Markham is a city that is growing exponentially, and in fact, it is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Ontario. It’s not just growing with people, but with infrastructure as well. The City of Markham is well-prepared to ensure that the people who live in the community are provided with all they need to make Markham a place that they enjoy living and working. There are a number of major city projects in the works, in order to sustain the population growth.
Markham was identified as a growth centre by the Ontario Places to Grow Act, which means that the population is scheduled to increase by another 35% in the next 16 years. In support of this, the city put together a strategic growth plan called Building Markham’s Future Together, which incorporates these major city projects. Here are just a few of them.
The City of Markham purchased 101 acres on Warden Ave., just north of Elgin Mills Rd. with a plan to develop an outdoor sports park. With extensive community consultation, the park will feature outdoor sports areas as needed by the citizens.
Southeast Community Centre, Library and Park
A new 121,000 square foot community centre, library and park will be located on 13.6 acres of land at the corner of 14th Avenue and Middlefield Road. With easy access from public transportation, roads and to the neighbouring residential areas and schools, this was the perfect location for the community centre. After consulting with the community, the city decided on a number of great features of the community centre, including:
· Library
· Triple gymnasia with a running track
· Swimming pool
· Active living spaces
· Teach kitchen
· Multi-use community rooms
· Cultural spaces
Ground has already been broken on this project and it is scheduled to open in June of 2017. Some delays have occurred because of weather and the design of the project.
Just this year, the Province of Ontario announced that they would build a new state-of-the-art York University campus in Markham. The new campus will play a role in where Markham residents go to school and work and will be home to approximately 4,000 students. Programs offered will include:
· Arts and media
· Information technology
· Liberal arts
· Environmental studies
· Business
The City of Markham donated the land, and York University has committed a large amount to the construction of the new campus.
North Markham Future Urban Area
In order to accommodate the large population growth happening in Markham, the city has designated an area in the north end of Markham as a future urban area, featuring homes and businesses. It will eventually accommodate 12,000 residential homes for about 38,000 people and will provide 19,000 jobs. There will also be watercourses and other natural heritage features, which will not be developed and classified as greenway.
If you want more information on the growth of the Markham area, feel free to contact me at any time.
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