York Region is giving the green light to turn a former municipal office on Bayview Parkway into an affordable housing development in Newmarket
The building at 62 Bayview Parkway — once the regional headquarters — will be demolished later this year to make way for the new housing. The region will review scenarios, with potentially between 115 and 250 residential units possible.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, who is chair of Housing York, said it is a “phenomenal location.”
“It’s something that’s desperately needed. As a community, we need to continue to champion and look for all opportunities to provide more affordable options,” Taylor said. “It’s an excellent site.”
York Region continued to have some employees working from the location until 2020, but they were relocated when construction of the region's Annex building at 17150 Yonge St. was completed. The Baywview Parkway facility has gone unused since, and a preliminary feasibility study determined affordable housing was an option for the site.
The land was originally donated in 1953 by Mabel Davis, a member of a prominent Newmarket family, with the stipulation is must be kept for public use, but Taylor said this use should qualify.
He added about 50 per cent of the units would be at affordable market rent, and the other 50 per cent would be subsidized, in line with other Housing York developments.
The region is tentatively budgeting $38.7 million between 2022 and 2025 for the development, though federal and provincial funding will be needed to proceed.
“We need to wait for the funding partnership,” Taylor said. “It’s not imminent.”
The region is attempting to add to its stock of affordable housing options, in both the public and private spheres. A regional plan update presented to regional council June 10 highlighted a target of 1,000 purpose-built rental units per year across the region, which would be 50 per year in Newmarket.
But the region is struggling to meet affordable housing development targets. A June 10 report said only eight per cent of new housing in York Region in 2020 met the provincial affordability threshold, down from 14 per cent in 2019. The region’s official plan targets that figure to be 35 per cent in key development areas and 25 per cent elsewhere.
"This is part of addressing what we’ve deemed a housing affordability crisis,” Taylor said. “But Housing York cannot achieve this on its own."
The report said 99 per cent of the affordable ownership units were studio and one-bedroom condominiums in high-density developments.
"This impacts the ability for many families to come to York Region, and find suitably sized or adequate housing for their needs," the report said.
But Taylor said municipalities are doing work in the area and considering measures such as inclusionary zoning to mandate developers to add more affordable options
As for 62 Bayview Parkway, York Region said public consultation would be a key part of the process, with the first public information centre anticipated for fall 2021. But planning approvals, design, tendering and construction could take four years to complete, subject to funding.
The resolution was met with a largely positive reception on social media.
“We’re revisiting our targets and our tools,” Taylor said. “We got to continue to work at putting in new tools into our policy, but also working on partnership with not-for-profits and the development community to bring more affordable housing stock online.”
