MINUTES
CORNELL ADVISORY GROUP
June 7, 2010
|
Members
Attending Jack Heath - Deputy Mayor Gord Landon – Regional
Councillor John Webster – Ward 5
Councillor Susan
Taylor – Cornell Ratepayers Assoc. Dave Hannah – Cornell
Ratepayers Assoc. Al
Bishop – Landowner Rep. Cornell Josh
Zagdanski – Landowner Rep, Cornell Rouge Dan Leeming – Consultant -
The Mac
Cosburn – Duncan MacAskill – York
Region Carolyn
Woodland – TRCA Guests Attending
Chris Strzemieczny – Mattamy Development Jason Suddergaard – Mattamy Development Staff Attending Marg Wouters - Manager,
Development – East District Stephen Kitagawa – Sr.
Planner, East District |
Staff Attending Raj Mohabeer - Manager,
Sustainability Murray Boyce – Sr. Project
Co-ordinator, Policy Wendy Bond - Administrator Regrets:
Robert Baird - Sherwood-Amberglen Ratepayers Phil
Howes - Markham Village Business Assoc. Niomie
Massey – Landowner Rep. Cornell David Clark – YRRTC Jessica Peake – YRDSB Christine Hyde - YCDSB Kevin Huang - TRCA Allan
Wells - Rouge Park Alliance (TRCA) Biju
Karumanchery – Senior Development Manager Ronji
Borooah - Town Architect |
The Cornell Advisory Group meeting convened at
1. MINUTES FROM THE April 12, 2010 CORNELL
ADVISORY GROUP
The minutes from the April 12, 2010 meeting were adopted.
Moved by Councillor Heath, second by Councillor Landon
CARRIED
2. Business arising from the Minutes: None
3.
Cornell
Community Phase 4, Wykland Estates Inc.
Stephen Kitagawa, Senior Planner East District and Dan Leeming, Planning Partnership introduced the details for a draft plan of subdivision and a zoning by-law amendment for Mattamy Phase 4. Servicing allocation is available for less than half the number of units proposed and therefore will be constructed in two phases. The project is located west of Cornell Centre Blvd., east of Bur Oak Avenue, south of 16th Avenue, and north of Hwy. 7, and consists of four neighbourhood park blocks, a community park block and 914 lane based units.
The Phase 4 plan provides for a large portion of the future community park and abutting road north of Riverlands Avenue. The remainder of the community park lands will be provided through the Phase 5 plan. The development of the community park is dependent on the realignment of Cornell Centre Boulevard as shown in the Phase 4 plan. This realignment is intended to occur as part of the later phases of registration of Phase 4. Deputy Mayor Heath and Councillor Webster indicated that detailed planning for the community park should begin as soon as possible, and that alternatives for advancing the timing of realignment of Cornell Centre Boulevard and park construction be considered.
The YRDSB currently owns a high school site immediately north of the Phase 4 lands. A future Catholic high school site is located within Mattamy lands external to the plan to the south, in the vicinity of the future East Markham Community Centre & Library (EMCC&L). At the request of the Deputy Mayor and Ward Councillor, discussions have been had with the School Boards regarding the potential to switch the location of the two sites. It is felt that the public high school is likely to be built sooner than the Catholic high school and that the school facilities and fields would complement the EMCC&L facilities. It was requested that staff report to Development Services on this issue in the fall.
4. LEED® & BEYOND, Town of Markham
Sustainable Development Standard Guidelines
Raj Mohabeer, Manager of Sustainability presented a status update on the Town’s Sustainable Development Standard Guidelines. A draft report had been prepared by Halsall Associates and was presented to the Environmental Committee on January 13, 2010. The study provides the Town with guidance in addressing growth.
The Town’s proposed standards will support existing Region and Town Sustainability drivers, provide measurable targets, mandate credits that are important, use existing certification tools, and develop Markham specific credits. The Standards and Guidelines are broken into four categories, Connectivity & Access, Site, Infrastructure and Building on Site. All will include mandatory and voluntary credits. Developers will be encouraged to meet the voluntary credits with the use of existing incentives and initiatives, and the possible additions of awards, feebates, discounts, fast tracking, bonuses and/or green loans. A mandatory Credit Checklist will become part of the application process to be completed by the applicant. Official Plans will be updated to include the Standards and Guidelines. Most credits can be secured through Site Plan Control. The Town may ask the applicant to revisit a Site Plan document and make changes if credit requirements are not met. The guidelines are a living document and will require ongoing review and update. The next steps for this project include a staff meeting with the Environmental Issues Committee and the Developers Working Group. The current draft will be refined further and presented to DSC in the Fall 2010. (please have Raj review the above section)
Discussion centred on comparison of these standards to LEED and how the standards will be implemented. Raj confirmed that the standards are roughly equivalent to LEED® Silver. The Group was supportive of the guidelines, but encouraged staff to be specific and clear regarding targets to be achieved and identifying the means of measuring whether the targets have been achieved. It was also noted that our current site planning requirements often exceed LEED requirements, and that the challenge is therefore to try to achieve higher standards than already required by LEED or current Town practices.
5. Markham Built Form, Height and Massing
Guidelines
Raj Mohabeer, Manager of Sustainability presented an update
to the Markham Built Form, Height and Massing Study, Built Form Principles. The
study, authored by the consultants AndCo, is designed to assist in visualizing
the intensification component of the Growth Management Strategy to 2031, and to
create consistent, generic built form guidelines for areas that are not
currently subject to other specific planning controls. The study will be used
in applicant negotiations until statutory amendments are made to the Secondary
Plans. This study provides high level
criteria, but in future will translate into updated secondary plans. The study speaks of key principles and best
practices that will control the growth in the areas of public realm, streets
and blocks, building location, built form, tall buildings, transition, parking
and loading, and implementation. It is intended to inform developers, Town
staff, and residents of the ways in which future intensification can best
achieve community and municipal goals. Guideline(s) for each key principle are
identified and are cross-referenced with each other to ensure discussions occur
at the appropriate planning process. The
guidelines are flexible to accommodate many uses, creating walkable pedestrian
friendly streets and blocks, access to structures with interesting
architectural features, etc. (please
have Raj review the above section)
Discussion - It was noted that the Cornell Secondary Plan incorporates many of the principles outlined in the study, i.e., walkable blocks and lane based built form. There was a desire to see a ‘Built in Markham” architectural style. It was also suggested that appropriate transitioning from low density neighbourhoods to Cornell Centre will be important. Staff indicated that the Secondary Plan provides for transition zones in the form of institutional and community uses such as the Markham Stouffville Hospital site, as well as strategic school and park locations.
6. Other Business
The groundbreaking for the East Markham Community Centre
& Library is tentatively scheduled for July, 2010.
7. Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for October 4, 2010.
The meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm.
Q:\Development\Planning\Teams\NEW EAST TEAM\CORNELL\ADVISORY GROUP\Agendas
& Minutes\2010-Minutes\Cornell minutes June 7_10.doc