August 2025 (Vol 24.3)

By Danielle Milankov

On June 24,2025, Markham’s City Council voted 7–4 in favour of holding a by-election to fill the Ward 7 Council seat, which was vacated after the previous Ward 7 Councillor Juanita Nathan left us to represent Pickering-Brooklin in the Federal House of Commons.

This is an unusual move for the City Council, as they previously passed a by-law stating that if a council seat was vacated after March 31 in the year before a full municipal election, the Council will appoint a new councillor, either by picking a candidate who received votes in the last election, or appointing a candidate from a pool of nominated eligible voters in Markham. This power was used in 2018 to appoint Khalid Usman as Ward 7 Councillor when Logan Kanapathi left his Ward 7 seat for the Provincial government. There is both legislation and precedent to indicate that an appointment is appropriate here, yet the City Council instead opted for a by-election.

The by-election, slated for this September 26, 27, 28, and 29, is estimated to cost a minimum of $262,000 from the City’s and taxpayers’ money. What’s more, this expensive price tag excludes online voting, as this by-election will be paper ballot only.

The City Council cited the need for the most democratic solution in deciding how to fill the vacancy, with little other explanation justifying the timing and the cost. The fact that this by-election will not have online voting throws the Council’s logic into question, since in the 2022 municipal election, less than 1000 paper ballot votes were submitted in Ward 7, while just over 10,000 electronic votes were submitted online for Ward 7 (source: Elections Markham). It is unclear how this costly, last-minute, paper-ballot-only election will service democracy more than appointing the second-place candidate from the previous 2022 election, which was democratically decided by 10,000 Ward 7 residents.

Seven of the eight Markham citizens who gave deputations at the meeting were in favour of appointing the second place Ward 7 candidate from the 2022 municipal election, Nimisha Patel. These citizens cited the need to be frugal with taxpayers’ money, the issue of election fatigue (as we had a provincial and federal election earlier this year), and the simple fact that the appointment of the 2022 runner-up would both satisfy democratic and financial interests in filling a vacancy for less than a year before the next municipal election.

Regardless of the City Council’s logic, be sure to vote in the Ward 7 by-election this September.

By Ken Rahl

We finally scored a sunny and pleasant day to host the 2025 LCRA Summer Festival. On Saturday June 14, the LCRA continued its annual tradition of bringing the Legacy community out to Legacy Park to enjoy food, music and fun. The “just right” temperatures had people camped out long periods of time, enjoying each other’s company and letting the kiddos enjoy the festivities. This included body art (face painting and henna tattoos), bubbles, hula hoops, dancing and sweets. For the second year, Team Khurana was the event’s signature sponsor, supporting the Summer Festival with a generous donation and an ice cream truck to fuel the fun. Special thanks to David, Bantoo and the whole team for supporting the LCRA’s efforts to build community within the Legacy neighbourhood.

We’d be remiss in not offering shout-outs to our great team, without whom this event would not happen. This includes:

• Our volunteers, including event coordinator Amy Rahl and the entire LCRA Executive Team, along with adult volunteers Joyce, Michelle, Danielle, and Jaymala, and student volunteers Ben, Zeidan, Natalie, Bea, Efi, Emily, Sarah and Claire. Also the kind folks who contributed photos, including Umesh, Joseph and others. Thank you all for supporting each other and the LCRA in yet another well-received event!

• Our vendor partners, including the Krafty Hands face painters, Ayesha the henna tattoo artist, long time supporter and deejay Leslie from That’s Great Entertainment, KD Event Rentals, Ithaca Greek Mediterranean Restaurant and Pizza Nova on Copper Creek.

• A special thanks to our new friend Jit from the nearby Swiss Chalet, who graciously donated the ice supplies for the Summer Festival.

• Our VIP’s, including York Regional Police District 5 Superintendent Chirag Bhatt, members of York Region Paramedics, our Markham Fire friends from Station #99 and the City of Markham Sportsfields staff for the permit and equipment delivery.

• And a final thank you to LCRA sponsor Daniel Chan from Sun Life.

We look forward to the upcoming LCRA Corn Roast on Sunday August 24, from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. in the traditional location along Rouge Bank Drive near the Rouge River Community Centre. We hope to see you there!

By Danielle Milankov

On June 17,2025, a small and low-profile Markham City Council meeting took place to discuss a topic that is certainly neither small nor low-profile. The meeting heard deputations from various parties, the majority of which were developers, on how best to use the land along Highway 7, between Ninth Line and Reesor Road, also known as the Cornell Centre. Two of the proposals were especially concerning.

A representative from the current owner of the lands on the northeast corner of Ninth Line and Highway 7 (referred to as “605918 Ontario Limited” in the meeting), plans to build a total of eleven (yes, 11) towers ranging from 22 stories to 33 storeys (source: Urban Toronto). The first phase of this would see three towers, 31, 28, and 25 storeys high, put in beside Markham Stouffville Hospital. The current zoning for this area is only 4 to 18 stories, with a smaller section for 5 to 24 stories (see Figure 1 below). The landowner would have the zoning changed to get their towers built.

Figure 1 – This is the City of Markham’s current building height restrictions map for the Cornell Centre. The eleven high rises are proposed for the corner of Highway 7 and Ninth Line, indicated here by the red box.

The second proposal of concern was from Weston Consulting, representing Primont Homes, who requested that the height and density limitations set by the City be removed altogether, in favour of “site-specific” flexible developments. They also want the current Greenway Designation (i.e. protected greenspace) of several parks along Highway 7 to be removed. In other words, the developers would like to do whatever they please, with no City planning or community input.

Part of the rationale behind proposals like these is that we should put as many people as possible into the small space beside what are called “Major Transit Station Areas” (MTSAs). Examples of MTSA’s include the Cornell Bus Terminal (beside the hospital, where the proposed high rises will go), GO Station train stops, and the 407Express Toll Route. The problem with this logic is twofold. First, it assumes that most of the people living there will actually use the MTSAs, and not their own car. Second, this logic also assumes that a single MTSA is satisfactory to transport all the people living nearby. Considering that the minimum population estimate of the Cornell Centre developments is to add another 40,000 people, it is highly doubtful that a single bus terminal will be satisfactory. Even with another bus station or rapid transit stop added, we still face the reality that many people will still choose to drive cars, contributing further to the already dreadful traffic on Highway 7, Ninth Line, and the surrounding area. And you better believe that many of these new people will be speeding through your very own Legacy neighbourhood to save travel time.

Another rationale behind these high-density developments is the ongoing housing shortage crisis. While it is undisputable that we need more housing, the other aspect of this crisis is that we need more affordable and livable housing. Putting up a 33-storey high-rise does not necessarily alleviate this issue. There is no guarantee that the new condominiums will be affordable. There is also the likelihood that they may all be rental units. With the transit concerns mentioned above, the livability aspect is also unlikely to be met, not to mention that Cornell in general does not have a lot of walkable retail nearby, like the local Longo’s beside Legacy. Further, high rise apartments are not conducive to raising families. Building these high-rises and increasing the population density so high in a small area does not make sense and does not service the local people already living nearby.

At the meeting, only two citizens of Markham offered deputations opposing the proposed high rises, each citing the arbitrariness of high-density planning in relation to menial transit options, and the disregard for the quality of life for residents already living in the Cornell Centre. This meeting, though, is the first of many; we are lucky to have heard about it so soon in the process, as there is time to have our voices heard about the proposed rezoning.

While we currently don’t have a Ward 7 councillor, the neighbouring Wards 4 and 5 are also along Ninth Line and Highway 7, and their councillors should be open to the feedback of Legacy residents. Several more development meetings are planned for this fall, and it is imperative that residents attend to have their voices heard. The meetings are in person and virtual, making participation very easy. You can also submit written deputations ahead of time. Additional information can be found at the City of Markham’s website (https://www.markham.ca/about-the-city-of-markham/city-hall/council-and-committee-meetings), along with all the information listed in this article from the June 17 meeting (https://pub-markham.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=101847).

Questions or comments? Feel free to submit them to info@legacynet.ca.