Growth is coming to Grey Highlands. And we can shape what that looks like.
Thousands of new homes will be built in the Markdale area over the next decade. But there is a choice:
We can build real communities that are walkable and have mixed-income housing, rental homes and small locally-owned shops …or we can watch our farmland get paved over and replaced with generic sprawl and Big Box stores.
Get involved, to help shape our future!
In The News!
“Using small town patterns to guide Grey Highlands future growth”
“The Grey Highlands Municipal League residents group hopes to raise up “an army of nerds”, who know planning terminology and process, and can take their part in shaping their community.”
Strong Towns is a movement that seeks to replace North America’s pattern of suburban development, with a pattern of growth that is financially strong, safe, livable, and inviting.
Learn more about Strong Towns here, and get involved with our local chapter!
Get in touch: StrongTowns@VoteGrey.ca
Building More “Main Street”
Grey Highlands has charming “Main Streets”, with small locallly-owned stores, bakeries, cafes and restaurants, and rental apartments above. But these types of buildings have not been constructed since the 1960s. Instead, all new commercial buildings are set back from the road, surrounded by parking lots, no housing, and designed for international chains rather than local small business.
Based on our research, there are four legislative obstacles that prevent the creation of “Main Street” commercial buildings, and walkable, mixed use, mixed income communities:
Centreline Setback
Grey County has a rule, from 1973, that requires all new buildings to be 75 feet from the “centre line” of any county road. That makes sense for an 80km/hr rural area, but the same rule also applies to our towns and villages! This rule means that “Main Street” type buildings are not allowed to be built on Flesherton’s Collingwood Street (Grey Road 4), Markdale’s Main Street (Grey Road 12), or Road 124 in Singhampton, etc…
We recommend removing this rule, for properties that are adjacent or near to towns and villages. This change would require a decision by Grey County Council.
RESOURCES:
Project team: Dave Meslin & April Poppe
2. Parking Requirements
Minimum parking requirements make it impossible to build more Main Streets in Grey Highlands. There are many ways to ensure that a neighbourhood has enough parking, without forcing each new commercial building to include parking directly in front of their shops. (Thornbury, for example, has a thriving Main Street with two nearby parking lots as well as on-street parking.)
Grey Highlands’ Manager of Planning, Matt Rapke, has written a report about this topic, which recommends eliminating the minimum parking requirements.
RESOURCES:
Why We Should Eliminate Minimum Parking Requirements (Matt Rapke, 2023)
5 Cities That Repealed Parking Minimums in 2022
Project team: Pauline Craig and Justin Kelly
4. Mixed-Use Zoning
Our Main Streets were built decades before the term “Mixed Use Zoning” was coined. But that’s what they are! Mixed-use zoning allows for commercial and residential uses to exist in the same neighbourhood, or even in the same building.
Today’s subdivisions and developments tend to fall into two categories:
• Residential sprawl with no shopping
• Big-box commercial with no housing
We support the creation of a new zone type that not only allows for mixed use, but mandates it. This zone category would allow us to build walkable communities that feel like real neighbourhoods.
Mixed-use and mixed-density development is also better for Grey Highlands financially. Sprawl and ‘Big Box’ are a tax drain. (see video below)
RESOURCES:
Project team: Dave Meslin & Ben Caesar
3. Connecting Link Expansion
Highway 10 runs through Markdale and Flesherton. This is a provincial highway, which means that the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) has regulatory jurisdiction. This created a problem, when developers want to build on land near either of our two largest towns.
Even if the land is adjacent to existing development, MTO will still treat the application as if they are building on a “highway”. This prevents the construction of “Main Street” type buildings.
We believe the solution to this problem is for the municipality to expand it’s planning jurisdiction by extending the boundaries of our “Connecting Link”, which is the a part of a highway that runs through a community.
This change would put our town streets under local control, so we can democratically build the communities we want to live in.
Project team: Ken Roth & Sarah Barker
