New park space is coming to Davis Drive, along with the possibility of further development.
Staff brought forward a rezoning proposal for 230 Davis Dr., where the Newmarket Church of Christ resides. It will see town-owned lands on the property rezoned to make way for a breathing space park, and the church-owned land portion rezoned for mixed-use.
Newmarket Councillor Bob Kwapis welcomed the proposal at council's Feb. 3 meeting.
“Seeing this brought forward today really excites me,” Kwapis said. “There will be a longer trail available to many, many other people.”
The plan is to rezone the area to allow a "breathing space" to help break up the density along the Davis Drive corridor, as well as create an extended trail connection leading to Haskett Park. Staff will release a tender for implementation and construction of the breathing space this year.
Development and infrastructure commissioner Peter Noehammer said the space will be kept open, without a feature like playground equipment.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said the town is planning to add more breathing spaces on Davis, some privately owned, some publicly owned.
“It’ll help give breaks to the built form,” he said. “There’s a place where people can sit or go meet somebody … It really helps break up the corridor and introduce little public spaces.”
The town is also planning to rezone the land to mixed-use as part of the change to the area, which could allow for a proposal for residential development there in the future.
Council voted to receive the delegation from staff as part of a public hearing on the matter, with no members of the public speaking on it. From here, the town plans to do more public consultation before bringing the matter back to a future council meeting.