Newmarket’s Old Main Street could be getting some new housing with a developer proposing 22 residential units in the area.
231 Main NM GP Ltd. is proposing 18 three-storey semi-detached units and one quadplex at 231 Main St. N. The company has submitted a zoning bylaw amendment application, which has yet to receive approval or get council review.
Project spokesperson and vice-president of business development for Afflatus Development Alireza Gharagozlo said developers sought to build there based on the Town of Newmarket's 2019 tertiary plan for the area.
“We tried to keep by the book and keep all the necessary requirements based on the tertiary plan,” he said. “After approving the tertiary plan, we decided to work on submitting a new application.”
The municipality slowed development on the street in 2017. It put in place an interim control bylaw due to “conflict with the local community” over the pace of the development, according to a 2018 draft tertiary plan report. The town subsequently finalized the tertiary plan to set out more guidelines for development there.
The control bylaw was in place for two years, during which time a previous developer sold off 231 Main St. N., according to a planning justification report in the current application.
“The procedure right now is very time consuming,” Gharagozlo said of the gap between the tertiary plan and this new application. “Generally speaking, it takes two times (longer) than before COVID-19.”
Trudy Baker lives across from where the development is proposed. She said she thinks the location is a “perfect place” for intensification close to transportation.
She added that she hopes that density help brings more road improvements to Old Main Street, which she said is “highly necessary.”
“Added development and added density can only help the town budget to pay for the needed repairs here,” she said.
Michelle Azevedo also lives on the street and said she is fine with the proposal as long as it means road improvements, like sidewalks, drainage and lighting.
“As long as they fix the rest of the street to code, it does not bother me at all,” she said. “With more traffic now caused by those (new) homes, I would prefer to have (a) more up-to-code street.”
The tertiary plan does describe improvements to come, including repaving and a new storm sewer subject to further assessment. The document also states that sidewalks should get built.
Gharagozlo said they would also build a community garden to enhance the area.
“We tried to respond to the community in a way that they want,” he said.
The street also has 12 new units planned at 172 and 178 Old Main St. by Azure Homes, where zoning bylaw and official plan amendments have already been approved by the town. A subdivision plan application is underway there.
Gharagozlo said timelines for the project are difficult to determine for now, with the initial zoning application under town review and subsequent approvals needed after that.
“We are ready to move forward just right after receiving the site plan approval,” he said.
Editor's Note, March 19, 2022: This article was altered to remove the reference that the quadplex in the development would be affordable housing. The developer clarified that it would be more affordable than the semi-detached houses, not that it would be affordable housing.
