Thornhill - Yonge to become people place

[Disparishun]

Well, I know the zone he's talking about, and that's definitely what passes for Thornhill's "poor part".

Well, no. It's one of them, but Thornhill's a bit bigger than that, and it has a much bigger housing mix than people seem to realize.

Obviously, that includes substantial numbers of apartments, condos, townhouses, semis, detached, and so forth. Most of the construction I have seen on the Vaughan side, in places like the whole area north of Centre and of the Promenade, is heavily townhoused.

But as to low-income housing, I'd think you'd want to inventory coops like Thornhill Green, WL Mackenzie, or Crown Heights, for starters.

The subway will make a major difference along Yonge Street. Most of those strip malls will be gone within 10 years of the subway showing up.

This is a good point. If the Yonge extension keeps on seeming as though it is going to move forward, there will be tremendous density pressure nor matter what happens. And if it ever got built then, sure, no strip malls, no car dealerships -- many of whom are waiting to see what shakes out before they sell in any case.

That said, the important role strip malls play in non-chain retail bears keeping in mind. Yonge is not great, but Steeles and Bathurst (including the parking lot strips adjacent to the Promenade) have quite bustling strip malls that has enabled a lot of local business that would not find its way into a mall or even a condo pedestal.

 

[Edward Skira]

no car dealerships -- many of whom are waiting to see what shakes out before they sell in any case.

The car dealers have made a fortune off the subway. First they sold out at Yonge and Finch after the subway came and moved north. Now they can do so again.

 

[Disparishun]

The car dealers have made a fortune off the subway. First they sold out at Yonge and Finch after the subway came and moved north. Now they can do so again.

Never thought of it that way! They have been very savvy land investors, for sure. In a way, maybe their business model lends itself to real estate investment: by definition they are looking for large land parcels, at a reasonable rate, but as close as possible to where people are at. So they're always going to be just on the edge of the city's expansion.

 

[Disparishun]

Received this today.

Have your say on the future of Yonge Street

Monday, March 30, 2009 at 7:00 at the Dufferin Clark Community Centre

For the last number of months planning consultants hired by the City have been marching up and down Yonge Street (and Steeles Ave. from Hilda to Yonge), trying to figure out what would be the best way to plan the future for the Vaughan section of the longest street in the world.

The study area includes all of Yonge Street (situated in the City of Vaughan) except for the Thornhill Village area which is already covered by a recently approved plan and is officially designated an Historic District. It considers the very different settings along the southern part of Yonge between Steeles and the RR bridge and the current structures of small plazas facing the Uplands area.

As part of the process to come up with the draft plan, we have sponsored a variety of community meetings and exercises to get input from residents who may be most impacted by the plan. For example on March 12 about twenty five residents of Crestwood Road came to a consultation session to talk about some ideas about how development on Steeles might impact upon their properties. At the meeting they were presented with the options and voted on their preference. That preference will be included in the draft plan.

On Monday, March 30, 2009 at 7:00 at the Dufferin Clark Community Centre a community consultation meeting will be held to unveil the draft plan and to consult with residents on their response to what is being proposed. This is your chance to have a say on this most important gateway street in our city.

We want to hear from you. We value your comments on the future of our City.

 

[jaycola]

It would be nice to see the 3 municipalities that have an interest in this interesection (Toronto, Markham and Vaughan) coming together on a coordinated plan. Centerpoint Mall (in Toronto) will likely be redeveloped as will much of the retail along Yonge South of Steeles as the subway extention moves forward. Markham has already put forth their plans. I hope there is some consistancy in terms of development plans.

Below are links to The Vaughan and Markham Studies. If anyone has something from Toronto to demonstrate that they are looking at the future of this area, I ask that you post it.

http://www.city.vaughan.on.ca/newscentre/projects/pdf/yonge_street_study_presentation.pdf

http://www.markham.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...FFC682F2/0/080827_YongeSteeles_Mtg4_Staff.pdf

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

It's actually FOUR municipalities - don't forget York Region which "owns" Yonge Street.

I don't think Toronto has any plan yet though it must be on the table with the subway in the cards. I know that Toronto staff were on the steering committees for Markham and Vaughan's studies so there is some co-ordination. Certainly everybody knows what everybody is doing.

Now, if only they could resurface Steeles...

 

[Chuck]

The area bounded by Steeles, 407, 404 and the Barrie GO line should be annexed by Toronto. 80% of Thornhill was already built before York Region even came into existence, while at the same time this area was always more linked to North York than its parent municipalities of Markham and Vaughan. Whatever is built along Yonge north of Finch will be bastardized by existing in 3 separate municipalities, none of which are really prioritizing this corridor.

 

[adma]

80% of Thornhill was already built before York Region even came into existence,

Uh, don't know. Might depend on how broadly or narrowly you define "Thornhill"; but York Region came into existence in 1971, back when Bathurst & Steeles (slightly west of the epicentre, true) looked somewhat like this

 

[Disparishun]

More:

In our latest bulletin we made an error on the location of this important meeting - here is the correct information:

Have your say on the future of Yonge Street

Monday, March 30, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bathurst Clark Library...

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

Uh, don't know. Might depend on how broadly or narrowly you define "Thornhill"; but York Region came into existence in 1971, back when Bathurst & Steeles (slightly west of the epicentre, true) looked somewhat like this

Ha - I'm not even 35 and I remember when the north side of Bat/Steeles was "farmland." The Markham side developed first. The Vaughan side really kicked off in the 1980s with Spring Farm and then the Promenade area.

 

[Disparishun]

The Vaughan side really kicked off in the 1980s with Spring Farm and then the Promenade area.

Yep. Mostly bought up by people living in and around the buildings in that picture...