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blueprint for growth vveekender ffovembejw87t3 public input credited on op revisions mm this crowd gathered at the markham planning meeting tuesday public interest in the official plan revisions in process has been high roger carlsen markham groups want say in towns future by steve houston a staff reporter several markham ratepayers are demanding more handson involvement in mapping out the towns future after tuesdays initial approval of the new offi cial plan op and the federation of rate payers in markham form fear vague language in new op policies could be open to broad interpretation by developers and higher levels of govern ment but the op is also described by groups contacted as a work able document that could ade quately dictate the shape of markham in the 21st century the approval of the plan tues day marks the end of almost two years of staff planning and months of public consultation on the op the document will likely be forwarded to the provincial gov ernment for final approval by council at its meeting next tuesday form president colin creasey a longtime op activ ist says studies are still needed to usher in future growth he also says the towns runaway growth is still far ahead of avail able services the towns own figures esti mate that markhams popula tion will grow as high as 175000 during the span of this op creaseys group proposed more moderate growth scenar ios in the town and says more community involvement in the shaping of the plan was neces sary the group commended offi cials for quashing several ex pansion proposals north of 16th ave but said the town general ly did not talk to us it is full of good things but its unfortunate the way its worded creasey said wednes day if the language were stronger and more precise then people would know what to do forms concerns were echoed by markham ward 5 ratepayers president al brown he fears local residents will have to rely on and trust heavi ly the towns abilities to im plement the policies as planned in the document his group strongly supports a proposal to involve local group representatives in designing secondary plans for targeted growth areas in all brown says local sug gestions to alter the draft op during public meeting sessions were acted on by the town local environmentalists generally favored the ops land preservation policies but asked for consideration in the towns rouge north and rouge south residential expansion areas the request came in light of scarborough city councils vote monday to set aside some 5000 acresof rouge river valleyland for recreational purposes but despite longstanding dis putes and debate over the plan officials from both sides agree that time will make evident the effects of the plan the town stands firmly behind the final result landowners ratepayers and residents now have a pic ture of what future markham will look like noted regional councillor ron moran by steve houston staff reporter the town of markham has finalized its blueprint for growth two years in the making the revised draft of the towns offi cial plan op was approved by planning committee tuesday and forwarded to council for en dorsement the op charts markhams growth course into 2001 and paves the way for specific de velopment industrial com mercial and residential in the town last minute debate was heard tuesday from local ratepayers groups environmentalists and politicians before the 10 pm vote form concerned the federation of rate payers in markham form used the hearing to reiterate concerns expressed in previous public presentations of the plan and urged the town to consider levels of growth in markhams nearcapacity community but organized residents that have lobbied the town since its first public presentation of the op in january have been suc cessful in altering the direction of the document say local offi cials this year have been deleted from later versions while more recent proposals have also seen change alterations valued input i believe its a better official plan because of the involve ment of the people noted re gional councillor bud bonner after the vote there were some really good points raised during constructive comment- s everyone made a valuable contribution the statement comes despite a belief among some lobbyists they were wedged into a reac tionary position on the plan and the groups have re sponded with calls to further in clude representatives for input in designing secondary or sup porting plans throughout targeted growth areas some of the original proposals in the first draft presented early primary alterations to the op that have been included during the plans evolvement are the reconsideration of a proposal in northeast markham for heavy or railoriented indus try after loud public outcry from homeowners south of the 16th ave locale known as mount joy the area was reverted back to its original study status stu dies must be conducted trans portation needs met and servic ing capacities in place before any development there can pro ceed more solid agricultural policies in rural areas three farming designations al a- 2 a3 will dictate agricultur ally related land uses in those regions the reconsideration of a clause allowing development north of major mackenzie dr in the identified woodbine north expansion sector the latest op draft limits growth in that area to the south side of major mack enzie the northern side will re main an agriculturally desig nated zone in other op related discus sions last night the town vetoed several applications for re sidential development north of 16th ave to applause from resi dents in the crowded council chamber the applications had been de ferred during op review pro ceedings rubber stamp town officials will likely rub ber stamp the op at its meeting tuesday and forward it to the province for comment and possible revisions that process can take up to two years for completion said regional councillor ron moran specs on expansion areas official plan draft one of the towns identified expansion areas is slated for industrial development and is now refer red to as the woodbine north region it contains some 500 acres of land that will suit development running north of 16th ave to major mackenzie dr bounded on the east by woodbine ave and on the west by hwy 404 an earlier plan to extend the industrially- designated area north of major mackenzie dr has been nixed in the latest draft of the official plan the land will coincide with construction of a hwy 40416th ave interchange as well as widening of woodbine ave to four lanes woodbine north is considered a further exten sion of other large industrial developments that flank the woodbine ave corridor town figures claim the area has an estimated employment capacity of some 18800 but flight paths originating from nearby button- ville airport will likely mean building height res trictions when development occurs buttonville north buttonville north will be built on vacant land east of woodbine ave the expansion area bisected by a northsouth hydro corridor contains approximately 580 acres for urban residential de velopment tion of iarge lots near the cachet estates area as well as smaller and mediumsized housing units rouge valley north slated for residential development the rouge north expansion area contains 273 acres and can accommodate up to 2700 new residents between hwy 48 and the rouge river the area is bounded on the south by a cn rail line and on the north by chatelaine dr housing construction in the rouge north area is expected to round out isolated development in the estatehome chatelaine dr area the final version of the official plan calls for storm water management studies in the area as well as a secondary or support plan rouge valley south rouge south is really a continuation of its north ern counterpart separated by the cn rail line that crosses hwy 48 at 16th ave an area of 178 acres development in the area will serve to further diversify markhams limited housing stock and will augment an alreadyplanned armadale neigh borhood on the west side of hwy 48 but an earlier official plan amendment desig nates 85 acres of land fronting onto hwy 48 for industrial purposes figure show jhat between 5200 and 9500 people n o s g papulation projections estimate that approx- will live theirew january planning report callsfor innately 3000 new residents will be housed in the a variety of housing types including the incorpora- rouge south expansion area