An application to build two condo towers of 16 and 18 storeys near Yonge Street and 16th Avenue have some local residents concerned about the development’s impact on the surrounding neighbourhood.

The plan calls for 396 residential units and 482 parking spaces for the site of an existing car storage lot at 370 Maple Rd. and 153 16th Avenue.

The total density exceeds the new Town of Richmond Hill Official Plan (2010), which redesignated the land to permit a maximum height of four storeys and a density of 20 units per acre.

The developer filed an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board to contest the redesignation.

The original secondary plan for the area permitted 14 storeys and a maximum density of 100 units per acre, said Ana Bassios, commissioner of planning and regulatory services at the town.

“The town is not looking for high density at this area,” she said, citing its redesignation. “The town has very, very consciously thought of and identified [other] intensification areas.”

Those areas are along Yonge Street and other major roadways, she said.

Dozens of local residents of Red Maple Road wrote letters to the town outlining concerns about blocked northward views, impacted vehicular access on Red Maple and high levels of traffic.

John Lagerwey, a retired resident, has lived at 310 Red Maple Rd. for four years.

He said rush hour drivers flood through Red Maple from 16th Avenue to Highway 7, often running the stop signs at Silver Linden Drive. A new high-density development would exacerbate conditions, he said.

“It will create chaos on the roads. Traffic is horrendous, horrendous here,” he said. “People just can’t wait.”