Region warns about density trend - York down-zoning

NRU
April 22, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

York Region is asking its local municipalities to defend their growth policies, concerned that a trend in recent applications where proponents are requesting less density will impact growth targets and infrastructure investments.

“We’re noticing a trend and the trend is alarming,” said York Region integrated community planning manager Michael Mallette.

Since 2013, the region has received eight applications for downzoning-where a developer asks to build less density on a site than municipal policies direct-with an ninth in the pre-consultation stage. One has been approved and eight are in process.

Concerned with this trend, April 9 the York Region committee of the whole approved staff recommendations. It reiterated its support for high density development in intensification areas and committed to opposing at the Ontario Municipal Board all development proposals that seek to reduce approved densities within intensification areas.

“The report was to remind our local municipalities about the importance of the regional policy, and also to remind them about the investment that’s been put into their communities,” said Mallette.

This trend moves municipalities and the region away from the original vision of accommodating medium- and high density growth along corridors such as Highway 7. The region is expected to grow by 90,720 residential units within its built boundaries by 2031, and regional staff warns that each downzoning application threatens the ability of the region to meet its intensification targets.

The 2010 York Region official plan has a specific policy that prohibits local municipal official plans and zoning by-law amendments from reduce the density of sites that have been approved for medium- or high-density development. Mallette said this policy is needed to ensure intensification supports the investment the region is making in transit along its corridors.

Of the nine properties identified as examples of downzoning by regional staff, four are in the Markham Cornell Secondary Plan area, an area slated for intensification in the city’s official plan. One of these applications proposes to remove the residential component in an area planned for mixed-use development, while the other three seek a reduction in density from a minimum 1.5 to between 0.75 and 1.5 floor space index.

Markham ward 5 councillor Colin Campbell, whose ward includes the Cornell neighbourhood, doesn’t have a problem with those four applications. He said meeting the intensification targets the municipality has set is important, but developers need flexibility. It doesn’t make sense to demand tall buildings if there isn’t a market for them.

“There have to be compromises sometimes. If you’re so stringent that you can’t vary from [the approved densities], no one’s going to build because nobody’s going to buy the product ... We have to make sure we’re flexible to allow development with the intention of meeting the intensification vision. If we can go as much as possible towards that, have we done our job? I think we have.”

BILD York chapter chair Michael Pozzebon, in an email to NRU, said that BILD advocates for pre-designating and pre-zoning in areas that municipalities want to see high-density development, such as along transit corridors “where the density is needed for a sustainable transit system.”

However, he said that downzoning can be caused by market conditions or policies that impact the feasibility of higher density development. Using parkland cash-in-lieu charges as an example, he said BILD believes [what] “can be made into a tool that supports intensification.”

Mallette said there is a strong market for residential in York Region, but developers consider townhouses less risky than higher density options. Applications to downzone properties are “an immediate reaction to what is likely a short-term market condition,” he commented.

“We still see a lot of high-rise development, but we want to make sure that continues,” said Mallette. “There may be an upswing later on for higher density development.”

Mallette said that the region will continue to support its own official plan and strive to maintain the planned densities within intensification areas.

“Whether or not we’re going to the board against the local [municipalities], I’m not sure it would come to that,” said Mallette. While each application would be reviewed on its own merits, if a municipality wants to downzone it should be through a municipal comprehensive review. This “lets us see the impacts in a bigger picture.”

Regional council will consider the matter at is April 23 meeting.