GTA communities worry about impact of high-density developments

With the population of the Toronto increasing and residents being priced out of housing market, the province is working on new massive developments, aimed at providing housing for these growing populations. But residents and local planners are concerned about the impact of these developments on their communities.

Richmond Hill, Markham and Pickering are just a few of the communities that have been primed for development, part of the province’s plan to build what are called “Transit-Oriented Communities,” which in these cases are along with the Yonge North Subway Extension into Markham and Richmond Hill and the GO transit station in Pickering.

Two massive developments in York Region, likely bringing over 80,000 residents to the community, are planned for areas just north and south of the Highway 407, off of Yonge Street.

“What they’re putting in here is beyond anything that I’ve ever seen. I mean they’re talking about putting 11 towers that are going to be 80 stories high. That’s taller than anything currently in downtown Toronto,” said Graham Churchill, a Richmond Hill resident.

President of the Yonge-Bernard Residents Association John Li, the area the Richmond Hill development would go, said he was shocked at the sheer number of people it could hold.

“If you convert those numbers per square kilometre it’s about 175,000 people per square kilometre. That’s almost all of the current Richmond Hill population in approximately one square kilometre. That’s unbelievable.”

The High-Tech station community to the north of Highway 407, where some retail and businesses now operate, would see 33 towers in total while across the highway, another 34 buildings would be spread out over 40 hectares in total.

Among the concerns from residents are a lack of infrastructure, including schools and park land.

York Region Chief Planner Paul Freeman says they’ve been planning for about 40,000 people and almost 34,000 jobs at the build out in those areas for a decade. However, he says the province’s plans propose over 80,000 people and about 25,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, in Pickering, real estate broker Fahad Rehman, said there are a total of 75 new towers that are either already approved, under construction or proposed in the city.

“Most of those are still in the proposal phase so they’re not guaranteed. There may be changes. They may be denied altogether, but the overall amount that is coming is something that’s very shocking to most people in the city.”

He said Durham Region is an obvious choice for developers and the province because to the west and north of Toronto has already been built up.

Rehman says this is a good thing for Pickering because the supply and demand have shown it’s necessary.

“There is less than a half of a month inventory on the market right now. And when it comes to rentals as well, a lot of RENTERS can’t find a place to rent.”

“We need more housing and that’s something that’s acknowledged all across the GTA,” said Rehman. “There will come a time when we actually have to step up and be that city that we’re sort of destined to be in a way.”

A residents’ group from Pickering has been speaking out against one proposal in particular, two high-rise towers set to be built looking directly down on their complex.

The proposal includes two buildings, 31- and 34-storey, along with another 12-storey building and 25 townhouses at Brock and Kingston Roads.

The major concern for most of the people have to do with traffic, said Alastair Taylor, chair of Team United 1970 Residents’ Group. “The traffic behind us and we can see coming down from the 407 and coming up from the 401 and coming across Kingston Road right now in significant enough.”

They are also concerned about a century building that is currently in the middle of where the properties will be built. “It has been located there for more than 180 years and the Post Manor it’s called. Citizens are concerned should the building be moved at all,” said Taylor.

As of right now, the developper is proposing the stone building be moved to a different area.

“Some of the residents that are right on the edge of that property have the concern that this building will take two years to build and they’re building underground parking so noise, vibration, potentially problems with foundations and underpinning,” added Taylor.

Housing advocates see large scale development as something that’s needed in the GTA, despite the opposition from locals.

“We see in so many of these conversations that we ask the homeowner who hasn’t thought of any of the other impacts that this could actually have on the community that might be positive and might actually help people who are struggling to find places to live,” said Erick Lombardi, founder of More Neighbours Toronto.

Those living in the area now say they’re not against neighbouring communities being built, they just want it to be done right. Otherwise it will just be too much.

“I wanna get in away from it now. I’m going. This is absolutely nuts and the question is ‘Where are we going to go?'” said Churchill.

York Region planners and politicians say they continue to have conversations to try and scale down some of the plans, but the province wants to push ahead with indication that zoning could be in place as early as next month.

Pickering City Councillor Maurice Brenner says he thinks it’s important to listen to the resident’s concerns about developments. “I think it is definitely prudent to take a pause. Take a time out if possible to be able to allow the people of Pickering to understand more about what is being planned.”

“It’s easy for me to try and say ‘hey I’m a opposed to everything.’ It’s not gonna solve the problem. I need to come up with compromises. I need to come up with plans that are a win-win for everybody,” Brenner added.