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Introduction Hi Legacy Voice subscribers. Here’s the May 2026 digital edition of The Legacy Voice Newsletter, where we will recap what’s happening in Legacy, including upcoming events and things we have been following around Markham. This email is filled with content, so please make sure you read all the way to the bottom! We hope you enjoy this Legacy Voice and be sure to visit our sponsor websites.
Co-Chair Corner Greetings Legacy! It seems like it has taken forever this year, but winter and early spring are finally behind us. It is time to get out and enjoy Legacy outdoors! This edition of Co-Chair Corner will cover a whole bunch of topics in quick fashion:
The LCRA held its Annual General Meeting on Sunday February 22 at the Rouge River Community Centre. Many long-standing and familiar LCRA members attended the meeting, which featured a lengthy discussion with Ward 7 Councillor Nimisha Patel. Nimisha came very well-prepared with information useful to Legacy, and she stayed until all questions were answered. Thank you Nimisha! Administratively speaking, the LCRA Executive Team remained intact from last year, with the same officers and directors in place. The LCRA looks forward to serving the Legacy community in 2026!
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We are between events right now, having just completed a blustery but well-attended Spring Clean Up (article below), and a few weeks away from the LCRA Summer Festival. Be sure to look for the promo (also below) and mark your calendars. You won’t want to miss this fun local event, right in the heart of Legacy. We are always in need of adult volunteers, so please drop us a line at events@legacynet.ca if you think you can help us out.
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A very special shout out to Amy Rahl, who was recognized in Councillor Patel’s newsletter as a Ward 7 Good Neighbour. Nimisha caught Amy spontaneously cleaning storm drains, helping reduce puddles around Legacy one rainy morning. Great job, Amy!
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Just a friendly reminder that as a homeowner in Markham, City by-laws stipulate that you are responsible for keeping your lawn, and the streetside grass across your sidewalk, trimmed to 6” (15 cm). You can even be fined for letting your lawn get out of control. It is peak season for lawn growth, so please be prepared to cut your grass a few extra times these next few weeks.
The Legacy Park playground refurbishment is right around the corner! This will include all new infrastructure, along with replacement of the granite sand foundation with engineered wood chips. Councillor Patel helped confirm that the City’s contractor will be on-site near the end of summer 2026, with completion in 4-5 weeks. This will allow for playground use throughout the warmer months this year.
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LCRA membership for 2026 is off to a great start: 80 plus members before our big summer events! As a special perk for 2026, we are providing members with a free Faraday bag to protect your electronic car keys. If you are a member for 2026 and have not received your LCRA Faraday Bag, please drop by the Summer Festival to pick yours up.
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| Back in 2021, the LCRA lobbied the Ward 7 Councillor at the time, Khalid Usman, for the city to consider a proper pedestrian crosswalk across Old Ninth Line, to provide a safe way to get to the Shell station from the right-of-way sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. After 5 years of budgeting approvals and bureaucracy, I just heard from Councillor Patel that the PXO construction work is planned to start this July, with completion by the fall. Slushies and cold drinks just became a much safer proposition!
Calling all Legacy historians! The LCRA Executive team is contemplating a project that will commemorate the history of the lands of Legacy, from the early days of the Iroquois to the hamlet of Sparta, the IBM Golf Club, and of course, Legacy. If you have information to share about the rich history of these lands, please drop us a line at co-chair@legacynet.ca.
And finally, please support our sponsors! Their contributions and ad purchases support our events and help keep the local information flowing. ~ Ken Rahl, Co-Chair, LCRA
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| | Legacy Spring Clean Up Recap |
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By Edith Buck-Darses
Thank you, amazing Legacy neighbours, for turning out in such great numbers to help with our annual Legacy Community Cleanup! Despite the chilly temperatures, Legacy once again showed what we are made of when it comes to showing up for each other. We are proud to say that over 40 volunteers of all ages registered and came out to help at this special event. This included Ward 7 Councillor Nimisha Patel, stationed for an hour near the 14th Avenue entrance to Legacy. Everyone was on board: Markham Green Golf Club, who lent us their golf carts; the City of Markham, who provided gloves, bags, and post-cleanup garbage removal; and of course Tim Hortons, our loyal sponsor, who donated enough hot chocolate and Timbits to keep us going all morning! In the end, our hard work paid off. We cleaned up Legacy from top to bottom, from the path along the forest to the white fence border along Jarvis to the Mill Pond area and beyond. Let's do it again next year and keep Legacy beautiful! |
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| | Residential Bike Lane Development Halted |
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| By Danielle Milankov
On April 14, 2026, Markham City Council passed a temporary moratorium on the installation of on-street bike lanes in residential areas. These proposed bike lanes would have been carved from existing road space, meaning that in several residential neighbourhoods, street parking would be removed and replaced with bike lanes. This would eliminate viable parking not only for residents, but also for visitors, contractors, landscapers, and other services that rely on street parking. That concern was the primary reason Council decided to temporarily halt all residential on-street bike lane projects, pending a report on the impacts and potential solutions to be prepared and presented by city staff. While bike lanes are undoubtedly a good thing, how they are implemented matters. Taking away road space from already-cramped streets is unwise, especially where street parking is essential and traffic is heavy. Better solutions do exist, such as the raised cycle track design seen on Steeles Avenue between Kennedy Road and McCowan Road — where a dedicated bike lane runs alongside the sidewalk, elevated above the road surface to preserve street space and improve cyclist safety. Though retrofitting this type of infrastructure into established areas may not always be feasible, it should certainly be incorporated into all future developments to avoid the difficult trade-off between bike lanes and street parking. For more information on the City's decision, see the April 14 agenda (page 209). |
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| | Markham Rejects Short Term Rental Proposal |
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| By Danielle Milankov
On April 21, 2026, Markham’s City Council voted against adopting a proposed by-law that would permit short term rentals (i.e. rentals less than 28 days) in residential units. This move upholds the current Markham-wide ban on short term rentals, which prohibits homeowners and other residential unit holders from renting their home on websites such as Air BnB and VRBO. Councillors against allowing short term rentals cited community safety concerns, nuisance, and the absence of strict operational safety requirements for what essentially is a business running in a residential area. They also cited the lack of community consultation and the suddenness of this proposal as to why it was rejected. The councillors in favour of short-term rentals argued that people are already operating short-term rentals illegally, and therefore the City should regulate them so they can create guidelines. However, as Ward 6 Councillor Amanda Yeung Collucci correctly pointed out, people conduct illegal operations all the time, but that does not necessarily mean that the City should allow those operations via regulation. Going forward, short-term rentals remain illegal in Markham. For more information, you can watch the April 21 meeting, or read the rejected by-law in the April 21 agenda (at page 177). |
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| | | By Susan Bury
Another cleanup day is behind us, and what we collected tells a story worth sharing. The path and pond area was again filled with non-compostable plastics: water bottles, vape cartridges, tooth flossers, and personal garden waste. What does this say about us? Some of it comes down to the "one small toss won't matter" mindset. But when that thinking is repeated daily by many people, it compounds fast, which is exactly what our volunteers found. The result is damage to both our neighbourhood and the wildlife that calls it home. When Legacy was built, the pond and golf course were the visual heart of the community: a place to sit, reflect, and enjoy natural beauty. It is time we treated them that way again. Here is how each of us can help, every day: Pack out what you bring in. If there is no bin nearby, carry your waste home. Pick up what you see. One piece of litter removed on your daily walk leaves the community better than you found it.
Every small effort adds up. Let's keep Legacy beautiful for everyone, people and animals alike. |
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Unwelcome Visitors in Legacy |
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| By Susan Bury
A few weeks ago, Legacy residents spotted canines roaming the streets late at night, attacking a raccoon. While some might call it nature taking its course, the risks to our community are real and worth talking about. Built alongside a golf course, ravine, and green space, Legacy sits at the edge of exactly the kind of habitat that attracts wild canines. That alone warrants caution. But there is something within our control that is making the situation worse: food. Community trash cans throughout Legacy have long been used by some residents to dispose of household food waste, presumably to keep smells out of their homes. The result is overflowing bins that act as an open invitation for raccoons, coyotes, and other wildlife to venture deeper into our streets. We saw where that can lead.
The fix is straightforward. Household waste belongs in your blue or grey bins at home, collected on your scheduled pickup day. Community bins are not a substitute. If you have a bin with a latch, use it. Let's stop making Legacy an easy meal for wildlife and keep our streets safe for residents of all species. |
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Thank you to our LCRA Sponsors! |
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