may force lower density housing to relocate to areas outside of the region where such high intensification targets do not exist.”

Representing a dozen landowners in Markham and East Gwillimbury, Don Given, president of Malone Givens Parsons Ltd., one the largest planning consulting firms in Canada, agreed.

“The concern we have with the 45 per cent is it doesn’t appear to have any kind of science behind it,” he said.

“If there is one thing you have to do as a council and the legacy you leave is to create good communities. We can all talk about density and policies and all the analysis, but what you will be remembered for is the form of the community.”

As mandated by the provincial government, the region’s population will grow to almost 1.8 million residents by 2041, up from 1.1 million today, Shuttleworth said.

The number of jobs in the region will increase from 565,000 to 900,000.

The question is where to put everyone amid competing financial, social and environmental interests.

The public tends to favour no expansion of the urban boundary, although that doesn’t mean there won’t be growth, as there is no option to simply reject the provincial forecasts.

Instead, it means significant intensification in already established communities.

Jim Robb, general manager with Friends of the Rouge Watershed, urged councillors not to expand the urban boundary for several years until they can assess the environmental, social and economic impact of development already in the works.

At the committee meeting earlier this month, planning staff recommended the 45-per-cent intensification model, based in part on a report from Hemson Consulting Ltd., which recommended intensification of between 40 and 50 per cent after it researched future housing demands.

While planning isn’t an exact science, the 45-per-cent intensification target is a good compromise between good planning and market demands, Paul Bottomley, manager of policy, research and forecasting, said.

“It’s not about the number, it’s about striking a balance”, he said.

Intensification doesn’t only mean building skyscrapers, Shuttleworth added.

It means all kinds of infill development, such as converting former golf courses into housing, she said.

But some regional politicians appear leery of adopting a growth scenario with too much intensification.

For example, Aurora has a condo building at Yonge and Wellington streets where many units have remained unsold for about five years, Mayor Geoff Dawe said. If single family homes had been built instead, they would have been snapped up immediately, he said.

“The sense I get from our residents is they are not looking for that kind of intensification,” he said.

Richmond Hill Councillor Vito Spatafora is worried a 45-per-cent intensification model would see some municipalities forced to accept a substantial amount of development in their existing built-up areas.

For example, Richmond Hill would see 18,370 new residential units constructed in the town’s built-up area by 2041, meaning a 69-per-cent intensification rate.

In Newmarket, 8,060 new residential units would be constructed in the built-up area, for a 86-per-cent intensification rate.

“That is going to dramatically change the culture, the character of our communities,” Spatafora said.

“People come to our community because of the type of housing we have.”

But Richmond Hill Councillor Brenda Hogg is concerned about urban sprawl.

“We’re addicted to growth,” she said, suggesting intensification is better for the environment and justifies federal and provincial funding on infrastructure such as subways.