Highway 48 Visioning Exercise

The Highway 48 Corridor Visioning Exercise is currently underway. The Highway 48 Corridor which runs north and south through the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville offers a significant opportunity for growth. The opportunity presents itself to develop a conceptual land use vision for the Study Area.

The study area comprises lands that are both within and outside the urban area boundary, lands within the Greenbelt Plan area, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan area, and some “Whitebelt” lands that may be considered for future growth and includes some lands in the City of Markham.

The Visioning exercise will identify a preferred growth scenario to guide future planning and development within the study area under the context of the current policy.

Workshop #1 - April 30, 2020:

On April 30, 2020, a Virtual Workshop was held to describe the options being considered for the Highway 48 Visioning Exercise. A draft vision statement, guiding principles and the fundamentals of all options were described, followed by an explanation of each option. In the next few days we will be posting a survey and fillable form to receive your thoughts on the options. Check back soon for more information!

Exercise Goals:

The goals of the Visioning exercise are to:

• Develop a conceptual land use vision for the Study Area;
• Identify goals for future development or redevelopment within the Study Area;
• Address servicing and transportation;
• Develop policy recommendations for an appropriate mix of potential future uses; and
• Identify options for how to proceed.

Exercise Achievements:

The Visioning exercise will:

• Identify areas that could be considered for potential future settlement area boundary expansions;
• Identify natural heritage features and linkage areas, and their respective Vegetation Protection Zones;
• Develop scenarios through consultation and analyses to identify a preferred concept plan in support of the vision for the Town’s Gateway Mixed Use Area (OPA 145), the Smart Centres business park, shopping and mixed-use area, including options for land use, transportation, transit, pedestrian connectivity, and municipal services;
• Have consideration for the employment land conversion requests that are being considered in the Hoover Park Drive and Highway 48 corridor area through the Region’s Municipal Comprehensive Review; and
• Undertake a preliminary review of the preferred concept plan in the context of the overall growth strategy, density targets and land budgeting.

This Visioning exercise will produce a preferred concept plan for consideration. The study will identify options and recommendations for next steps.

The Visioning exercise will undertake a high-level analysis taking into consideration all relevant environmental, social and economic factors to determine the optimal capacity for development including:

• Environmental analysis;
• Transportation analysis;
• Servicing analysis; and
• Land use concepts/scenarios.

There are many opportunities to the community to share their thoughts on this project. Two community workshops will be held:

• April 30, 2020: Preliminary land use concepts.
• Date to be confirmed: Preferred land use concept.