The Town of Newmarket has thousands of residential units in the works even as the province pressures it to get more built.
The municipality has faced pushback for not abiding by the province’s goal of 12,000 units over the next 10 years. The province is working on a new target after the town rejected the previous one over a lack of sewage allocations that prevent further growth in the future.
Regardless, the province is working to spur more development at the municipal level. Here is a list of active residential planning applications on the town’s public list:
Location: 535 Davis Dr. West
Developer: LJM Developments
Proposal: A 10-storey rental apartment building with 226 units
Status: Application in progress, revised submission under review. No public meeting held.
Location: Glenway West, former golf course
Developer: Marianneville Developments Limited
Proposal: 97 single-detached units, 96 townhouse units
Status: Public meeting held Feb. 3, 2020, application in progress.
Location: Woodspring Avenue
Developer: Marianneville Developments Woodspring Limited
Proposal: 124 three-storey townhouses
Status: No public meeting held, awaiting second submission.
Location: 219 Highway 9
Developer: Sundial Homes
Proposal: 651 residential units, including single-detached, semi-detached and townhouses
Status: Zoning approved, site plan registration pending.
Location: 17645 Yonge St.
Developer: Redwood Properties
Proposal: 178 apartment units Phase 1, 188 apartment units Phase 2
Status: Finalizing site plan agreement
Location: 17365 and 17395 Yonge St.
Developer: Marianneville Developments Limited
Proposal: 12-storey apartment building and 28 townhouses
Status: Zoning approved, nearing end of site-plan application process.
Location: 55 Eagle St.
Developer: Milford Development Ltd.
Proposal: 74 townhouses
Status: Application appealed to Ontario Land Tribunal, town awaiting final order after partial settlement
Location: 175, 195 and 200 Deerfield Rd.
Developer: The Rose Corporation
Proposal: Two 15-storey apartment buildings and one nine-storey building
Status: Construction completed on one apartment building, construction and site planning underway on second apartment building.
Location: 201 Davis Dr.
Developer: Mosaik Davis Inc.
Proposal: 147-unit apartment building
Status: Application in progress, public meeting held November 2020
Location: 299-315 Davis Dr:
Developer: Davis Limited Partnership
Proposal: 170-unit apartment building
Status: Pre-submission applications in progress
Location: 345 and 351 Davis Dr.
Developer: 2669671 Ontario Ltd.
Proposal: 128-unit retirement residence
Status: Zoning pre-approved, site plan application in progress
Location: 178 and 182 Old Main St.
Developer: Azure Homes
Proposal: Create semi-detached lots for 12 new homes
Status: Zoning approved, subdivision agreement in progress
Location: 231 Main St. North
Developer: 5042215 Ontario Ltd.
Proposal: A fourplex with 22 units and nine semi-detached units
Status: Application in progress, first submission in 2022
Location: 281 Main St. N.
Developer: 281 Main Street North Inc.
Proposal: 16 townhouse units
Status: Zoning approved, site plan in progress. Public meeting held Sept. 20, 2021.
Location: 603 Davis Dr., 18 and 22 Bolton Ave.
Developer: Sunrise North Development Ltd.
Proposal: Assisted living and memory care building
Status: Application in progress
Location: 43 Lundy's Lane, 592 Watson Ave., 32, 36, 40 Bolton Ave.
Developer: Lundy's Lane Newmarket Assembly Inc.
Proposal: A total of 79 apartment units
Status: Zoning approved, site cleared, site plan agreement in progress
Location: 1015, 1025, 1029 Davis Dr. and 22 Hamilton Dr.
Developer: Lulu Holdings Inc.
Proposal: 24 townhouse unites and four semi-detached units
Status: Application in progress
Location: 17680 Leslie St.
Developer: 2491082 Ontario Inc.
Proposal: 88 townhouse units
Status: Application under review, last submission 2022, public meeting Oct. 2021
Location: 1038 and 1040 Jacarandah Dr.
Developer: Spotlight Developments
Proposal: 24 dwelling units
Status: Zoning approved, site plan application in progress
Location: 16920 and 16860 Leslie St.
Developer: Forest Green Homes
Proposal: 321 townhouse units
Status: Zoning approved, draft approval for subdivision plan pending
Location: 415 Pickering Cres.
Developer: 2425945 Ontario Inc.
Proposal: 24 townhouse units and four single-detached homes
Status: Zoning approved, site plan application in progress
Location: 849 Gorham St.
Developer: Gorham Development 849 Inc.
Proposal: 20 townhouse units and two semi-detached dwellings
Status: Application in progress
Location: 741, 744, 747, 753, 757 and 767 Gorham St. and 233 Muriel St.
Developer: Stateview Homes
Proposal: 26 townhouses and 46 back-to-back townhouses
Status: Application was in progress, but in limbo as developer experienced financial trouble
Location: 66 Roxborough Rd.
Developer: Luciano Didomizio
Proposal: Nine three-storey townhouse units
Status: Last submission in 2020, dormant since then
Location: 44, 55, 59 Charles St. and 52 Prospect St.
Developer: Robert Marzilli and 2536724 Ontairo Inc
Proposal: 42 apartment units across two four-storey buildings, and nine townhouse units
Status: Zoning approved, site plan agreement in progress
Location: 99, 103, 105 Main St. S and 452, 454, 462, 466, 474 Quen St. and part of 115 Main St.
Developer: 99 Main Street Inc.
Proposal: 68 stacked, back-to-back townhouse units
Status: Public meeting to be held Sept. 11
Location: 16756 and 16764 Bayview Ave.
Developer: 2570245 Ontario Inc
Proposal: 72-unit building
Status: Public meeting held June 27, 2022, application in progress
Location: 247 and 252 Kathyrn Cres.
Developer: Kariminejad Nobari
Proposal: Transforming two existing lots to three residential lots
Status: Appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal
Location: 301 Mulock Dr. and 500 Cane Pkwy.
Developer: Algibon Investments Inc
Proposal: One six-storey and two 7-storey mixed-use apartment buildings, and 485 square metres of retail space
Status: Application in progress, last submission Dec. 2022
Location: Gault Grove
Developer: JFC Development Ltd.
Proposal: 28 townhouses
Status: Zoning approved, site plan application in progress
Location: 600 Stonehaven Ave.
Developer: Marianeville Stonehaven ltd.
Proposal: 60 single-detached units, 142 townhouses, 202 units total
Status: Up for zoning approval Sept. 11
Location: 17175 Yonge St.
Developer: St. Maurice and St. Verena Coptic Orthodox Church
Proposal: 201 unit apartment building, including 964 square meters of commercial space
Status: Application in progress, public meeting Sept. 18
The list excludes 21 development applications in the areas of commercial, industrial, institutional and the park application for the Mulock park.
The list also does not include developments that have passed on to building permits or recently gone into construction.
Although the town has dozens of residential applications, not all developers will end up applying for building permits. Development and infrastructure commissioner Peter Noehammer said a 10-year historical average, approximately 375 units are built per year, including accessory dwelling units.
“Building permits can be seen as a reflection of what the market demand has been on a year-by-year basis,” Noehammer said.
He noted there are four additional development applications with 831 units that have gone through the planning process and will soon be assessed for servicing allocation.
Market factors
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said that with the province continuing to pressure municipalities to build more, the public conversation has not been prevalent about the construction market.
He said the building permit data is important, as even with a multitude of development applications, builders may not always go for a building permit after a planning process. He said developments can go idle for years and elements like rising construction costs stand to delay private developers from actually bringing units to fruition.
Taylor said the focus has been on the municipal planning process, with the province slashing development charges and pushing to reduce timelines.
“Are we to believe those changes are going to usurp the market conditions, such as interest rates, labour supply, labour shortages and construction costs?” Taylor said.
The province gave Newmarket a target of 12,000 homes over the next decade. That amounts to three or four times the pace of Newmarket’s unit construction over the previous decade, although the province has said it is now working on a new target for Newmarket.
Sewage allocation also remains an issue for Newmarket, which currently has about 3,100 to 3,500 persons of servicing allocation left until York Region can upgrade its capacity. That capacity improvement is five to 10 years away, and the town has already allocated 2,339 persons to upcoming developments.
Taylor said addressing the market conditions that work against building would likely take a very targeted incentive program, particularly for rental housing, “which is the greatest need.”
“We need to broaden the conversation,” Taylor said, “I would say a national and provincial partnership on public housing, subsidized housing.”
As for those who may be worried that there is too much development, Taylor said managing that pace is the hardest job for a municipality.
“You don’t want to be moving housing forward dramatically ahead of the infrastructure to support it,” Taylor said. “It’s a very fine balance.”
But, he added, “We do need to provide more housing. Everyone knows it, and housing of every type. The supply issue is real.”
