Yonge Street rapidways public meetings June 2,3

The vivaNext Yonge Street Rapidways - dedicated centre lanes in the road for Viva vehicles - will extend from Hwy7 to 19th Avenue.   Rapidways is supposed to improving transit travel times by up to 40%.  For further information, visit VIVANEXT.COM.

Public meetings are being held to inform Richmond Hill residents about:

• Richmond Hill's vision for the future
• How the Yonge Street rapidways fit into that vision
• The benefits of rapidways and how they work

Dates: June 2 and 3 (Both meetings will provide the same material)
Time: Open house 6:30pm - 8:30pm.   Presentation is at 7pm.
Locations:

• June 2 at Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Plaza suite, 10268 Yonge Street
• June 3 at Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church, Wallace Hall, 10066 Yonge Street

Final closing date: June 17.

 Final closing date is June 17.

Markham Council considering motion to reduce condo property taxes

Click here for the news article

Markham Council has a motion afoot to allow Council to request the Province for the power to tax condominium apartments and town homes at a lower rate than single-family houses.   I'm not clear as to the rationale for such a motion, as the justifications in the news article does not seem valid for Richmond Hill.  This, if carried through to implementation, would be very interesting for Condo owners;  however, I personally don't think it can be justified fairly - the Province has in the past basically stated so.  Also, most homes in York Region (and Ontario) are single family houses - if such a tax change will increase the property tax on house owners, then it would also be politically unfeasible.


...something to keep an eye out for...

Possible new condos at south east corner of Yonge/Observatory Lane

Click here to see current development on Google Streetview

Click here for Google map view

There is a proposed amendment to Richmond Hill's official plan and zoning by-laws, 9471 Yonge St, to allow for mixed use development.   The proposal covers the small 59m x 170.88m parcel at the SE corner of Yonge St/Observatory Lane, which current includes a Harvey's and some open land.   The plan amendment would change the "highway commercial zone" and "agricultural zone" designations to "high density/mixed use zone" to allow for a mixed-use development which will include 2 condominium/apartment buildings (17 and 21 stories), with ground level commercial/storefront/live-work units.   The 2 buildings will create 438 residentail units and 1961.4 sq.m. of commerical space.

There is a public meeting scheduled for Wednesday March 24, 7:30pm, in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Offices (225 East Beaver Creek).  Click here for more information (town website).