The Public Meeting this date was to consider an application submitted by 2690622 Ontario Inc. (Kingdom Development Inc).
The Committee Clerk advised that 272 notices were mailed on September 3, 2024, and a Public Meeting sign was posted on September 3, 2024. There was one (1) written submission received regarding this proposal.
Stephen Lue, Senior Manager, Development, introduced the item.
Melissa Leung, Senior Planner, gave a presentation regarding the proposal, the location, surrounding uses and outstanding issues.
Nick Pileggi, Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd., provided a presentation on the proposed development. Mr. Pileggi advised that some of the changes to the proposal include an increase in units from 465 to 550 units (with the FSI remaining the same) and tower height for Phase 2, an increase in tower heights and units for Phase 3, and that the revised application scope to include the Phase 2 and 3 lands is to facilitate with moving forward with Phases 1 and 2 at the same time to benefit from savings in construction and marketing costs. Mr. Pileggi requested that this item be sent directly to Council.
The following deputations were made on the proposed development.
Peter Miasek, representing the Unionville Ratepayers Association expressed concern that Phases 2 and 3 of the development application would exceed the FSI limit of 7.0 based on the formula proposed to be used under the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan to calculate the FSI. Mr. Miasek suggested that if the proposal is over 7.0 FSI, the Applicant should be required to prepare a model of its development with all future developments at the proposed FSI to determine if the infrastructure can support the proposal, as this would be required under Section 10.8.8 of the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan in this situation. Mr. Miasek also referenced the draft transportation report in support of the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan that was recently released for staff and agency comments. He interpreted that the draft report spoke of future traffic conditions if the population of the area exceeded a certain threshold.
Stella Yu made a deputation suggesting that Council review the draft Transportation Report for the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan that was recently issued, noting the importance of keeping to the population of Markham Centre within the parameters proposed in the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan.
The Committee discussed the following relative to the development proposal:
- A significant community benefit the Applicant will be providing to the City to help build a complete community in the Markham Centre Area.
- Staff reviewing the way the City calculates the FSI to ensure it is consistent with Markham’s 2014 Official Plan.
- That the project will be phased in over time.
- The unknowns with respect to the transportation improvements that other levels of government will advance in this area in the future.
- The pressing need for more housing to support immigration and to tackle the housing crisis.
- The cost benefit of building Phases 1 and 2 of the proposed development at the same time.
- The impact on the Applicant’s business case if the proposal was referred back to staff for a final Recommendation Report.
- A possible opportunity to acquire and incorporate adjacent lands to the proposal if the Applicant was interested.
- The reasons for including Phase 4 in the development proposal.
Mr. Pileggi advised that the Applicant has conducted their own transportation reports for this proposal that did not indicate any concerns with respect to the transportation and traffic demand. Mr. Pileggi expressed concerns regarding the proposed policy 10.8.8 of the Draft Markham Centre Secondary Plan, as it is in his opinion that it is unrealistic to request the development community to look at all developments in Markham Centre in order to add units.
Staff were requested to prepare a written response to the Unionville Residents Association’s on the questions related to this application prior to this item going to Council.