Developer is proposing a 43- and a 38-story building on the SE corner of Yonge & 16th...to replace the current brown, 1-story plaza and 4-story building on the site.  The Town's official plan calls for a maximum height at that site of 20 stories...but 43 stories is more than double that.  The Town's plan also calls for  20-story buildings in the SW (where Country Style Donuts used to be), NW (where Swiss Chalet is) and NE (where Lone Star used to be in the No Frills plaza).  If the 43-story building on the SE corner is approved, we can expect the same on the other corners.

I am troubled by this proposal because I anticipate:

• increased traffic; prior to COVID, it was difficult to make the left turn onto 16th from Fern during the morning rush hour...with an additional 700 or so cars (the proposed building will contain 959 units with 723 parking spots), it will become more challenging to make that turn
• inadequate infrastructure; MacKenzie Health is already at capacity, how can they handle another 2,000 people?  what about schools?  parks?  police?  fire?  parks & rec programs?  Will our taxes go up to build this up?
• parking; the current proposal has 21% less parking than the Zoning by-law demands...I suspect residents and their visitors will park at the No Frills lot...more traffic there means more potential accidents means higher insurance rates...not to mention less parking for shoppers
• increased population density; how will this affect our shopping experience, our access to health care...especially during pandemics like COVID?  What about parks and rec programs for kids and adults...which are already full?

These are some of the issues I am concerned about.  The Yonge/16th site is just one set of buildings being proposed.  There is also a 54-story building proposed for Yonge/Garden and a 40-story building at Yonge/Bernard.  These proposals exceed the height guidelines of the Town's own strategic plan and will negatively affect all of our quality of life.