Markham, Ontario, plans neighborhoods on a large scale

In Canada’s foremost laboratory for the New Urbanism, planners knit together many projects to create a ring of interconnected neighborhoods around the existing town. Markham was among the first municipalities in North America to adopt a new urbanist planning philosophy in the early 1990s, but the sheer size of its development plans also makes this Toronto suburb unique. On the periphery of existing subdivisions, the town opened up more than 6,000 acres for development simultaneously. New urbanist and hybrid neighborhoods are planned for most of that area. In Markham’s best new urbanist models, Cornell and Angus Glen, streets and squares lined with densely packed single-family homes and townhouses are now complete. Hybrid projects Berczy, Rouge North East, and South Unionville are under construction, and several others (Greensborough, Wismer, Woodbine North, and the Cathedral community) are slated to break ground within the next year. An ambitious plan for a new town center for all of Markham is also taking shape. Markham has the highest concentration of high-tech employment in Canada and currently enjoys the strongest real estate market in 20 years. Nearly 3,000 new housing units were built in 1999. Town planners estimate that 80 percent of those were in new urbanist or hybrid projects, but this represents only a small portion of what is planned. Nearly 53,000 housing units and 150,000 residents (a doubling of the current population) will be added to the town, when the 13 major development sites are built out. Progress so far Markham’s experiment in urbanism cannot be fairly judged until today’s scattered building sites come together in a continuous fabric, but with two neighborhoods nearing completion, a preliminary evaluation is possible. The consistent street grids are an obvious improvement over the sprawling street patterns in older suburbs. With a continuous wall of homes set back only 5-10 feet from the sidewalk, streets in the new Markham offer enclosed public spaces that echo Toronto’s urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the intimacy of the streetscape is often compromised, because roadways are too wide in proportion to the two-story homes. Wide curb return radii also encourage high speeds, particularly in hybrid projects like Berczy, where garages are front-loaded and few cars are parked on the street. It is not yet apparent how well mixed-use districts will be integrated into the new suburbs. Only Cornell has opened a commercial center, and that three-story complex with retail beneath apartments represents a refreshing departure from the strip malls found elsewhere in Markham. Located on a green in the middle of the first neighborhood, the center includes a busy cafe and several service retail outlets. How well this kind of central neighborhood retail center can compete with commercial areas on arterial roads remains to be seen. At this point, the most visible flaws in Markham are architectural. Builders often offer only half-hearted emulations of vernacular styles, and with the notable exception of Angus Glen, many facades are marred by superfluous details and inferior materials. The lack of fencing between the narrow backyards leaves residents with little privacy. More than anything, Markham’s new neighborhoods need trees and time to become hospitable places. Connecting streets and neighborhoods To expedite the design and approval process, Markham formed the Development Services Commission in 1996. The commission combines all work on new development under one roof and consists of multidisciplinary teams, each with representatives from landscaping, building standards, urban design, engineering, economic development, and planning. “The planners could never do it alone,” says Jim Baird, director of planning. “We have to draw in the engineers and the landscape designers to get everybody committed to the same approach.” Connectivity is central to the commission’s approach. Markham sits on a giant grid of so-called concession blocks, 1,000-acre pieces of land each bounded by four major arterial roads. The town’s older neighborhoods are laid out on a system of winding streets and loops, forcing most through traffic out on arterial roads. In the new urbanist and hybrid projects, however, modified street grids facilitate internal circulation, and larger through roads will make the concession blocks permeable. A main street corridor, Bur Oak Avenue, will connect the new developments to the north with Cornell on the east side of town. Baird says the street is intended to draw retail, institutional, and civic uses, but the market has shown little interest so far. Developers are proposing mostly townhouses. Cornell’s developer, Law Development, has gotten approval for a senior center and a church on Bur Oak Avenue, Baird says. The task of creating a continuous urban fabric is complicated by the fact that town planners often have to work with multiple landowners and developers within one concession block. In the Berczy development area, for instance, one community is rising on the northwest corner of the site, while another, Williamstown, is breaking ground on the eastern edge of the concession block. These and other smaller projects will eventually grow together to form one large neighborhood with several schools and a network of parks and recreational facilities. To knit these separate entities together, the Development Services Commission assesses projects in a community-wide context, rather than in isolation, explains Tim Lambe, manager of policy planning. At the outset of the development process, the commission team determines the location of major roads and drainage ponds on the site. “These factors drive where everything else goes,” Lambe says. The planning department then meets with landowners, developers, and their consultants to draft a community design plan. This plan refines the street grid, and determines the location of commercial areas, parks, sports fields, places of worships, and schools. The emphasis in this stage is on establishing design principles for the site as a whole. After the City Council has adopted the community design plan, designers begin work on master plans for the various subdivisions within the concession block. Markham does not have mandatory architectural guidelines, but the planning process ensures that projects like Berczy rest on a framework of interconnected streets, parks, and civic spaces, even though the housing is largely conventional in character. Higher density Compared to the majority of U.S. greenfield developments, the new areas of Markham are remarkably dense, a pattern determined by the high price of land in metropolitan Toronto. In Cornell and Angus Glen in particular, single-family homes often sit no more that five feet apart and can be almost indistinguishable from townhouses and duplexes in the streetscape. According to Lambe, the compact streets have been especially well-received by buyers from Toronto’s older neighborhoods who grew up with narrow lots, alleys, and neighbors close by. Other home buyers, however, did not fully realize that their front steps would be right on the sidewalk, Lambe says. He adds that the wider and shallower lots found in Berczy are becoming increasingly popular, in part because the wider lots leave room for that much desired amenity, the attached, front-loading garage. Markham encourages, but does not demand, the use of alleys. Even in Angus Glen, where all housing types have so far been built with detached garages on alleys, Angus Glen Development has begun to offer homes with attached garages. Says Project Manager Michael Montgomery: “Many buyers still don’t like to have to carry their groceries in from a detached garage. We have to offer the attached product to compete.” A period of adjustment From the Development Services Commission’s perspective, the most persistent sore spots in the development process have been settling on appropriate street width standards and accommodating overnight street parking. The problem has been particularly evident on the major streets in Cornell divided by a median. Fire department trucks did not have enough room to put their pads down when cars were parked on both sides of the street, and snow removal also proved difficult. In response, the town has restricted parking to one side of the street, and future streets with medians will have a wider right of way. Improved access to public transportation is also part of the promise of Markham’s new urbanist planning philosophy, but progress has been slow. Bus service is available in the new subdivisions, but it is too infrequent to encourage residents to give up reliance on their cars. According to Lambe, public transit is currently not a funding priority with the town’s elected officials. To improve the situation, the Development Services Commission is working hard to attract more employers to the new areas, so more families can both live and work in Markham. Cornell The first complete neighborhood in this 2,400-acre development consists of approximately 1,000 tightly spaced single-family houses and townhomes, all with narrow backyards and garages on alleys. As in most new developments in the Toronto area, brick is the preferred building material. The two-story, Victorian-style homes typically sit about five feet back from the sidewalk, lending the streets a distinctly urban character. Unfortunately, the effect is diluted by streets that are too wide in proportion to the shallow setbacks. Moreover, the proximity to the street make the limitations of the architecture and the workmanship more noticeable. Vinyl shutters are not functional and screwed to the walls. Columns on porches and porticos are often shoddily joined with the concrete foundations, and most porches are too shallow to become outdoor rooms. On one builder’s homes, gingerbread ornaments in the gables never vary in design. Some of these details will be covered up — and certainly the overall appearance of the streetscapes will improve greatly — when the street trees and landscaping matures. The mixed-use retail and apartment building on the first neighborhood square is more successful. It includes 48 for-sale apartments and about 20,000 square feet of retail. The current tenants include a drugstore, a bank, a convenience store, a dry cleaner, a hair salon, dentist and chiropractor offices, and builders’ sales offices. The most dynamic part of the commercial center is the Maison du Cafe, an attractive circular coffee shop with plenty of outdoor seating in sight of the well-used play ground on the square. The cafe has become the social center of the neighborhood, with weekly dance nights, live music, and afternoon bridge sessions. It has also made Cornell a destination for residents of nearby older subdivisions. Owner Norbert Fitoussi says 60 to 70 percent of his clientele comes from outside Cornell. Prices in Cornell are staying in the middle range. An upcoming series of townhouses from Law Development range in price from $95,800 to $134,250 (prices in U.S. dollars based on a exchange rate of $1.46). The master plan for Cornell is by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, and refinements have been made by several Toronto urban design firms, including the Planning Partnership, Urban Strategies, and Gabor & Popper. Angus Glen With almost 300 homes built, East Village, the first phase of Angus Glen, is nearing completion. Project Manager Michael Montgomery of Angus Glen Development says sales have picked up in the last six months and 40 units have sold since last November. Townhomes sell for between $160,000 and $180,000 and detached homes for between $161,000 and $254,000. Recent resales have proven that the value of homes in the project is increasing, Montgomery says. Nestled on the edge of a lush golf course, Angus Glen is more upscale than Cornell and distinguished by the cleanest and most subdued architecture in the area. The town square, lined with townhomes and single family homes, has the beginnings of a fine urban space, one of the few spots in the emerging Markham that gives the visitor a strong sense of place. A baseball diamond and a soccer field are part of a large park on the project’s southern edge, adjacent to a new section of custom homes on 80 by 180 feet lots. Most lots in Angus Glen are 20 feet, 27 feet, or 35 feet wide. The total development area in the project is 255 acres. A three-acre commercial site on a major arterial road is currently in site plan review and at least two years away from completion, Montgomery says. The lead designers for Angus Glen are Jenkins & Associates and The Planning Partnership. u