Every morning, Nathan Zhu left his neighbourhood in southeast Markham and drove north past a barren stretch of land before merging into the rush-hour traffic on 14th Avenue. A string of red tail lights stretched for hundreds of metres toward Markham Road, near Highway 407.
In mid-December, he was surprised to learn that on the 8.19-acre vacant lot, developer Remington Group was proposing to amend the city’s official plan and zoning bylaws to build three rental apartments with 785 apartment units and 34 townhomes.
“My first reaction was I don’t understand it,” Zhu, 44, who purchased his pre-construction house in 2020 before moving there in 2022. “With 800 households, there will be at least 700 or 800 cars. But these cars won’t be able to get out. This neighbourhood is already full.”
The application under city review proposes to build three buildings ranging from nine to 11 storeys. Seventy per cent of the units in two buildings would be at market rate, while 30 per cent would be priced 10 per cent below market rate. The third building, to be transferred to the community housing provider Micah, will have 40 per cent of its units designated as rent-geared-to-income housing, according to Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who is in favour of the project.
But the plan has sparked strong opposition from residents living in nearby detached homes and townhouses. On Feb. 4, during a public meeting at Markham City Hall that lasted more than five hours, roughly 300 community members filled the room, voicing concerns about traffic congestion, lack of parking and insufficient public resources, Zhu said.
This isn’t an isolated battleground. As Markham’s population grows, the city is pushing to accelerate housing through the Markville Secondary Study Plan, repurposing 110 hectares for residential use, and an action plan to increase density near transit hubs. Yet, highrise projects like the Remington plan and the intensification of CF Markville Mall to add 14 buildings up to 45 storeys tall have faced backlash from residents.
Scarpitti said the Remington application is fitting because Markham lacks attainable housing. The market-rate rental units could support young professionals in fields like health care and retail, who struggle to find housing.
“We’ve always been a community that likes to provide a diversity of housing,” said Scarpitti.
Remington Group is seeking construction loans from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., while Markham considers the project for the Housing Accelerator Fund, which aims to fast-track 1,640 units in three years in exchange for $58.8 million in federal funding, the proposal reads.
Scarpitti noted the site is surrounded by a large community park, a community centre and a vast retail plaza hosting stores like Canadian Tires within walking distance.
Residents, however, argue that the vacant land had been designated for “service employment.” They said salespeople for Remington Group, which developed the nearby lowrise community, had painted a picture of a future filled with retail businesses — walk-in clinic and barber shop — when they bought their homes, leaving them feeling misled by the current proposal to rezone the land to “highrise residential.”
“The developer presented us with a complete and well-thought-out plan — that’s why we chose this community. We bought into a community, not just a house,” said Serena Li, a single mom who moved in with her parents three years ago.
City staff explained at the public meeting that the 2022 York Region Official Plan designated the land as a community area, allowing for commercial, institutional, and residential uses. While the site was zoned as “service employment” in the 2014 Markham Regional Plan, it now must conform to the York Region plan.
Scarpitti pointed out during the public meeting that the land had always been marked as mixed-use for office, retail, and high-density residential in the maps displayed at the Remington sales offices.
Remington Group declined to comment as the proposal is still pending a decision by the city.
“It’s not unusual for, over time, for projects and proposals to change as they go forward,” because development is market-oriented, said Matti Siemiatycki, a geography and planning professor at the University of Toronto. Market changes in recent years have made it harder for developers to sell condos and there are more incentives to build affordable housing, he said.
Despite residents’ concerns about congestion and the less than one parking space per unit in the new buildings, the transportation impact study for the proposal predicts that future traffic conditions at nearby intersections will be nearly identical to today.
“When more and more rapid transit gets included and built in Markham, it will help everybody,” said Scarpitti, adding that residential use of land creates less traffic than commercial and industrial use.
However, Reed Zhao, an organizer leading the pushback against the development plan, doesn’t buy this argument.
“I am so upset and almost feel hopeless that the city wants to do anything about 14th Avenue to improve the traffic,” he said.
Zhao said residents also fear the development will make flooding conditions worse as new developments introduce surface parking and reduce natural ground absorption. During last summer’s storm, rainwater formed a small river on the road in front of many homes next to the vacant lot.
For Li, her biggest concern is school overcrowding. The nearest public school which her daughter attends, is already facing a teacher shortage, she said.
“My first concern was that my child’s education would be ruined,” she said. “Money comes and goes, but you cannot mess with my child’s future.”
Scarpitti disputed her claims at the public meeting, stating the school board informed him Ellen Fairclough Public School was operating at only 70 per cent capacity, with enough empty seats to accommodate the 80 to 164 students the development would bring.
“Always residents have a role to play, and we’ve modified applications where we’ve been able to use that moral persuasion,” Scarpitti told the Star, adding that the city is planning another public meeting in March.
Markham City Council has until April 12 to decide on the proposal. If they fail to do so, the developer can appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Siemiatycki said municipalities play a key role in ensuring the community has enough local services to support residents. At the same time, the city must clearly communicate the importance of affordable housing and its benefits to society.
“In our community in Greater Toronto, a lot of those people are leaving and they’re going elsewhere, and they’re taking their top talent,” said Siemiatycki. “It’s a real risk when it becomes politically challenging to enable and infill growth.”
