RECOMMENDATION:
THAT
a Public Meeting be held to consider the applications for Draft Plan of Subdivision Approval and Rezoning by:
· Majorwood Developments Inc., 2938 Major Mackenzie Drive East (file no. SU 02 118584; ZA 08 112735);
· Heritage at Cathedral – Monarch Corporation, Part Lot
22 Concession 3 (file no. SU 05 011381; ZA 08 112151);
· 1696913 Ontario Inc., 2901 Elgin Mills Rd E., (Formerly Tucciarone Family) (file no. SU 01 110126; ZA 08 112322);
· Heritage at Victoria Square - Monarch Corporation, Part Lots 26 and 27,
Concession 3 (northwest quadrant of Elgin Mills Rd. E. and Woodbine Avenue), (file no. SU 05 010966; ZA 08 112753);
To permit the second phases of
residential development in the West Cathedral Community.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to provide preliminary
information regarding the above noted applications for draft plan of
subdivision approval and rezoning.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The subject applications are
related to the Phase 2 submissions for draft plan approval and rezoning of four
properties in the West Cathedral Community.
Conditional servicing allocation has been granted for 2011, for 300 of
the 511 units proposed. Draft plan
approval cannot be granted until the owners have executed agreements not to
pre-sell (with the Town of Markham) and indemnity agreements (with York Region). The intent of the indemnity agreement is to
protect the Region from possible lawsuits if the servicing infrastructure is
not delivered in the anticipated timeframe.
The subdivisions will also be subject to hold provisions, which will not
be released until servicing allocation has been confirmed for 300 units in 2011
or later.
Community-wide planning studies for
West Cathedral were approved prior to approval of the Phase 1 draft plans in
June 2006. Updates to the
subdivision-specific studies, as noted in the report, will be required prior to
draft plan approval.
Staff recommend that the draft
plans of subdivision and rezoning be scheduled for a public meeting.
BACKGROUND:
Site location and area context
The four
properties addressed in this preliminary report are located on the west side of
Woodbine Avenue between Major Mackenzie Drive and the first township lot
north of Elgin Mills Road East within the West Cathedral
Community.
Surrounding land uses include:
·
The East Cathedral Community
on the east side of Woodbine
Avenue, which is designated
as a low density residential neighbourhood and is currently under construction;
·
Victoria Park (a Town-owned
community park to the north), which extends west from Woodbine Avenue a
distance of approximately 220 metres;
·
The hamlet of Victoria Square,
located to the north east;
·
A retail centre to the south
on the Loblaw/Fieldgate property fronting the north side of Major Mackenzie Drive;
·
Future employment lands to
the north;
·
Ongoing development of the
first phases of the West Cathedral Community on lands adjacent to the subject
applications.
There are several environmentally significant
features within the West Cathedral Community in the vicinity of these
applications. All environmental matters
have been addressed to the Town’s and TRCA’s satisfaction, in the comprehensive
Environmental Impact Study and the Environmental and Stormwater Management
Plan, which were approved by staff in May 2006.
Briefly, these environmental features include:
- A large mature woodlot (designated as an Environmental Protection
Area by the Markham Official Plan) located in the north-west corner of the
community, partly on the Monarch Lands and partly on lands owned by a non-participating
land owner. The portion of this
woodlot originally owned by the Monarch Corporation has been conveyed to
the Town as part of the Comprehensive
Parks and Open Space Agreement for the West Cathedral Community. The remaining portion of the woodlot, held
by a non-participating land owner, will be dedicated at a later date, as
part of the approvals for that parcel.
- A mature hedgerow at the north end of Monarch Heritage at Victoria Square lands has been incorporated into a neighbourhood park and several
individually significant tree species have been identified in the West
Cathedral Tree Conservation Plan;
- The East Carleton Creek bisects the northern portion of the
community. A continuous open space corridor, 50 metres in width, is
identified on both sides of the creek.
This corridor is identified in the draft plans of subdivision addressed
in this report. The naturally occurring corridor (East Carlton Creek) has
been substantially increased in width to offset the loss of the man-made
extension of the West Carlton Creek designated in the 1997 Cathedral Community
Secondary Plan, which TRCA no longer supported. The result is a more substantial green
corridor along the East Carleton Creek which links the mature woodlot to
the north of the plan to the valley land in the adjacent East Cathedral
Community.
In addition to these natural features, the most
notable building on the site is the Cathedral itself, which will become the
focal point of the surrounding community.
There are no heritage buildings on the subject lands.
Official
Plan and Zoning Context
The West Cathedral Community is subject to the
policies of the Town of Markham
Official Plan (Revised 1987) and
the Cathedral Community Secondary Plan (OPA 42), as amended by OPA 123. The applications addressed in this report
comply with the policies set out in both documents.
The majority of the lands subject to these applications
are currently zoned A1 Agricultural One, by By-law 304-87. Exceptions include lands fronting directly
onto the south side of Elgin
Mills Road East,
which are zoned in a rural residential category, and the lands subject to the
Cathedral South application, which were formerly owned by Memorial Gardens and
are zoned institutional to permit a cemetery.
Applications for rezonings have been submitted for all the subject
applications.
A further
public meeting required
Comprehensive applications for draft plan of
subdivision approval and rezoning of the subject lands were submitted in March
2005. A public meeting for the full draft
plans of subdivision and zoning by-law amendments was held in June 2005. The
first phases of these subdivisions, comprising the employment lands adjacent to
Highway 404 and the portion of the residential lands that had been granted
servicing allocation, were draft plan approved and rezoned in June 2006. Between the fall of 2006 and June 2007, minor
expansions to the approved draft plans were approved through staff-delegated red-line
revisions and Council-approved zoning by-law amendments, to accommodate
periodic increases in servicing allocation to the West Cathedral Community. In
accordance with Town practice, further public meetings were not held to
accommodate these minor expansions to the approved subdivisions, as the
approvals were granted within 2 years of the original public meeting.
A public meeting for the subject applications
is now required, since more than two years has elapsed since the original
public meeting was held.
Community-wide
background studies for West Cathedral have been approved
Between 2002 and 2006, Town Staff worked
closely with the landowners to prepare and finalize the following background
studies for the West Cathedral Community as required by the Cathedral Community
Secondary Plan:
·
the Environmental and
Stormwater Management Plan and the Environmental Impact Study, jointly approved
by the Town and TRCA in May 2006;
·
the West Cathedral Community
Design Plan, including the Open Space Master Plan and the associated agreement (approved
with conditions by Council in June 2004, with final approval delegated to the
Commissioner of Development Services. Final approval relates to submission of a
detailed precinct plan for the mixed use area surrounding the Cathedral, which
is outside of the boundaries of the subject applications);
·
approval of the Parks and
Open Space Master Plan and execution of the Parks and Open Space Agreement in
June 2007 by the Landowner’s Group;
·
The External Traffic Study
(approved 2005);
·
the Master Servicing Plan
(approved 2005);
·
the Development Phasing Plan
(approved 2005);
·
Tree Preservation Plan
(approved 2005);
·
Noise Study (approved 2005).
Proposed Developments
The applications addressed in this report focus
on the Phase 2 residential lands which have not yet received servicing
allocation. These applications are summarized
in the following table:
|
|
Phase 2 Majorwood Developments
Inc. (Fig 4)
|
Phase 2 Heritage at Cathedral
Town (Monarch)
(Fig 5)
|
Phase 2 1696913 Ontario Inc.
(formerly Tucciarone Family)
(Fig 8)
|
Phase 2 Heritage at Victoria Square (Monarch0
(Fig 9)
|
|
Gross Site Area less:
|
4.53
ha
|
10.47
ha
|
1.443
ha
|
10.85
|
|
Roads & reserves
|
0.79
|
1.81
|
0.183
|
1.839
|
|
Neighb’hood Parks
|
0.64
|
0.72
|
0
|
1.562
|
|
School
|
0
|
2.40
|
0
|
2.39
|
|
Open Space
|
0
|
0.21
|
0
|
0.058
|
|
Stormwater Pond
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Net site Area (ha)
|
3.1
|
5.33
|
1.26
|
5.001
|
|
Residential Singles
|
0
|
2.57
|
0
|
4.398
|
|
Semis
|
2.09
|
0
|
0.154
|
0
|
|
Townhouses
|
0.93
|
1.95
|
1.106
|
0.603
|
|
Apartments
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Residential reserve
|
0.08
|
0.81
|
0
|
0
|
|
Units
|
129.5
|
183.5
|
62
|
136
|
|
Singles
|
0
|
67
|
0
|
107
|
|
Semis
|
86
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
|
Townhouses
|
40
|
80
|
56
|
29
|
|
Residential reserve (@.5 units/block)
|
3.5
|
36.5
|
0
|
0
|
|
Net Res Density (ph 2)
Avg Res Density1
|
41.4
upha
39.52
upha
|
31.5
upga
30.43
upha
|
49.2
upha
35.85
upha
|
27.19
upha
27.08
upha
|
Notes: (1) Calculated
over full draft plan submission based on May 17, 2005 Preliminary Report
.
These draft plans of subdivision
are shown graphically in Figures 4 to 7, attached to this report.
DISCUSSION
Town
- adopted policies allow draft plan approval in advance of servicing allocation
The Region (fall 2007) and the Town (February
2008) have adopted policies for draft plan approval of subdivisions with
conditional (to 2011) servicing allocation, or no servicing allocation. Furthermore, the Town of Markham report
granted 2011 conditional allocation of 300 units / 1,110 population to the
Cathedral community.
Both reports set out the following requirements
for approval of draft plans of subdivisions with conditional allocation or no
allocation:
§
The owner must enter into an
agreement with the Town of Markham not to pre-sell units with the draft plan;
§
The owner must enter into an
Indemnity agreement with the Region. The intent of the indemnity agreement is to protect
the Region from possible lawsuits if the servicing infrastructure is not
delivered in the anticipated timeframe. ;
§
Both of these agreements
must be executed prior to draft plan approval, and copies of the executed
agreements must be attached to the recommendation reports;
§
The subdivisions must be
subject to hold provisions in the zoning by-law.
Generally, hold provisions will not be lifted
until allocation has been confirmed by the Region. It is anticipated that pre-sales could begin
within a year prior to lifting the hold provision. The subdivision, or a portion, would be released
for registration after hold provisions are lifted.
The applicant and the Landowners’ Group Trustee must identify and
confirm the units subject to the conditional allocation
The subject applications consist of
511 units (179.5 singles, 97 semi’s, 234.5 townhouses) which is approximately
equivalent to a population of 1,530 population.
This exceeds the conditional 2011 allocation of 300 units or 1100
population. Prior to draft plan
approval, the applicants will have to identify the specific units on the draft
plans which will be subject to the 2011 conditional allocation (note that the
population of 1,100 cannot be exceeded, however, the total number of units may
exceed 300 if allocation is used to develop more townhouses than originally
anticipated). A letter from the trustee
of the landowners’ group must be submitted to the Town confirming the proposed
allocation assignment.
Because the units under the
conditional allocation will proceed before the units which have no allocation,
the draft plan approval conditions and zoning by-law amendments must be crafted
to accommodate these timing differences.
The portions of the draft plans without conditional allocation will be
placed under a different hold provision than those that have conditional
allocation. Also, different conditions
will apply regarding the release from the no presale and indemnity agreements,
and release for registration. These
matters will be addressed in detail in the recommendation reports for the
subject applications.
Updated background studies to be submitted and
approved by the Town prior to draft plan approval
The following background studies may
need to be updated in support of the Phase 2 draft plan submissions. These include:
·
External Traffic Study, to
document how the Phase 2 subdivisions will impact Major Mackenzie Drive prior to the scheduled widening;
In addition, the following subdivision-specific
studies are to be updated on an application-specific basis:
·
Functional servicing study
(including grading plan);
·
Noise impact study;
·
Internal Traffic Study;
·
Stormwater Management Study;
·
Cultural Heritage Resource
Study;
·
Site and Grading Specific Tree
Preservation Plans;
·
Phase 1 Environmental
Assessment;
·
Hydrogeological Study;
·
Lotting distribution plan and
housing prototype review, if the current Phase 2 plans are not reflected in the
original submission(s), submitted prior to approval of the Phase 1 draft plans;
and,
·
Written confirmation that the
Architectural Control Guidelines for the Phase 1 draft plans can be applied to
the Phase 2 submission1.
Since the subject applications are being
submitted simultaneously, staff recommend that, to the extent possible, each of
the above studies address all the subject applications on a comprehensive
basis, rather than having separate studies for each draft plan submission. This
will allow for more efficient review by staff, and will ensure that issues are
addressed on a global basis. As well, we
believe this approach will be more cost effective for the owners.
The
unit calculations in several of the subdivision applications must be
revised.
In some cases the residential reserve
calculations do not fully reflect the actual unit yield. This applies specifically to the Heritage at Cathedral Town
subdivision where complete blocks are identified as “residential reserve” and
calculated at ½ unit per lot, because a portion of the road frontage is located
on an adjoining property and must be constructed jointly with the adjoining
property owner. This underestimates the
total unit yield because there are no corresponding residential reserve lots or
blocks on the adjoining property. Staff
will work with the applicant to resolve this matter prior to draft plan
approval.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Any financial issues
identified during the circulation of these applications will be addressed in
the final recommendation reports.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Key environmental considerations
associated with the West Cathedral Community have been addressed in the draft
Environmental and Stormwater Management Plan and the Environmental Impact Study
for the community and the recommendations of those reports will be incorporated
into these draft plan submissions. These
applications will also be subject to the Energy Star Program guidelines for
low-rise residential development, as per Markham Council’s recent direction.
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The
draft plan of subdivision applications have been circulated to all relevant
business units. Their comments will be
reflected in the final recommendation reports.
CONCLUSIONS:
These
draft plans of subdivision generally appear to reflect the intent and
objectives of the Cathedral Community Secondary Plan, the Community Design
Plan, and the other community-wide background studies prepared for the West
Cathedral Community. Refinements may be
identified during the detailed review of the applications. However, staff are of the opinion that these
applications are sufficiently advanced to warrant holding a public meeting.
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure 1 – Location Map
Figure 2 – Arial Photograph
Figure 3 – Zoning and area context
Figures 4 to 7 – Draft Plans of Subdivision
|
|
|
|
|
Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning & Urban Design
|
|
Jim
Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Commissioner of Development Services
|
Q:\Development\Planning\Teams\WEST\Cathedral Community\preliminary
report\preliminary report May 17 20051.doc
FIGURE 1
|
OWNER:
|
Majorwood Developments
Inc.
Frank Palombi
200 Bridgeland Ave.,
Toronto ON M6A 1Z4
Tel: 416-785-8172 x 232
Fax: 416-781-2981
|
AGENT:
|
Same as Owner
|
|
OWNER:
|
1696913 Ontario Inc.
Bruno Tucciarone
c/o Video Real Estate
55 Doncaster Ave.
Thornhill ON L3T 1L7
Tel: 416-223-7333
Fax: 905-886-1877
|
AGENT:
|
Sandra Wiles Planning Services
28 Brookbank Cres.
Markham ON L3P 6K8
Tel: 416-458-2257
swiles@rogers.com
|
|
OWNER:
|
Monarch Corp.
Mark Resnick
2550 Victoria Park
Toronto ON M2J 5A9
Tel: 416-491-7440
Fax: 416-640-1574
|
AGENT:
|
Same as Owner
|
