An Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) pre-hearing for a controversial application to build a high-density residential development on Yongehurst Road and Weldrick Road West is set to occur this month. Intracorp Projects Acquisitions Ltd. appealed plans for five apartment buildings, ranging in height from nine to 15 storeys, after the Town of Richmond Hill failed to respond within 180 days. Town of Richmond Hill Council Committee of the Whole recently voted to reject the application and to have staff defend its position at the appeal board. This was to go to Town of Richmond Hill Council for final consideration late last month.
The Town of Richmond Hill’s final staff report recommended that the plans be rejected for a variety of reasons, including the inappropriate transition in height and density from Yonge Street and the incompatibility with the adjacent low-density residential neighbourhood.
Local councillor Nick Papa believes that the proposal has some merits but identified some areas that need work, including the buffer and density.
Frank Zeppieri of the Yongehurst Weldrick West Residents Association has collected more than 600 signed petition letters, asking the town to reject the application and to encourage single-family back lot development through the extension of Sorrento Drive. His group is calling on the town to fight the application at the OMB and to not negotiate with the developer.
“It makes no sense to destroy and destabilize this area when there are many other sites inside the intensification corridor of the new official plan to develop,” he said.
Papa, however, sees residents as being split on the issue, based on what he’s heard from them. Some have expressed that they’re ready to downsize or move.
“They’re tired of hanging onto a big 400-foot lot,” he said. “Whatever comes in front of their eyes, and they see it’s doable, they’d like to do it.”
