Please see attached PDF of…

Please see attached PDF of formal comment letter and attachment.

We have been retained by Yonge-Kingston Centre Inc. LP (hereinafter “Client”) to review the proposed Amendment 1 to the Growth Plan for the property municipally addressed as 17725 Yonge Street, Newmarket (“subject lands”).

To become better informed and exchange comments on the Proposed Amendment 1 (hereinafter “Amendment”) to the Growth Plan, MHBC has attended a number of Regional Workshops hosted by the Province.

Based on our review of the Amendment, it is understood that the Province is amending a number of the existing policies in the Growth Plan, including the definition of “Major Transit Station Areas (MTSA)”. Our client is in support of the Amendment to expand the MTSA from 500 m to 800 m radius limit.

The concept of intensification around MTSAs has been in place since the 2006 Growth Plan was released. Since this time, few municipalities have undertaken the necessary steps to delineate MTSAs. The proposed Amendment would continue to allow development within a MTSA to be fully utilized by transit investments made by the Province and municipalities as it would allow for a mix of uses at transit supportive densities.

The subject lands are located within the Town of Newmarket’s Urban Centres Secondary Plan which promotes and intended for redevelopment at higher densities. Increasing the MTSA radius to 800 m would allow properties adjacent to existing and planned infrastructure, for example the subject lands, to meet intensification goals set out by municipalities, in this case the Town of Newmarket (Figure 1).

Expanding the radius to 800 m would allow flexibility and an opportunities to create wholesome development opportunities within the MTSA to support the existing and/or proposed higher-order transit on area specific basis to ensure compatibility and economic targets are met within a municipality.

We request the MTSA radius be increased to 800 m as this will be used to promote intensification
around MTSAs within municipalities to implement increased density and investment as intended
by the Official Plan. In addition, we request that should the mapping be modified that additional
consultation is undertaking.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and hope that our request to amend the definition of MTSA is undertaken.