RECOMMENDATION:
That the Site Plan Application by Catholic
Cemeteries – Archdiocese of Toronto (SC.02108542) to permit Phase One of a
cemetery at 7770 Steeles Avenue East be approved, subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Owner convey Parts 3, 4, 5, 9 and 17 on Reference Plan
65R-24320 (Rouge Park lands) to the Town;
2. That the Owner enter into heritage conservation easements with the
Town for the properties municipally known as 7297 Reesor Road and 7960 Steeles
Avenue East;
3.
That the
Owner enter into a site plan agreement with the Town;
4. That prior to execution of the site plan agreement, the Owner shall
submit final site plans, elevations, and landscaping plans, and comply with all
requirements of the Town and authorized public agencies, to the satisfaction of
the Commissioner of Development Services;
5. That the site plan agreement include provision for the payment by
the Owner of all applicable fees, recoveries and development charges;
6. That the Owner agree in the Site Plan Agreement, in wording
acceptable to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the
Town, that prior to the initiation of grading, installation of services, or
construction the Owner shall:
a)
Obtain permission from TRCA’s Board of
Directors for the proposed access road and internal roads to cross lands under
registered conservation easements in favour of the TRCA;
b)
Obtain any necessary permits required
under Ontario Regulation 158 from the TRCA, through the submission of an
application package which includes restoration and enhancement plans;
c)
Obtain any necessary authorizations
required under The Federal Fisheries Act;
d)
Submit an enhancement planting plan
for the edges of the stream corridor lands, to the satisfaction of the TRCA;
e)
Submit a landscaping plan for the
lands currently under a registered conservation easement in favour of the TRCA
for Rouge Park purposes, to the satisfaction of the TRCA and the Town of
Markham.
7. That
the Owner agree in the Site Plan Agreement, in wording acceptable to the TRCA
and the Town:
a)
To install seepage collars at
strategic locations along all underground servicing, to the satisfaction of the
TRCA, in order to encourage groundwater recharge;
b)
That any areas containing a shallow
groundwater table be filled, in order to achieve the required separation from
the depth of internment;
c)
That any wells required to service the
property, will be developed in the deep aquifer, and will not draw from shallow
water sources;
d)
That the fill/borrow area shown on the
Site Plan will not be used as a borrow area during construction, but is to be
used only as a long term disposal area for earth materials generated by
burials, and as a source of fill to correct settlements;
e)
That the fill/borrow areas shown on
the Site Plan will be surrounded by a landscaped berm, in order to prevent
disposed fill from entering the adjacent stream corridor;
f)
To maintain all stormwater management
and erosion and sedimentation control structures in good repair during the
construction period, in a manner satisfactory to the TRCA;
g)
To remove the Reesor Road access road
from the lands currently under a registered conservation easement in favour of
the TRCA for Rouge Park purposes, once two alternate access driveways have been
approved and constructed;
h)
To submit a restoration and
landscaping plan for the Reesor Road access road (under easement), to the
satisfaction of the TRCA and the Town of Markham;
i)
That the portion of the site in the
vicinity of the archaeological easement lands will be the last lands to be
developed within Phase 2 of the subject development (the areas to the east of
the lands subject to the agreement).
And further, that the access requirements for Phase 2 be designed to
include no more than one road within the archaeological easement lands;
j)
That the existing farm lease on the
archaeological easement lands shall not be renewed beyond the current
term. Once the current term of the farm
lease ends (on May 31, 2003), the archaeological easement lands shall be seeded
and maintained as a grassed field, until such time as approvals have been
granted by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, pursuant to the Archaeological
Resources Protection Agreement;
k)
Except as outlined in Section j), that
the archaeological easement lands shall not be disturbed in any way, and no
works shall be undertaken pursuant to Section 5 of the Archaeological Resources
Protection Agreement, without first providing notice to the Grand Chief or
other official representative of the Huron Wendat Nation;
l)
That in the event that native burial
grounds are found to exist within the Archaeological Easement lands, suitable
arrangements will be made to preserve the burial sites in perpetuity;
m)
To implement the “Environmentally Sound Landscape Maintenance
Practices” report prepared by Hilton Landmarks Inc. dated July 23, 2002.
8. That the
Owner also agree in the Site Plan Agreement:
a)
To maintain the existing heritage
dwellings in a good and sound condition and use its best efforts to ensure the
continued occupancy of the structures in either the current use or an
appropriate adaptive reuse;
b)
Prior to undertaking any works on the
heritage buildings, to provide and implement a traditional restoration plan for
each of the four heritage houses on the property, for review and approval by
Town staff (Heritage Section). The
heritage conservation easement for the property would be amended with any
approved restoration plans for the houses;
c)
To provide and install at its cost, an
interpretive baked enamel plaque to be located in a publicly visible location
on the property. The plaque is to be
designed according to the specifications of the “Markham Remembered” program,
and outline the history of the lands on which the cemetery is to be
established. Details of the design and
location of the plaque are to be submitted for review and approval of Town
staff (Heritage Section).
d)
To secure the services of a
professional heritage consultant at its expense to document the barns and
outbuildings on the property, prior to obtaining approval to demolish any such
structures;
e)
To discuss with Town staff (Design
Section) opportunities for relocating parts of the barns for reuse as
decorative elements on the site (e.g. the use of timbers in arbours, and the
re-use of fieldstone in walls);
f)
To permit the Markham Museum to
salvage any historic artifacts/materials from any barns/outbuildings on the
property which are proposed for removal, at no cost to the Markham Museum for
such artifacts/materials;
g)
To advertise the availability of any
barns and outbuildings on the property which are proposed for demolition, for
relocation elsewhere in the community or salvaging of architectural features,
in a newspaper which covers the Town of Markham (Thornhill Liberal and Markham
Economist and Sun) for a period of not less than two (2) weeks and to submit
proof of this advertising. Priority
should be given to individuals restoring heritage buildings within the Town of
Markham.
9. That
the site plan approval will lapse after a period of three years commencing
March 25, 2003 in the event that a site plan agreement is not executed within
that period.
PURPOSE:
The
purpose of this report is to provide information pertaining to the proposed
Christ the King cemetery development and to recommend site plan approval,
subject to conditions.
BACKGROUND:
Property
The
subject property is 69.5 hectares (171.2 acres) in area with frontages on both
Steeles Avenue East and Reesor Road (Figure 1). The majority of the property is currently in agricultural
production and contains a woodlot and tributary of the Little Rouge Creek near
the centre of the southern portion. An
aboriginal archaeological site is situated on the plateau to the east of the
stream corridor consisting of the remains of an Iroquoian settlement that existed
circa 1400 A.D. A watercourse traverses
the southeast corner of the property.
Five residences and a number of associated outbuildings are also
situated on the property. Four of the
residences are listed in the Heritage Markham inventory of heritage resources
and have been recently designated by the Town under Part IV of the Ontario
Heritage Act.
Rural,
agricultural and conservation uses surround the property on all sides (Figure
2). The Little Rouge Creek and the
associated Rouge Park North corridor are located to the west and
southwest. The hamlet of Cedar Grove is
located to the northwest. Steeles
Avenue East, which forms the municipal boundary with the City of Toronto, is
located to the south, beyond which are lands located within the Rouge Park as
designated by the Rouge Park Management Plan.
The subject property was recently
acquired by the Applicant from the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC).
Official Plan and Zoning
The subject property is designated
“Agriculture 1” by the Official Plan (Revised 1987). Uses permitted within this designation include farming activity,
land uses related to and supportive of farming activity or the farming
community, or compatible with farming activity subject to acceptable
justification, and existing rural residential uses.
While cemetery uses would
ordinarily require an “Institutional – Cemetery” designation in the Official
Plan, the land use approval for the proposed cemetery was enacted by way of a
Ministerial Zoning Order issued by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and
Housing on December 19, 2001. This
Zoning Order has been deemed by the Minister to be an amendment to Town of
Markham Zoning By-law 304-87 and permits the use of the subject property only
for cemetery together with accessory uses and for agricultural uses. The Zoning Order also provides setbacks from
property lines for buildings, structures and burial plots and restricts the use
of the Rouge Park and woodlot portions of the property to conservation uses
only. A prior Zoning Order to permit
the cemetery on lands within the Box Grove Community east of 9th
Line and south of Highway 407 has been rescinded by the Minister.
Proposal
The applicant is proposing the
development of a 29.9 ha (73.9 acre) centrally-located first phase of a
three-phase cemetery (Figure 3).
DISCUSSION:
Prior Town actions support development of cemetery on
subject lands with conditions
On December 14, 1999, Council
passed a resolution (Appendix A) advising the Minister of Municipal Affairs
that the Town supported the passage of a Minister’s Zoning Order to permit the
cemetery use as well as the creation of the parcel through Crown Right, subject
to certain conditions. That resolution
also directed staff to report back to Council with respect to any site plan
application for the cemetery. Mayor
Cousens wrote to the Minister of the Environment on January 25, 2001 (Appendix
B) committing the Town to apply certain conditions of site plan approval. These conditions were to address concerns of
the Rouge Alliance and include a study of hydrogeology and measures to mitigate
any potential impact of the cemetery on local groundwater and surface water,
landscaping requirements, and environmentally sound landscape maintenance
practices.
Restrictions on use and development of land placed by
Ontario Realty Corporation
In conveying the subject property to the
applicant, ORC included a number of restrictions on its use and
development. These include conservation
easements in favour of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
over Rouge Park lands, over a treed laneway leading to the Milroy House, over a
woodlot and its associated watercourse, and over another watercourse in the
southeastern portion of the property that is outside of the Phase 1 lands. In addition, a heritage conservation
easement was conveyed to the Ontario Heritage Foundation over the aboriginal
archaeological site. These easements
are shown on Figure 2 and are discussed in further detail in subsequent
sections.
Rouge
Park lands to be conserved as passive parkland
The lands in the southwest corner
of the Phase 1 lands, comprising 3.83 ha (9.47 acres), are subject to a
conservation easement in favour of TRCA that states that the lands will not be
used for any purpose other than as a passive park in accordance with the Rouge
Park North Management Plan as it may be amended from time to time. The easement also provides that burials
shall not be permitted within this area nor the erection or construction of any
buildings, structures or improvements.
Existing trees may not be pruned, removed or replaced unless such
activity is recommended and supervised by a registered and licensed Ontario
arborist. Any tree that is removed must
be replaced by a healthy tree of similar species and of a minimum size.
The applicant has agreed to convey
these lands for Rouge Park purposes, to the Town upon site plan approval
subject to an easement for a proposed temporary access from Reesor Road
(discussed below). This conveyance will
satisfy parkland dedication requirements for the cemetery development. Following the conveyance, the existing homes
at 7107 Reesor Road and 7181 Reesor Road would be on Town owned property. These homes are occupied by residential
tenants.
Interim Road access from Reesor Road will ultimately be
closed and replaced with access from Steeles Avenue
The ultimate main entrance to the
cemetery is proposed to be from Steeles Avenue East near the centre of the
Phase 1 frontage and has been located to provide for maximum sight distances
and traffic safety. However, until
Steeles Avenue has been widened and reconstructed, the vertical alignment of
the road restricts sight lines, making any access to Steeles Avenue
unsafe. No schedule for the
reconstruction has been set at the current time. The applicant therefore proposes to construct the main driveway
to Steeles Avenue but to not provide a connection until the road has been
reconstructed. Until the
reconstruction of Steeles Avenue, the main entrance to the cemetery is proposed
to be from Reesor Road, with a gated emergency “out only” exit to Steeles
Avenue in the location of an existing laneway.
The proposed Reesor Road access
crosses the lands to be owned by the Town for Rouge Park purposes and over
which the TRCA holds a conservation easement.
The Site Plan Agreement will include provisions stating that this access
is to be temporary and will be removed and the area restored and landscaped in
accordance with plans approved by the Town and the TRCA when a minimum of two
alternate accesses have been approved.
The Cedar Grove Community Club has
written to the Town (Appendix C) to request that all access for the cemetery be
from Steeles Avenue. For the reasons
outlined above, it is necessary to have a temporary access to Reesor Road.
Archaeological Site to be protected by Archaeological Resources Protection Agreement and Site Plan
Agreement
The applicant has entered into an
Archaeological Resources Protection Agreement with the Ontario Heritage
Foundation, a not-for-profit agency of the Province of Ontario, respecting the
aboriginal archaeological site. The
agreement is registered on title and restricts interim use of the site to
agricultural uses and passive open space uses and prohibits any excavation,
removal or other disturbance of the soil or vegetation on the site. As the site is located within the proposed
Phase 2 lands (not the subject of the current application), the agreement
contemplates that the final status of the site will be determined at the time
an application for the development of Phase 2 is submitted.
During the review of the Site Plan
application, correspondence was received from Grand Chief Wellie Picard and
other members of the Huron-Wendat First Nation, pertaining to the site. In particular, concern was expressed about
the possible existence of an undiscovered burial site associated with the
former settlement that might be disturbed by development of the proposed
cemetery.
To address the concerns of the
Huron-Wendat Nation, the TRCA have requested that additional protections for
the archaeological site be included in the Site Plan Agreement. These provisions, which have been reviewed
with the Applicant and were approved by resolution of the Rouge Alliance on
January 31, 2003, provide that:
·
The lands in the vicinity of the
archaeological easement will be the last of the Phase 2 lands to be developed
and no more than one road shall cross the easement lands.
·
The existing farm lease will not be
renewed beyond the current term over the archaeological easement lands. Once the farm lease has expired, the lands
will be seeded and maintained as a grass field until any approvals have been
granted by the Ontario Heritage Foundation pursuant to the agreement.
·
The lands will not be disturbed and
no works shall be undertaken pursuant to the agreement without first providing
notice to the Grand Chief of the Huron-Wendat Nation.
·
If any native burial grounds are
found to exist, suitable arrangements will be made to preserve the burials
grounds in perpetuity.
Laneway,
Woodlot & Watercourse protected by Conservation Easements
The following lands are subject to
conservation easements in favour of TRCA:
·
the treed laneway from Steeles
Avenue East to the Milroy House
·
the woodlot near the centre of the
southern portion of the property and the associated watercourse (downstream)
·
the watercourse in the southeast
corner of the property
Each of these easements states that
burials shall not be permitted nor shall any buildings, structures or
improvements be erected or constructed.
Existing trees may be pruned, removed or replaced only if such activity
is recommended and supervised by a registered and licensed Ontario
arborist. Any tree that is removed must
be replaced by a healthy tree of similar species and of a minimum size.
The easement applying to the
watercourse provides for it to be altered in the future with the prior written
permission of TRCA.
The TRCA has approved a driveway
crossing over the watercourse south of the woodlot at the same location as the
existing farm crossing. This crossing
is required to access a fill/borrow area that would be utilized to dispose of
surplus fill material generated by the burial operation.
Hydrogeology and Landscape Maintenance Commitments in Mayor
Cousens’ letter have been satisfied
As previously indicated, Mayor
Cousens’ letter of January 25, 2001 to the Minister of the Environment
(Appendix B) committed the Town to apply certain conditions of site plan
approval, including a study of hydrogeology and measures to mitigate any
potential impact of the cemetery on local groundwater and surface water as well
as the use of environmentally sound landscape maintenance practices.
The Applicant has submitted an
Assessment of Groundwater Levels, Phase 1 report prepared by Terraprobe. The report and its recommendations have been
reviewed by the TRCA and found to be satisfactory. The Applicant has also submitted a letter from Hilton Landmarks
Inc. dated July 23, 2002 (Appendix D), describing the applicant’s proposed
landscape maintenance practices for the cemetery following development. These proposed practices have been reviewed
by the Town’s parks maintenance and landscape architecture staff and have been
found to be suitable and appropriate to the proposed use. Appropriate conditions relating to both
groundwater and landscape maintenance are included in the staff recommendation.
Existing Buildings to remain on site and be protected
through combination of Town Ownership, Heritage Easements and Heritage
Designations
Five existing homes are situated on
the property and are addressed as 7107 Reesor Road, 7111 Reesor Road, 7181
Reesor Road, 7297 Reesor Road, and 7960 Steeles Avenue East. As indicated previously, the latter four are
listed in the Heritage Markham inventory of heritage resources and have
recently been designated by the Town under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.
The houses at 7107 Reesor Road and
7181 Reesor Road would remain in their current locations and would be conveyed
to the Town as part of the Rouge Park lands as previously discussed.
The Milroy House at 7111 Reesor
Road is to remain in its current location and will be used for administration
purposes in connection with the cemetery.
A heritage easement agreement has recently been registered over the building
in favour of the Town. The derelict
orchard behind the house is proposed to be utilized as a service area as the
surrounding vegetation would provide an existing natural visual buffer.
The buildings on the Phase 2 lands
(7960 Steeles Avenue East) and Phase 3 lands (7297 Reesor Road) are to remain
in their current locations. The
applicant advises that the tenants of these buildings will continue to deal
with Dell Management as they have in the past.
This is in keeping with Council’s resolution of December 14, 1999 that
site plan approval for the cemetery include phasing provisions ensuring that
the impact on existing tenants is minimized and that the lands remain in
agricultural production for as long as possible. The applicant has also agreed at the time of Phase 1 approval to
register heritage easements over these buildings in favour of the Town of
Markham.
Future Buildings to be subject to further approval
The locations of future office and
mausoleum buildings in Phase One have been indicated on the proposed site plan
for grading and servicing purposes.
These buildings will be the subject of future applications for site plan
approval once the plans for them have been finalized.
Site Plan Approval Application appealed to Ontario Municipal
Board pursuant to agreement with Ontario Realty Corporation
The application for Site Plan
Approval was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board by the Applicant on
December 9, 2002. The Applicant
submitted the appeal pursuant to the terms of an agreement with ORC that compelled
the Applicant to submit the appeal if the Site Plan was not approved by a
certain date. It is our understanding
that this condition of the purchase and sale agreement was put in place by ORC
to ensure that the purchaser would seek and obtain Site Plan Approval for the
cemetery use within a specified time frame, and not seek any other use of the
lands. However, the Applicant has
indicated that it will withdraw the appeal should the Town approve the Site
Plan.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
No
financial implications are to be considered in this report.
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
All
requirements of Town Departments and Public Agencies will be incorporated into
the final plans and site plan agreement.
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure
1 – Applicant/Agent + Location Map
Figure
2 – Area Context / Zoning
Figure
3 – Site Plan
Appendix A – Council Resolution of December 14,
1999
Appendix B – Mayor Cousens’ letter of January
25, 2001
Appendix C – Cedar Grove Community Club letter
of August 23, 2002
Appendix D – Hilton Landmarks Inc. letter of
July 23, 2002
|
|
|
|
|
Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning and Urban Design
|
|
Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Acting Commissioner of Development Services
|
FIGURE
1
DOCUMENT # q:\development\planning\appl\siteplan\02108542
christ the king cemetery\dsc report.doc
APPLICANT/AGENT:
Higgins
Engineering Limited Tel.
(416) 443-8001
23
Lesmill Road Fax.
(416) 443-0323
Toronto,
ON M3B 3P6
LOCATION MAP:
