Residents are hoping a transportation study currently underway could help address growing concerns over traffic in a part of Thornhill already under major development pressure.
Grandview Area Residents Association (GARA) chair Ricardo Mashregi said the intensification of new development in the area is a concern for residents and the community has been waiting awhile for a traffic study to be undertaken.
“We wanted to have a study and to wait and see what was going to transpire before we started adding more towers in our area,” he said.
The provincial government and York Region have identified the Yonge Street corridor as an area for increased intensification, he explained.
Retained by the City of Markham to complete the traffic study, GENIVAR Consulting is currently assessing the Yonge-Steeles corridor. A draft of the recommendations is slated to be ready by the end of the year, said Pat Becker, GENIVAR’s communications coordinator for the project.
The study considers the area from Bayview Avenue to Yonge Street, and from John Street to Steeles Avenue, Becker explained. Although the study examines options for the City of Markham to consider, they need to work with the plans of other municipalities in the area, she said.
The study will consider existing transportation issues, potential solutions, transit in the area, and include the City’s future plans, she explained.
“It has to look at what the City has in their official plan and what the City has planned for development in that area,” she said.
In April, the Ontario Municipal Board approved the official plan amendment and zoning by-law amendment for a proposed 21-storey development at Yonge Street and Grandview Avenue. During the pre-hearing conference, two people voiced concerns over Yonge Street development.
Mashregi said GARA initially opposed the Yonge and Grandview development because it did not know how the World on Yonge would affect traffic.
Now with the study underway, GARA hopes the consultant will develop some useful measures, he explained.
“We’re cautiously optimistic they will come up with a recommendation that will be suitable for our neighbourhood because we just can't really take the onslaught of all these cars in our community,” Mashregi said.
He added the residents association wants the consultant to consider the possibility of a ring road along Dudley Avenue to separate new development from the existing homes and contain traffic to that particular area.
“Any kind of development has to come with proper planning,” Mashregi said, “and that’s all we're asking the City to do is to ensure that the existing community does not suffer from traffic infiltration and traffic intensification due to the new developments.”
Currently under construction is the World on Yonge development, which will include condominiums, a hotel, an office tower and retail stores.