Tag: Markham

Categories
Community Events

The vivaNext Team welcomes the fall season!

Markham Fair

It’s that time of year again! The Markham Fair starts this Thursday and the vivaNext team will be there!

There has been a great deal of progress made on vivaNext projects since last year’s Fair – that’s why we encourage you to drop by our indoor booth for an update! We’re particularly excited about the progress of the Enterprise rapidway in Markham, which is due for completion by the end of this year. We’re also gearing up for more work on the Highway 7 rapidways. With plenty of information and great news to share, the vivaNext team is looking forward to answering your questions about rapid transit in Markham and York Region.

We hope that you enjoy the wide selection of food, live entertainment, activities and competitions the Markham Fair has to offer. This annual event is one of the oldest country fairs in Canada, and is a great way to spend time with family and friends, connect with the community, and welcome the fall season!

See you there!

For a coupon offering $2.00 off adult admission to the Markham Fair, please click here.

Markham Fair

When: September 29 – October 3, 2010
Thursday – Saturday: 9am – 10pm
Sunday: 9am – 6pm

Where: Markham Fairgrounds
10801 McCowan Road, Markham, ON

Categories
Live-work-play Rapidways Urban Planning

Why “TOD” is great news for all of us

A rendering of transit-oriented development in Markham
A rendering of transit-oriented development at the future Markham Centre

Recently, I wrote about transit and the role it has in shaping communities, in particular, the development that tends to spring up along transit routes and around stations. This time, I want to talk more about what we mean by “transit-oriented-development” ( TOD for short), and why this kind of development will be good news for people in York Region—whether or not they are transit users themselves.

Most people get around York Region by car – possibly because they want to – but also because some people find it challenging to do all the things they need to do in a day by transit. That’s not surprising in a region like this one; in communities where development has been shaped by a long-standing car culture, destinations are more likely to be spread out, with greater distances between live-work-play destinations. Even the design of buildings may be shaped by car usage, with large parking lots separating buildings from roads.

The idea behind TOD is that people using transit are also likely to be pedestrians at some point during their journey – either at the beginning, or the end (or both). Studies have shown that people are willing to walk about 5 minutes to or from transit, which is somewhere between 400 and 600 metres. So TOD uses the approach of creating a complete community within walking distance of transit – including workplaces, homes, shopping, recreation and services. The thinking is that if new developments are designed to be conveniently compact and appealing to pedestrians, people are more likely to leave their car at home for at least one of their trips. Obviously, the good news is that more people taking transit means fewer cars on the road, less pollution, and less gridlock.

So York Region planners have linked the plans for the vivaNext rapidways to land use policies that will result in more TOD along Viva routes and near vivastations. These policies will likely mean that much of the new development built around vivastations will be compact and mixed-use, providing housing, employment, retail, dining, services and recreation, all within a walkable distance of transit. Developments will also include more welcoming public spaces, attractive landscaping, and other amenities so that people enjoy being out and about.

How will this affect you? In a pre-TOD scenario, a typical day could start with a drive to work, then a drive to a restaurant for dinner, ending with a drive to a movie or concert before driving back home. With more TOD, you would have the choice of taking transit to work, then walking around the corner from the office to dinner, then strolling across the street for a show before grabbing a coffee and getting home again by transit. Same day, two different ways of getting around.

The point is that transit and TOD don’t have to change the way people live in York Region, but it will give us all more choices – in what we do, where we do it, and how we get there. We think that’s good news for everyone.

Categories
Rapidways

Rapidways just around the corner

enterprise-009_new

Earlier this summer, our communications team visited the site of a rapidway being built along Enterprise Drive in Markham. The sun was shining and work was well underway as a construction crew installed the roadway’s curb and gutter. Dick Clark, general superintendent of construction, filled us in on the work being done and shared his thoughts on transit in York Region. You can check out the video here.

Last week, we returned to Enterprise Drive to see the progress of work since our last visit. Beautiful summer weather has allowed construction to forge ahead without any major interruptions. What does this mean? Incredible progress!

The Enterprise rapidway is really starting to take shape. Some sections have been paved with the base coating, and preparatory work has already started for the installation of station platforms!  We brought our camera along to once again give you the inside scoop. Click here to view the latest video.

We often talk about the future on this blog – how York Region is planning for future growth, what future development may look like, and the importance of the vivaNext plan in our community. Sometimes, this future may seem like a distant reality, but the truth is that it’s never been closer. The Enterprise Drive rapidway is on schedule to be completed by the end of this year – which means that vivaNext rapidways in York Region are just around the corner.

Categories
Live-work-play Rapidways Urban Planning

Public transit = more housing choices

housingcollage_10_07_12-copy

Here’s some new math you may not have seen before: vivaNext = more housing choices. How can that be? Let’s start by talking about housing options, and why they matter.

The expression, “one-size-fits-all,” applies to many things, but when it comes to housing preferences, we all have our own ideas about how we want to live. A traditional suburban house might be the perfect dream home for one person, but might be too big or too – well, suburban – for another. A stylish condo with a sleek balcony within walking-distance of entertainment and shopping is just what some people are looking for, but wouldn’t suit everyone.

No matter what our personal preferences might be, one of the values that most of us share is that we’d like to be able to choose where we live. Unfortunately, if a range of housing options is not available, it can be difficult for people to find suitable homes in a particular neighbourhood or community. And that’s a shame, because being able to stay in a neighbourhood you like, near friends and family, close to familiar services and supports – near your roots – means a lot to many people.

By bringing rapid transit to York Region, vivaNext will support the development of a wider range of housing options, so that every member of a family, whether they’re parents with young children, young adults moving out for the first time, or older people wanting to downsize, can live near the neighbourhood of their choice.

As a key component of the transit-oriented development being planned along the rapidways, new housing will be built, especially near the new centres that will be created in Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan. Almost all of the housing in these centres will be multi-unit, higher density apartments and condominiums. Elsewhere, other established neighbourhoods will be kept predominantly single family housing.

With so much of the new growth and housing planned in centres and along the rapidways, there will be less pressure on other areas to become more densely built up, allowing them to stay much the same. The ultimate goal is to preserve the balance around the region, offering more choice and more flexibility for people – no matter what stage of life they may be at, or their housing preferences.

Having more housing options means every member of your family can choose to stay in the community they love, even as their needs change over time. We’re pretty excited to think that vivaNext will help achieve such an important goal.

Categories
Live-work-play Urban Planning

Seeing into the future with York Region’s Official Plan

futurebuilds

What’s the best way to see what the future will look like for York Region? A crystal ball? Cards? Tea-leaves?

In all seriousness, when it comes to reading the future for our community, I suggest you look at York Region’s Official Plan. This document, which is a critical planning tool, has a number of functions: it’s a public document used to describe and promote our vision for the future, but it is also a legal document used to support and defend key decisions related to public infrastructure, development and growth.

Based on a 25 year planning timeframe but updated every five years, York Region’s Official Plan sets out several key themes which will guide planning decisions, and will help make growth work for us.

One of the main themes throughout the plan is the desire to concentrate growth and development in key areas through the region. This will be done through the further development of a series of centres and corridors, meaning new downtowns in Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan. The idea is that by building more intensively in these areas, there will be less pressure for growth in the existing communities.

These new multi-use centres will be connected by transportation “corridors” that will make it easier for people to get around the region. And obviously, the best way to travel will be on the vivaNext rapidways, which will run along the corridors and connect the centres.

As they develop, the centres will become focal points for exciting new destinations, offering more choices in entertainment, dining, shopping, and other kinds of attractions. They will also provide higher density housing in condominiums and apartments, for people who like the idea of living at the centre of the action. These new downtowns will be designed with people in mind: they will include attractive, public open spaces where people feel welcomed, and be designed in ways that encourage walking, cycling and transit use.

The Official Plan recognizes that while many people may like the idea of heading to one of the newly urbanized centres to dine out, to shop, or to go to work, they may also want to have a home in a quiet residential neighbourhood. So the Official Plan directs that those kinds of communities will be protected from the kind of intensification that will be used in the centres, so people can continue to enjoy the lifestyles they already have.

And because people in York Region value the greenspaces that make up such an important part of this area, a full 69% of the Region’s landmass will be protected as either Greenbelt or Oak Ridges Moraine.

The Official Plan goes into a lot of detail on these main themes, as well as a range of others, and is well worth reading to give you a sense of how your Region is going to manage growth into the future, and how it is going to evolve.

I like to think that with this well-thought-out plan, people in York Region will truly be able to have it all: our familiar communities will be protected, but we’ll get the benefits of city-building; and we’ll have a great rapid transit system to move us easily between all sorts of exciting new destinations. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this future vision, and what it will mean for you and your family!

Categories
Live-work-play Urban Planning

Shaping the vision for the future

official-plan_2010_06_071

When you think of York Region, what comes to mind for you? The comfortable, tree-lined family-friendly neighbourhoods of Aurora or Vaughan? Or maybe the increasingly urban appearance of Markham’s new development areas, with many large head offices employing thousands of professionals? Or maybe the quaint, walking-scale downtowns of Newmarket, Unionville or old Richmond Hill? Not to mention the lovely green countryside that wraps all around our towns, offering recreation, productive farmland, and rural lifestyles. Maybe you think of how some downtown sidewalk areas could be more inviting, how much longer it’s taking you to get to work these days, or how it’s hard to get from A to B in York Region if you don’t have a car.

It’s probably safe to say that everyone in York Region has a view of what their home community means to them, and what they’d like it to be in the future. If asked, most of us could list the things we love, and the things we’d love more of (or in the case of some things, like traffic gridlock, less of!)

So when it came time to update York Region’s Official Plan, residents were asked to describe their vision for the York Region of the future. The input for the Official Plan makes a great snapshot of what people want out of their home in York Region, and what matters to them, which include:

  • Let’s be green;
  • Let’s try to live and work in the same community;
  • Let’s make it more beautiful;
  • Let’s make it lively, with lots of interesting things to do;
  • Let’s live in neighbourhoods that are designed to let us get to know our neighbours;
  • Let’s have more choices in housing availability, to accommodate every member of our community – families, single people, young and old;
  • And to tie it all together – let’s make it easier to get around, with or without a car.

That’s what people said, and then planners had to figure out how to make that vision come to life, looking twenty and even thirty or more years into the future. That vision is captured in a hefty document that is York Region’s Official Plan.

So what’s all this got to do with vivaNext? I’m going to tell you more over the next couple of blog posts, but here’s a hint: one of the key things that’s going to help achieve that vision of a greener, livelier, more compact York Region, is a rapid transit network. More than just transit, the vivaNext plan will help to shape our community into the future, and help bring those things people want – more choice, more opportunity, more green, more fun– to life. So whether or not you take transit, having vivaNext is very good news, and will be great for our community.

Categories
Announcements Rapidways

We’re on our way!!

metrolinx-announcement_2010_05_20

Yesterday, we got positive news.  But first: rewind back to March 2010, when the Province announced in their budget that, due to their major financial pressures, they would need to rejig their transit spending schedule, to focus on getting the most urgent projects built first.  So we sat down with Metrolinx to work through our plans.  We needed to figure out the best schedule that would still benefit the region-wide transit system, but with some pieces coming sooner and others coming later.  It took a lot of hard work, and yesterday, Metrolinx announced the proposed new schedule.

Metrolinx’ board gave its unanimous endorsement to the proposed plan, which means the vivaNext projects can continue to move forward, one in each of Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan. This first phase of building will see York Region getting $790 million for rapid transit expansion over the next five years.

The plan also has a second series of rapidways, which will expand the rapid transit foundation established through the first set of routes. This second phase will get $965 million for projects to be constructed between 2016 and 2020.

The bottom line is that between these two phases, the entire vivaNext plan as originally announced in April 2009 will be built. We’ve always believed that the vivaNext plan is one of the keys to getting the GTA moving, and now, after working closely with our partners at Metrolinx, we believe that the revised plan will still help us address the building gridlock that’s such a risk for us all. That’s good news for York Region, and for everyone who lives or works here.

So with this revised schedule now approved, we can really get underway towards building the vivaNext vision of true rapid transit for York Region. We’ve got our design teams, our engineers and our construction crews all revved up to finalize their planning and, as the Metrolinx proposal is confirmed by the province next month, we can keep on going. So keep visiting us at vivaNext.com for updates and news as we, with real excitement, get on our way!

Categories
Community Events Going Green Rapidways

Who knew picking up trash could be fun?

earthday_2010_04_23

Did you know that Earth Day is the biggest and most celebrated environmental event in the world?

On Thursday, April 22, vivaNext staffers were among the one billion people in 170 countries who took part in this global event to tackle local environmental challenges. We donned our bright Viva blue shirts and raced the clock – and each other – to see who could pick up the most trash along one stretch of the future Highway 7 rapidway in York Region.

Who won? Well, everyone wins when we each do our part to clean up the planet!

You may be surprised to learn that organizers of the very first Earth Day celebrations were also supporters of live-work-play communities. Then again, perhaps you see the connection between sustainability and pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented spaces.

We certainly feel a strong connection with the values of Earth Day here at vivaNext HQ; our rapid transit service is a key part of achieving smart growth goals and creating better connected, more livable communities in York Region. On Earth Day, and every day, we are working hard to design and build a rapid transit service that offers a green travel alternative, makes it easier for you to get around, and helps to shape growth in an environmentally sound way.

Check out our video and see how we did. Tell us if you participated in any Earth Day activities or submit your video!

Categories
Live-work-play Urban Planning

Making room for everyone

making-room_2010_04_19

There might have been a time when, as it grew, a community could just continue to expand its boundaries farther out into the surrounding countryside, adding new neighbourhoods as more people moved in. But in our increasingly crowded part of the province, we’re long past the time when municipalities can just spread out endlessly – our boundaries are pretty much fixed. So finding room for new people has to happen within our existing space.

With provincial legislation setting out formal growth targets for all Ontario communities, York Region has had to do some careful planning to map out where all those new people are going to live. And we’re not talking small increases – our planners have projected that by 2031, York Region will need to find room for an additional 577,000 residents and 234,000 households. And those new people need places to work, so planners also need to factor in room for an additional 180 million square feet of employment floor space, to accommodate the 318,000 new jobs that will be needed.

York Region is pretty big, so maybe those people can all spread out? No, it’s not that easy. In the first place, although some people prefer to live in more rural settings, the majority of people in York Region want to live close to amenities – near schools, near stores, near entertainment – near all the great things that make city life interesting and convenient. And those things tend to be clustered at the heart of our existing larger communities, like Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.

Secondly, although York Region is quite large geographically, a lot of our lands are actually very fragile environments, and are protected against significant development. In fact, nearly 70% of our total land is protected under either the Green Belt Act, or the Oak Ridges Moraine Act.

To make this a win-win for everyone, the Region has adopted a planning strategy that directs almost half of the expected new growth to existing built-up areas, with the other half going to new development areas. This approach will result in more opportunities for people to live, work and play in the neighbourhoods that they already know and love, while reducing some of the growth pressure on the surrounding countryside.

The Region’s Centres and Corridors – which include the cores of Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan – will play an important role in this growth strategy. Most of the growth that will occur within the Region’s existing urban area will take place in the Centres and Corridors. With this concentration of growth, people will find it easier to get around using existing and planned rapid transit services, and to enjoy the exciting mix of living, employment, shopping and entertainment options that are already there, and that will continue to evolve.

Those of us working on vivaNext are excited about this plan, because it will put transit at the centre of the action as York Region grows into the future. I’d love to hear what you think of this vision, and what it will mean for how you live your life in York Region?

Categories
Community Events General Ways to win

Learn how vivaNext is planting seeds for future growth at the spring Home Shows!

spring-home-shows_2010_03_151Now that spring is in the air, it’s time to get out and explore a vast array of fresh ideas for your home and garden at the spring home shows. Hundreds of local businesses will be there to showcase the latest and greatest in interior and landscaping design.

As you walk around and take it all in, be sure to look for the vivaNext booth. We’ll be there chatting with local residents about how vivaNext rapid transit projects are planting seeds for future growth in York Region. The vivaNext team will also be handing out seeded bookmarks that can be planted in your garden. As well, you’ll have the opportunity to enter our draw for a deluxe gardening tool kit that will be given away at the close of each home show.

We look forward to seeing you there. Happy spring everyone!

Spring Home Shows Schedule

Markham Spring Home Show 2010

When:
Friday, March 19  (1pm to 9pm)
Saturday, March 20  (10am to 6pm)
Sunday, March 21  (11am  to 5pm)

Where:
Markham Fairgrounds
Elgin Mills & McCowan Roads

14th Annual Newmarket Home & Lifestyle Show

When:
Friday, March 26   (5pm to 9pm)
Saturday, March 27  (9am to 6pm)
Sunday, March 28  (10am to 5pm)

Where:
Magna Centre
800 Mulock Drive