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Dear Residents,
This month, communities across Markham celebrated Easter, Passover and Ramadan so I hope everyone was able to spend some time with family and friends.
Goodbye winter and hello spring brings along challenges to all of us, with huge amounts of litter and garbage that is suddenly visible everywhere across the city.
Earth Day was April 22nd and I would like to thank Lindsey for organizing a clean-up in the ward this past weekend. Many volunteers and many bags of garbage was collected.
The new tennis courts at Roy Ramer Park should be ready for use on July 1st providing the acrylic tennis surfaces are installed. Work is scheduled for mid-May.
As this is an election year, members of council are required to put our monthly newsletters on hold unless there is something of importance that needs to be relayed to residents regarding city business. Work still continues so please continue to reach out for any help that you may need.
We are also fast approaching the provincial election and there is a concern that collaborations between the province and the local levels of government is on the decline. Municipalities are losing control over planning matters and our concerns expressed on a number of changes being made to the different "Act's" are being ignored. Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership and undertakings are decided by the people. Take the TOC (transit oriented communities) for a recent example. Despite residents, city staff and council being strongly opposed, all of our concerns have been ignored. Deputation
Why should residents in Ward 4 care about what is happening in Langstaff at the TOC?
If the province pushes ahead with this, then what will they look at next? Councillor McAlpine is concerned about Markham Centre, Read Newlsetter. I am worried that Mount Joy could be on their radar and will overrule our secondary plan once approved and increase an already planned dense community. More information is available further down in this newsletter.
Ontario growth debate
You should have received my spring newsletter in the mail this week and if anyone did not receive it, a copy can be found HERE.
I have included two questions in the survey, housing, and overnight parking. More information is provided on both topics to provide some background information prior to answering the questions
I hope you find some topics of interest and as always please feel free to reach out if you require any assistance.
Regards
Karen Rea |
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The survey is going to be open for two weeks. Please participate! |
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At our Council meeting in December, Council adopted a Coyote response and co-existence strategy. Besides providing education on living with wildlife, staff has the discretion to use lethal intervention at any stage of the proposed escalation framework should circumstances warrant it. That does not mean that intervention will happen simply because a coyote is in the area. Full details can be found on the city website HERE
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Listen to the news and you will hear comments about asking the province to put an end to exclusionary zoning in municipalities. What does it all mean? All municipalities have zoning in place that designates certain areas for low-rise, mid-rise, or high-rise residential units.
Eliminating exclusionary zoning would essentially allow property owners to have increased density such as triplexes, or small apartment buildings (the report recommends up to 4 stories in height) in all neighborhoods on any residential lot, inlcuding your own and your neighbour.
There are arguments for and against allowing densification in existing neighborhoods. Densification is supposed to help reduce urban sprawl and make communities more vibrant and walkable. Those that support the idea think it would help address the cost of housing. Residents that live in established neighborhoods bought their home with the idea that their community would remain as low-rise residential. In addtion, the original built infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water drainage, parks, community facilities were built according to the originally planned population and land use for the area.
In Markham we have a number of areas that are already designated as high-rise and mid-rise housing and the future urban area will eventually be built to accommodate residents that want to live in low-rise housing. We need more "middle housing" but the question becomes where do you allow these types of units? In the future urban area where everyone is aware of what they are buying into or do you allow in the already built and protected established neighborhoods?
Housing Task Force Report
Staff comments |
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Transit Oriented Communities (TOC)
The Government of Ontario has refused to address the concerns of the City in relation to the TOC (transit-oriented communities) proposal at Bridge Station (in Langstaff). On April 14th right before the long weekend, the Minister issued an enhanced ministers zoning order, essentially removing the city from having any say on how this location is to be built. To implement the TOC, the Province wants the City to sign an agreement in principle (AIP) which we have refused at this time.
Presentation April 25th
Council also unanimously approved a Motion to ask the Minister to revoke the MZO.
On the same day, the Provincial government released a statement that the More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022 (Bill 109) received Royal Assent.
The More Homes for Everyone Plan and Bill 109 was released on March 30, 2022. At that time the Province posted Bill 109 on the Environmental Registry with a commenting period from March 30, 2022, to April 29, 2022. Staff was preparing a report with comments on Bill 109 for the April 25th Development Services Committee Meeting. Unfortunately, the Province brought the legislation forward to Royal Assent before their own consultation period even ended.
More homes for Everyone Act will significantly impact municipalities, in particular, the refund of certain application fees and limiting parkland within provincial transit-oriented communities. The concept of refunding fees runs counter to the principle that growth pays for growth and this will shift growth costs to the taxpayer.
I would encourage everyone to write to our local MPP Paul Calandra, the Premier, and all opposition leaders; NDP Andrea Horwath, Green Party Mike Schreiner, and Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca requesting that the Province revoke the MZO related to the TOC and allow municipalities to plan their own complete communities based on good planning in an open and transparent process.
How many MZO has been passed by the Province? Find out at yourstoprotect.ca
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48 and 50 Snider Motion
Many residents may remember back in 2015 when Metrolinxs was looking at realigning Snider Drive. In order to accomplish this Metrolinxs bought 2 properties on Snider. From my understanding, the alignment is no longer being discussed as it would be detrimental to the properties that are facing on to Bullock. Bullock would need to be raised to the same grade as the train tracks. Fast forward and Metrolinxs is looking to demolish the two properties and leave a vacant piece of land at the end of this residential street. Council passed a motion calling on Metrolinxs to either donate the two homes to a non-profit organization or to sell the properties so that the two houses can become homes for two families. I am optimistic that Metrolinxs will make the right decision and not demolish, but allow someone to restore these two properties where they will become someones home. |
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Markham Village Music Festival is back on the street for 2022. Friday evening June 17 and all day Saturday and Saturday evening, June 18. The Festival will feature 4 stages of entertainment, craft and food vendors,
Kid's Zone and much more.
For more information visit the MVMF website |
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Neighbourhood Clean-up on Saturday, April 23rd was a huge success
Thank you to all of the volunteers that came out to help clean up one part of our ward.
If anyone would like to volunteer with other clean-ups, please contact Lindsey at cleanupmarkham@gmail.com and she will arrange smaller clean-up projects in other locations in the ward.
Tonight, I watched a segment on CBC about an artist from BC, Alex Stewart who builds biodegradable art. One of his comments was that he hopes that it will bring awareness to the residents that see his art and instead of walking by garbage and presuming it is the park rangers responsibility to pick it up, his hope is that everyone will help to keep our public spaces clean. City staff cannot pick up every piece of litter that has been dropped let's challenge ourselves that if we walk by litter/garbage we will do what we can (safely) to help keep our communities beautiful and our shared public spaces free from the garbage.
Before and After Photos
How to reduce plastic |
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Public Statutory Meeting for 10-20 Fincham Ave May 24th 7pm
Please be advised that another public statutory meeting is required for the draft plan of the subdivision. Notices will be sent to all residents that were requested to be kept up to date on the proposal and within 200m of the location.
The application to amend the Official Plan and Zoning By-Law was approved in principle by the OLT. The draft plan of subdivision is one application that is needed to implement the proposed development which was approved by the OLT.
The Plan allows three story townhouses along 16th avenue, two story townhomes to the south, and a single detached two story home on Fincham.
Public input is welcome, however, please keep in mind that a settlement in principle was approved at the OLT (Ontario Land Tribunals).
The date is tentative and may be changed, please confirm on the City website. |
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If you would like to submit comments on any topic that is on the agenda, you can send an email to clerkspublic@markham.ca as a written deputation, or you can make a virtual deputation by completing an online
Request to Speak Form or by emailing the clerks department. |
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New after-hours Dispatch Customer Service Pilot Project.
Please see the attached document that provides information about our new after-hours dispatch customer service pilot. The pilot project will run for the next four to six months and will be monitored for fine-tuning as needed to ensure it is operating in an effective and customer-centric manner.
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C o m m u n i t y N e w s |
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Overnight Parking Fees
The City is looking at charging a fee for overnight street parking providing the street is wide enough to allow it, the discussion has been deferred until the next budget cycle. The staff has been asked to come back with some options regarding the widening of driveways. Soft landscaping is necessary to ensure that water can be absorbed and does not cause flooding. Presentation |
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Spongy Moths Update
The City distributed over 3000 burlap kits to residents to help protect our trees from spongy moths. For anyone that missed the giveaway, I do have a few kits left. Please email me and I will make arrangements to drop one off for you. Please see the video on how to remove egg masses and how to wrap your own tree.
Egg mass removal Instructions |
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Visit YourVoiceMarkham.ca to learn about great projects our staff is working on! Consider joining the conversation by registering on the site or sign-up to follow specific projects that interest you. Share your ideas and opinions! |
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Markham Food Bank Needs our Help
The Markham Food Bank has seen a great increase in the number of families using the food bank during the pandemic. Help our community members in need during these challenging times.
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If you have any municipal inquiry, please send an email to customerservice@markham.ca or call 905.477.5530. Our staff can investigate and address your concerns. |
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