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economist suntribune news thursday march 30 2000 i 17 mayor vows to learn from past mistakes from page 1 and 19year resident neville cohen asked for a townwide vision one that includes a centre or downtown area as expressed in the problemplagued markham centre plan we have all these separate communities that havent been able to draw themselves together he said about 50 residents showed up for the first public meeting at the civic centre though councillors and staff did more talking than did the people the evening began with an unannounced yearinreview presentation by deputy mayor frank scarpitti he called it an annual event a way to let residents know what council has been doing during the last year but residents who may have been interested likely didnt know about it as the evening meeting was tagged vision 2000 and those who were there to hear about development were subjected to the hourlong presentation highlighting the towns 1909 accomplishments and its goals for 2000 the goal of vision 2000 is to develop a shared community concept on the character and pace of development in markham its a stake in the ground cousens told the crowd what have we done well as we build out and what hasnt gone so well can we learn from those mistakes to do a better job in future director of planning jim baird kicked off the meeting with a backgrounder on the towns official plain and urban bound ary pointing out markham remains twothirds urban and onethird ruralagricultural he said the 1993 official plan amendment opa 5 released another 6000 acres for residential development the bulk of which is north of 16th avenue and that should last until 2011 16th avenue lasted more than 20 years as the boundary we extended it in 1993 to last another 20 years he said adding expansion is done in blocks logically and sequentially to avoid urban sprawl the style of development has changed as well begun by the province with its 1989 policy statement on land use the town has increased density on lots from three to five units an acre as seen in the older communities of markham and unionville to between three and nine units per acre developments like cornell and angus glen which have incorporated townhouses in their plans have increased the choice for buyers and follow the new urbanism trend thats all the rage smalltown style planning not suburban sprawl are our priorities said planning commissioner mary frances turner she highlighted design mistakes made in thornhill and milliken developments such as garagedominated frontages houses backing on to arterial roads resulting in bleak streetscapes a lack of neighbourhood focus or centre and badly planned roads that discourage pedestrians she said good planning principles include diversity and choice compact urban form and a mix of housing which can support transit infrastructure protection of the environment and agricultural lands and communities with a centre and an edge the task force will continue to obtain public input through surveys focus groups and at least one more public meeting call 4777000 for more information facts and figures markham is growing by leaps and bounds more than 5800 homes have been built in markham in the past three years adding 20000 residents to the towns population -types- of houses currently selling well in markham traditional form at 68 per cent widehallow lots at 21 per cent rear lanes at 11 per cent mattamy homes is the top seller in markham as it is across the gta ethnicity plays a role in market demand asians buy in markham and italians buy in vaughan york regions share of gta growth in the late 80s was about onefifth now its closer to onethird with markham at 25 per cent of that home buyers are evenly split among immigrants movers from elsewhere in markham and movers from the gta only 2 per cent of new residents come from elsewhere in canada most home buyers are under age 45 but that number will rise as the population ages peel and durham are the strongest gta housing markets york region is third garnering 30 per cent of new home sales in the gta from vision 2000 presenters peter norman vice president clayton research and andy brethour pma brethour consulting primary care would improve health care doctor from page 1 headed for bigger trouble down the road there are a number of us who believe that unless you do this we wont be able to save our universal healthcare system and i dont know if it can survive i dont think people really know what its like to live in a country without universal health care and maclean is not alone dr duncan sinclair the man appointed to head up the health services restructuring commission and who recommended rostering be mandato ry was still advocating primarycare reform this week saying it should hap pen immediately but the ontario medical association is opposed to mandatory enrolment in group practices as is the majority of its member physicians the new structure they say would eliminate their right to bill for services or charge ohip for each procedure however for the system to continue to be viable reform is needed now says maclean the current system allows patients to shop around for second opinions and have duplicate tests performed at additional cost to taxpayers we still want to pursue primary- care reform and work with local physi cians to do things to bring better care to people maclean said its our belief at markham stoufiville hospital that pri mary care is the cornerstone of health care i believe we have a good number of physicians in our community who believe primary care would significant ly improve care for the public maclean said rostering would give patients greater access to physicians and other healthcare providers as well as provide advice by telephone making more efficient use of medical resources