GARA brings together and advocates for everyone living in the Grandview Area of Thornhill in the city of Markham, Ontario.
Our neighbourhood stretches from Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue and Steeles Avenue to the CN rail line.
We welcome you to our site and look forward to hearing from you.

The Grandview Pumpkin Parade 2024 - A Wonderful Evening

Thanks to the very hard work of a dedicated group of GARA volunteers, our neighbourhood's Second Annual Pumpkin Parade was a huge success.

This year's winners of both the first and third prizes were the Aplin family.  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who took part.

Is the traffic on Yonge Street driving you crazy? Wonder what is going on with the subway? Is it true there will be a huge development at Centerpoint Mall?

Our neighbourhood is squarely in the path of huge changes. The subway is coming with increasing and ongoing disruption for years to come.  Steeles Avenue and Yonge Street will be lined with a series of super tall condo towers. Major construction is also planned for the areas north of us including a mega development at Yonge and Highway 407. What can be done to protect our neighbourhood during and after these developments?

Keith Irish, our Ward One Markham City Councillor joined us for the GARA AGM to talk about these issues and answer residents' questions.  If you missed the opportunity to attend, here are the slides from his presentation. If you have questions or concerns, you can reach him at kirish@markham.ca

Markham Needs a Lobbyist Registry

Being able to believe that our city government and elected officials are trustworthy and honest is important. We may not always agree with their decisions but trusting they were not made as the result of backroom deals hopefully allows us to accept them. Recent concerns about provincial dealings with developers regarding the green belt lands have shone a spotlight this issue.

Companies and organizations communicate with our elected officials every day, and they should. Everyone has a vested interest in their community and there is nothing wrong with advocating for a business or organization to further your agenda.

However, lobbying should be done transparently and ethically. Residents deserve the right to know who is influencing, advocating, and lobbying elected public officials on behalf of their company, organization, or cause. It gives residents insight into why public officials take stances on issues and vote in council. On the other hand, a lack of lobbying transparency leads to rumors and speculation, unfounded accusations, false assumptions.

Having a lobbyist registry for the City of Markham would help to build and maintain that all important trust. The GARA Executive strongly supports the establishment of a lobbyist registry for Markham to build transparency into decision making. There is also a new organization that people are asked to join. By signing up, their name will be used as a Markham resident supporting the Lobbyist Registry. https://www.transparencymarkham.com/

The Latest Neighbourhood Development

For some years, GARA has been monitoring the application from the Zonix Group to develop the area between  Steeles and Highland Park and between Dudley and Willowdale  (36-48 Steeles Avenue East and 37-49 Highland Park Blvd).  The original plans have  been put aside several times with each version being taller and denser than the one preceding it.

The developer chose to apply to the Ontario Land Tribunal.  With recent  changes in provincial legislation, they were asking for a much taller and denser development than had been originally planned. Because of recent changes in legislation, many of the tools previously available to cities to ensure good planning have been stripped away. City staff and elected representatives decided that a negotiated settlement was likely to produce the best results.

On October 17th, 2023, the Ontario Land Tribunal Decisions approved  a negotiated plan that includes the  building  of two residential towers,of 44 and 40 storeys on top of a six storey podium with an FSI of 8.2.  FSI (Floor Space Index) refers to the ratio between the area of a piece of land and the total floor space of the building being put on it. Comparing this  plan to other recent developments, World on Yonge has a FSI of 3.5 and Vanguard 3.4. There will be 1060 residential  units with 510 parking spaces for cars and 740 for bicycles . Driveway access will be on Dudley and Highland Park Avenues. The developer will give the city .18 hectaire (.45 acre) for parkland along Highland Park.

The full OLT decision can be seen here.