What's Going Up is a regular NewmarketToday series highlighting growth and development that is proposed and ongoing in town.
*************************
A 32-townhouse development is being proposed for the current location of the south campus of Innova Academy, a private Christian school, in Newmarket.
The application for 415 Pickering Cres. is being made a company called 2425945 Ontario Inc., which was created in 2014 in Markham, and is headed by realtor Mary Zhang.
The company purchased the property from the Salvation Army in 2014, and has been leasing it out since then.
The developer is proposing 32 townhouses in seven three-storey blocks along a shared private road that will connect with Pickering Cres. in two places.
A consulting firm performed a traffic study and concluded that the new development will contribute less overall traffic to the neighbourhood than the private school.
The development would have nine visitor parking spaces and a pedestrian sidewalk.
For the project to go ahead, official plan and zoning bylaw amendments are required to change the property from major institutional, which does not allow for residential development, to emerging residential.
"The proposed residential development supports the commitment of the official plan to protect and strengthen existing neighbourhoods. The redevelopment of the subject lands will respect the existing character of the area through site development process," reads a project document.
The developer intends to have the project complete by 2026, with 88 residents living there.
Newmarket director of planning and building services Jason Unger said that the application process for the project is now complete, and the next step is to hold a public consultation meeting, for which a date has yet to be set.
The town will notify residents in the surrounding area by letter, and the general public through its website, when the meeting date is set, he said.
It's not clear what will become of the south campus of the Christian school once the project is ready to begin. Innova Academy did not respond to a request for comment.
