RECOMMENDATION:
That the applications submitted by Freehold Building
Corporation, for zoning by-law amendment and
site plan approval (File numbers ZA 03.111871 and SC 03-111872) to permit the
outdoor storage of vehicles at 8330 & 8332 Kennedy Road dated July 7, 2003
be denied.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to provide
information regarding applications for a zoning amendment and site plan
approval to permit the outdoor storage of vehicles on a portion of the property
at 8330 and 8332 Kennedy Road, and to recommend that the applications be
denied.
BACKGROUND:
Site description and area context
The subject
lands are located at the northwest corner of Kennedy Road and Unionville Gate,
at the eastern boundary of Markham Centre.
The lands subject to this zoning application (municipally known as 8330
and 8332 Kennedy Road) have not proceeded to phase two of the original approved
site plan application, and as a result are partially vacant. Unionville Gate forms the southerly site
boundary, with Markville Ford Lincoln
Mercury and the new Honda Dealership directly across the street. To the west lie the Rouge River Hazard Lands
and a medical office building with associated parking. Kennedy Road borders the site to the east,
separating the site from the future and existing residential South Unionville
neighbourhood. To the north is the
Mercedes-Benz car dealership and retail plaza with a variety of retail and
restaurant uses beyond.
The current use of the property includes a
Shell Gas Station and convenience store, an automatic car wash, a car detailing
facility and a ‘Jiffy Lube’ automobile service facility. The zoning amendment pertains to the
northern portion of the land, consisting of 0.233 ha (0.58 acre) (illustrated
on Figure 4) that was originally planned for a future retail commercial
building as part of a comprehensive development proposal approved in 1989. The applicant states that the proposed
outdoor storage yard would be leased to the adjacent car dealerships for the
purpose of a vehicle storage compound.
Since the lease for the current tenants on the balance of the site
expires in 2011, the Freehold Building Corporation anticipates the entire
property would be available for potential redevelopment at that time, and
consequently the proposed storage area would not extend past 2011.
The Proposal
The applicant is proposing to rezone the 0.233 ha (0.58 acre) north-west portion of the property (currently
vacant) to permit the outdoor storage of vehicle inventory for adjacent
automobile dealerships.
The submitted plans show a revised parking lot facility surrounding the
proposed vehicle storage compound with a raised landscaped curb, however no
additional landscaping is proposed adjacent to the hazard lands to the
west. Access to the storage yard is
proposed directly from Kennedy Road, utilizing the existing access/egress for
the Jiffy-Lube facility. The proposed
storage compound is at the rear of the site.
A chain link fence (similar to the fencing at the adjacent Mercedes Benz
dealership) is proposed along the perimeter of the outdoor storage yard.
Official
Plan and Secondary Plan policies
The Official Plan identifies these lands as a Commercial – Community
Amenity Area. This designation provides
for a multi-use, multi-purpose centre which is planned to offer a diversity of
retail, office, service, community, institutional and recreational
opportunities to serve the nearby businesses and residential neighbourhood. While permitted uses include automobile
related uses such as car washes, automobile service stations and automobile
repair uses (excluding auto body paint and repair), the Community Amenity Area
designation of the Official Plan does not normally provide for outdoor storage
and/or display of merchandise.
The site is also designated as a Community Amenity
Area – General in the Markham Centre Secondary Plan (OPA 21). Policy 4.3.2.2 i) of the Secondary Plan,
applicable to the site, states that the lands “on the west side of Kennedy Road
may be considered for retail uses involving accessory outdoor storage
and/or display, subject to approval by Council of a specific proposal for
zoning amendment and site plan approval demonstrating land use and quality of
design commensurate with the intended character of the area”. It is important to note that the Secondary
Plan outdoor storage permission is intended to provide accessory outdoor
storage for a retail use that exists on the same lot. With accessory outdoor storage, there would normally be
opportunities for building placement, fencing and landscape elements to be used
to screen exposure of the accessory storage use to the street. However, this application requests outdoor
vehicle storage as a primary use, intended to accommodate outdoor storage for
adjacent car dealerships. The outdoor
storage use would be unrelated to the service commercial uses on the site, and
would occur on a part of the site exposed to Kennedy Road without significant
screening.
The
zoning by-law requires amendment
In 1989, the Unionville Subcommittee requested that
staff bring forward a report to amend the Minister’s Zoning Order (Parkway
Belt) and approved a mixed service/retail application that permitted car
washes, gas bars and associated convenience stores, and applies to the whole of
the lands as a comprehensive development.
It did not include outdoor vehicle storage as a permitted use.
In November 1995, Ontario Regulation 474/95
removed the lands from the Minister’s Zoning Order, at which time the Town adopted
a site-specific by-law pertaining to the lands. However, under the Town’s zoning by-laws, the subject lands
remain zoned as Agriculture One Zone (A1) and the southern portion is zoned
Rural Residential One Zone (RR1) under By-law 304-87, as amended (Figure
2). The parcel is also subject to
By-law 190-95, amending By-law 304-87.
This amendment provides a list of additional uses, however the existing
zone categories and permitted uses do not include an outdoor vehicle storage
facility, therefore a amendment is required.
DISCUSSION:
The planned function of the Community Amenity designation
is challenged by the application
The intended purpose of the Community Amenity Area (CAA) designation is
to provide a diversity of retail, office, service, community, institutional and
recreational opportunities to serve the local businesses and
neighbourhoods. The CAA designation
also allows for medium and high density residential development, to support
mixed use activity and public transit corridors. Achieving and maintaining the planned function of the CAA designation along Kennedy
Road continues to be challenged by an increase in requests for car dealerships
(including on-site and off-site vehicle storage requirements). To date, car dealerships in the immediate
vicinity include BMW, Volkswagon, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Honda and Mercedes
Benz. Although OPA 21 contemplates
automobile sales establishments on the west side of Kennedy Road (as a primary
retail use with accessory outdoor storage), the continued introduction of car
dealerships on more sites in the area has adversely impacted the ability of the
CAA lands to function in the intended manner. The subject proposal for outdoor
storage as a primary use (not accessory to retail or automobile sales on the
same site, but providing overflow storage for other uses in the area) is of
particular concern.
The planned function of the Community Amenity Area
along Kennedy Road is to provide an identifiable commercial/mixed use node for
the area, and the Town. The area was
designated to permit commercial uses to primarily serve the residents of the
Unionville community, with a variety of commercial uses providing for their
day-to-day needs. The applicant’s
original plan for the site included the existing uses, as well as a retail
commercial plaza, which was never built.
Staff are concerned the proposed outdoor storage is not consistent with
the original site plan concept for these lands or the planned function and
objectives of the Community Amenity Area designation.
Outdoor storage of vehicles is not considered a desirable
use
The trend towards more automobile sales
establishments and the outdoor storage of vehicles continues to be of
concern. In this particular
application, the applicant is requesting the Town to consider the outdoor
storage as the primary land use, with no associated retail component. This proposal is neither an attractive land
use nor does it provide any benefits to the local area, while consuming 0.58
acres of prime developable commercial land. Its sole purpose is to provide additional storage of vehicles for
existing vehicle sales establishments.
Area residents have in recent years cited undesirable operational characteristics
of automobile sales establishments, such as noise, unsightly car storage areas,
over-lighting, loading and off-loading of vehicles and unsightly banners,
signage, etc., and these concerns are increasing in cumulative effect.
The Town has taken considerable steps
with new development applications for car dealerships along the Kennedy Road
corridor to achieve built form frontage at the street edge. Considerable effort has also been put into
working with applicants to minimize the visual impacts of stored inventory
vehicles. The building locations on the
Mercedes, Honda and BMW dealership sites for example, take measures to screen
large parking areas from public view to Kennedy Road. The applicant’s proposal would result in exposure of a large
automobile storage area to public view and undermine the Town’s urban design
objectives for the Kennedy Road Corridor.
Landscaping solutions cannot provide an adequate level of screening to
the visual intrusion of the large storage compound. From an urban design perspective, surface parking areas are best
dealt with in the context of plans that can integrate building location and
massing to define street edges and screen parking/storage areas from public
view. This application cannot meet
these objectives with its current proposal.
The proposal is not consistent with the vision for
Markham Centre
Kennedy Road is a primary urban corridor and arterial
road. This section of Kennedy Road is
considered a gateway location for Markham Centre and the Unionville Community,
as both a higher order land use destination and focal point due to its high
degree of accessibility and exposure.
This area is not considered appropriate for a single use “auto mall”
environment, and the continued trend in that direction should be halted.
Improvements, expansions and
enhancements to existing automobile sales/storage sites may be considered based
on merit, but new site locations should be discouraged.
Rezoning the lands to permit the outdoor storage of
vehicles would contravene the intent of the Markham Centre Smart Growth
initiatives. Such an important urban
corridor should be characterized by high-density mixed-use development,
enhanced with an improved streetscape with a pedestrian orientation. The proposal does not does not provide
significant employment, does not promote transit supportive development, and is
not in keeping with Town initiatives regarding mixed land use and compact urban
form.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
There are no financial implications for
the Town in this report.
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
The
applications have been circulated to internal departments and external agencies
for comments.
CONCLUSIONS:
Staff recognizes the ongoing interest in locating
automobile sales establishments and associated uses along Kennedy Road. However, if permitted to continue, the planned
function of this Community Amenity Area will further erode. While the outdoor storage of vehicles is
permitted within the Official Plan and Secondary Plan as an accessory use to a
retail component on the same lot (for properties on the west side of Kennedy
Road), it is not considered an appropriate primary use at this gateway
location, in an area intended to serve the local neighbourhood. Based on the information contained within
this report, staff therefore recommends denial of the applications.
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Valerie Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning & Urban Design
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Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Commissioner of Development Services
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DOCUMENT:
Q:\Development\Planning\APPL\ZONING\03
111871 Freehold Building Corp\DSC07-2003dc.doc
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure 1 – Location Map
Figure 2 – Area Context / Zoning
Figure 3 – Aerial Photograph
Figure 4
– Proposed Site Plan
APPLICANT: Freehold Building Corporation
Contact: Mr. Grant McBain
762 Gordon Baker Road
Toronto, Ontario M2H 3B4
Telephone: 416-491-9777
Facsimile:
416-498-9475
AGENT: Malone Given Parsons Ltd.
Contact: Mr. Jim Kirk
140
Renfrew Drive
Markham,
Ontario L3R 6B3
Telephone: 905-513-0170
Facsimile: 905-573-0177
Email: jkirk@mgp.ca
FIGURE 1:
LOCATION MAP
