Marianneville Developments' plan to build 124 new townhouses on Woodspring Avenue next to Newmarket's Environmental Park is garnering some neighbourhood concern for the surrounding natural area.
The developer has submitted a zoning bylaw amendment application to remove the minor institutional zoning for the property, once slated for a new school.
Vice-president Joanne Barnett said Marianneville purchased the lands from a developers' group once they became available in 2020, as the school idea had fallen through years ago. She said they want to build the three-storey townhouses to keep the pricing lower compared to detached dwellings.
“It assists us to build a product that doesn’t lend itself to a niche market,” she said. “We chose an urban, built form ... that’s consistent with other development in the neighbourhood … We’ve done it successfully in many places.”
The lot is surrounded by the Environmental Park to the east, a natural area to the north and homes to the south. The proposed development would include a new internal private road, 244 resident parking spaces, and 31 visitor parking spaces.
But some neighbours on Woodspring Avenue expressed concerns with the idea. Dan Hickey, who lives across from the plot, said he is concerned for the “beautiful” natural area located behind it.
“We’re diminishing all the area in town that are for parks and for wildlife,” Hickey said. “I just think it’s not a great idea.”
“I’m going to oppose,” Festin Begollari, another resident across the street, said. “This is a green area."
Barnett said they are addressing that concern, with an environmental impact study from Beacon Environmental finding the lot already disturbed by human activity and devoid of natural vegetation.
The planning justification report states the development could potentially impact the environment by encroaching on the woodland buffer. But it said there will be a 10-metre buffer maintained, along with sediment and erosion control.
“As the approval process goes forward, the agencies responsible for those (adjacent) areas will be giving us suggestions, comments,” Barnett said. “Whatever has to occur.”
Woodspring resident Richard Giang said he is neutral on the proposal.
“I’d like to keep it as natural as possible,” he said. “But if they do build houses, I don’t really mind.”
Marianneville Developments has several housing projects in Newmarket that are ongoing. The developer is proposing more than 200 new homes at Stonehaven Avenue, homes on the former site of the Glenway Golf Course and 292 stacked townhouses just east of the golf course site on Davis Drive West.
Barnett said she does not expect approval for the Woodspring Avenue project before the term of council ends in the fall but hopes they can at least get a public meeting by the summer to incorporate feedback into a site plan application.
She said she expects approval could likely come in early 2023. If that happens, homes could go to market in spring 2023 and building permits could come in late 2023 or early 2024.
“It takes a long time,” she said. “It is what it is.”
