From Suburb to “Huburb”

The “905” regions of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York are among the fastest growing regions in Ontario. Making up over a quarter of Ontario’s population, these four regions account for half the annual population growth in the province. Along with the Places to Grow legislation came a greenbelt around the GTA, put there to limit sprawl and mandate intensification with some very intense density targets, for example in 2031 the target in terms of jobs and residence is 200 per hectare, similar to what’s now in North York Centre. This puts three cities in particular – Mississauga, Markham, and Vaughan – into the spotlight, as all three are already in various stages of remarkable growth, share similar attributes and they all have the potential to be transformative.

This was the scene set on October 4th at Le Parc Conference and Banquet Centre in Markham, where a packed house of ULI Toronto members were treated to an exploration of the evolution and development of the 905 “downtowns” and what are their drivers of development. Moderated by Mark Kindrachuck, the panel was set up as three “teams,” with both public and private sector representatives from each city discussing the visions for their growing city centres.

Team Mississauga was up first, representing the 905 city that is perhaps furthest along in its development. “We already have a downtown,” said Ed Sajecki, Commissioner, Planning & Building Department at the City of Mississauga. “We have about 35,000 people living in the downtown area. Just to give you a perspective on that, Vancouver has about 55,000 people in the downtown. We anticipate that we will be moving toward about 70,000 people so that’s more than are currently living in downtown Vancouver.”

But with this population explosion comes several pressing needs – transit chief among them. Sajecki described five light rail transit stations being built in the downtown area. “That’s all part of working with Metrolinx on a line that would run from our waterfront all the way along Hurontario through our downtown and up into Brampton. That’s about a $1.3 billion dollar project,” said Sajecki. They are working on getting a grid pattern of streets in their downtown area which would allow for a much more walkable downtown, and also looking a mix of uses that are important in a downtown, such as bringing Sheridan College there. “It’s about getting the bones right,” said Sajecki. “If you don’t get that tight grid pattern of streets, if you don’t get transit right, if you don’t get the public realm right and obviously all the other infrastructure, then we will have failed in our mission.”

Representing the private development side of the equation was Sam Crignano, founding partner and president of Cityzen Development Group, the company behind the now iconic piece of Mississauga’s skyline, the Absolute Towers. “I keep getting asked the same question, would you do it again. Would you hold an international design competition as you did in Mississauga?” is how Crignano began his presentation. “And my answer is simple, yes, of course I would do it again. In the case of Mississauga, we were presented with an opportunity and a very unique set of circumstances which created the perfect environment for our development. There was a demand in the marketplace at the time for something new, something different in architecture. We had a centralized location in the heart of the city and perhaps most importantly, an extraordinarily flexible zoning by-law.”

This by-law, he explained, provided no height limitation, no density limitation, no unit limitation – the dominant governing factor in this case was parking. “We were only bound by what the by-law required – one parking space per unit and as a result, the design options were infinite. This very by-law provided an opportunity to foster creativity,” he explained.

“The problem we face today is the trend towards a high degree of regulation under the guise of guidelines, as is the case with the tall building guidelines adopted by the City of Toronto. And I speak from experience when I tell you that people are willing to pay a premium to live in a building that is architecturally interesting – a building that they can be proud of. A highly regulated process does not serve to secure the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well-being of urban communities. Rather, it tends to create a homogenous aesthetic and only facilitates the cloning of neighbourhoods.”

Next up was Team Markham, led by Jim Baird, Commissioner of Planning at the City of Markham. He described two urban growth centres in Markham: Markham Centre, a site of approximately 1,000 acres of which some 700 acres are developable; and Langstaff Gateway. “The basic land use objective is to create a complete and integrated mixed-use community at a high density and intensity of uses to comprise a true city centre,” he explained. “Markham council in 2010 endorsed a new growth strategy to the year 2031 which is focused on intensification at key transit nodes and corridors. We’re promoting intensification throughout the municipality along transit corridors and other key development areas such as Cornell Centre.” Challenges Markham is facing are retail core and destination entertainment uses that have been slow to advance (although a new arena will be a major catalyst); transit funding is lagging; and there are emerging public concerns with increases in height and density.

Randy Peddigrew, senior vice president of land development at Remington Group, provided some very honest perspectives on what it takes to build a downtown. He admitted that Remington’s first plan had “in hindsight, some glaring issues,” particularly how it dealt with the GO station. “Our development was backing on to it; we had no relation to it,” he said. “We were quite frankly, not even paying attention to it. But that’s changed.” Their new approach to downtown Markham has a total estimated value of construction at between four to five billion dollars. The site area is 243 acres, and they are expecting to have 12.9 million square feet of residential, commercial and retail space. There will be homes for 15 to 20,000 residents and Remington will maintain 72 acres of parks and open spaces.

Last up was Team Vaughan, representing the city that is newest to downtown creation. John Mackenzie, Commissioner of Planning at the City of Vaughan, described the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre: four quadrants of land of land on 420 acres that will be a “very diverse, exciting community” catalyzed by the expansion of the TTC’s York-Spadina subway line into the 905. To maximize this incredible opportunity, Vaughan has a new urban design review panel that will oversee the intensification of the precinct, and some initial projects are already underway and under construction, such as the Expo City Tower. In addition, Mackenzie announced that they will revitalize Black Creek. “It’s currently an afterthought, a ditch at Jane and Highway 7. We’re going to make it a special place,” he said.

Mauro Pambianchi, executive vice president and chief development officer at Smart Centres, accurately described Vaughan as “a blank sheet of paper.” SmartCentres owns about 100 acres, most of which in the northwest quadrant of the planned Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. This quadrant is intended to accommodate about 16 million square feet of development at full build out, about 10 million of that is residential, four million of office, and two million of retail.

As the morning progressed several major themes emerged throughout the three cities. For example one of the main challenges is how do we create the walkable, urban pedestrian-oriented city that potential residents are saying they would like to see. Transit is another major challenge, as is adequate infrastructure and, perhaps most importantly, building the right public realm.

While they shared similar challenges, they also shared similar strategies to tackle those challenges. “First thing you have to do is start with a vision. That vision has to be created by both the public and the private side,” said Peddigrew. “It has to be set with goals that are achievable and goals that are somewhat ambitious. Then you’ve got to sell the vision: to the public and you’ve got to sell the vision to the developer.” After that, you have to be flexible. All three private developers emphasized how flexibility is the key.

Finally, it was agreed that all the cities and towns that combine the 905 should focus on developing their own identity and build on the qualities that made them prosperous in the first place, particularly, plenty of jobs and an abundance of affordable housing. “We are going through a huge transformation in terms of how we can reinvent suburbia,” said Sajecki. “We shouldn’t be calling ourselves a suburb, we’re not quite a full city yet but we are very much a huburb.”

All the downtowns in the 905 are poised for extraordinary growth and all face similar challenges which if overcome, provide limitless opportunity.

And while this was ULI Toronto’s first event up north of Highway 401, based on the turnout and the discourse, don’t be surprised to see an annual event of this type emerge.

Peter Sobchak
Building Magazine
ULI Toronto Communications Committee

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SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS
Ed Sajecki, Commissioner, Planning & Building Department, City of Mississauga
Sam Crignano, Founding Partner & President, Cityzen Development Group
Jim Baird, Commissioner of Planning, City of Markham
Randy Peddigrew, Senior VP Land Development, Remington Group
John MacKenzie, Commissioner of Planning, City of Vaughan
Mauro Pambianch, Executive VP & Chief Development Officer, Smart Centres