York Region Sales Figures for August

BY THE NUMBERS
• York Region outpaced the GTA with sales up 26 per cent from August 2010. The biggest increases were seen in King (62 per cent), Georgina (52 per cent), Newmarket (41 per cent) and Richmond Hill (37 per cent).
The only municipality to experience a drop was East Gwillimbury, where the 17 sales were down 47 per cent from last year.
• The year-to-date numbers are more even, with Whitchurch-Stouffville’s 18.9-per-cent increase in sales leading the pack and Richmond Hill up 10.3 per cent.
•The 715 new listings in Markham last month were the best in the region, followed by more than 600 new listings in Richmond Hill. No other municipality recorded more than 440.
• Newmarket and Georgina are the only local municipalities with average house prices below $500,000.
• About 57 per cent of all York Region home sales last month were detached houses, with average prices of more than $655,000. Richmond Hill’s 228 sales lead the way, followed by Markham’s 189. The average sale price of those Richmond Hill homes topped $780,000.
• August saw 125 semi-detached home sales in the region and 76 condominium townhome sales. Across the region, 191 condominium apartments changed, hands averaging just less than $320,000. All but 11 of those sales were in Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.


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Urban sprawl collides with industry on city outskirts

When Con-Strada Aggregates first set up shop on the outskirts of Markham along Highway 407 in 2002, its neighbours were little more than factories, shopping malls and empty lots.

Now, the industrial facility is increasingly surrounded by new condos and houses — and the newcomers are calling for Con-Strada to leave.

“The community today in 2011 is quite different to that in 2002, where there was little residential and major commercial development around the aggregate recycling facility,” says a 700-signature petition by the Markham Alliance for Clean Air, an anti-Con-Strada coalition of local businesses and residents. The petition was presented to Markham town council on Tuesday night.

The alliance’s leader, James Chang, lives in a nearby condo built in 2006. For months, his neighbours knew nothing of Con-Strada’s existence, but soon noticed their windows becoming caked in brown dust from the facility. Mr. Chang asserts that the community is being coated in a layer of potentially hazardous dust. “In restaurants across from Con-Strada, dust could be travelling into the kitchens where they’re cooking lunches and dinners — that is really, really disturbing,” Mr. Chang says.

Con-Strada was only supposed to be temporary.

“The aggregate recycling facility would not be an appropriate use over the long term,” read a city statement in 2002. Three years ago, the company’s bylaw to operate expired, and attempts to obtain a long-term licence have failed. “Since 2008, Con-Strada Aggregates have been operating illegally,” Mr. Chang says.

Grant Horan, a controller with Con-Strada Aggregates, maintains he has “no idea” where they got the idea that Con-Strada is operating illegally. “It’s a chosen few who find the site as something they don’t want, but from my own opinion, these facilities are required,” Mr. Horan says. “We have to store [aggregates] somewhere.”

It is a sentiment shared across the industrial sector. As Toronto-area housing developments expand deeper into rural and industrial areas, once-isolated industries are increasingly finding themselves at odds with residential newcomers.

For 20 years, Karl Molcar ran his Etobicoke insulation business in relative peace beside a four-acre compound owned by a Protestant church. Each day, Mr. Molcar’s Climatizer Insulation processes up to 100 tonnes of recycled Toronto paper and turns it into insulation, mulch and specialty fibres. With much of the paper arriving soaked in various garbage juices, it can be a smelly process.

“It’s not dangerous or anything. Just sometimes it smells,” Mr. Molcar says.

Recently, the congregation announced plans to build a one-room schoolhouse directly alongside Climatizer’s loading dock, an area often filled with idling semi trucks. Mr. Molcar worries it is only a matter of time before church members get tired of sending their kids to school next to an insulation factory and try to shut him down. “It’s an industrial park.I don’t see it as a place for kids to play,” he says.

Look before you buy, advises Moreen Miller, president of the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (OSSGA).

“People purchase lands, and they don’t realize that they’re right next to an industrial facility,” she says. “There are still many people who don’t take a drive around the neighbourhood before buying a home.”

Stone, sand and gravel companies, especially, often find themselves at the front lines of industrial/residential conflict. Since aggregate facilities exist almost solely to serve local needs, they are often stationed close to residential areas. Rocks and sands are simply too heavy to ship long distances.

“If every load of aggregate used in Ontario had to travel one extra kilometre to the jobsite, an extra 2.5 million litres of fossil fuel would be consumed annually,” reads theholestory.ca, a website funded by the OSSGA.

Each year, Ontarians consume an average of 14 tons of aggregate each — the weight equivalent of a 20 metre-high stack of Honda Civics. The sprawling Toronto region is particularly aggregate-hungry, eating up more than 40% of Ontario’s total production. In an ironic twist, aggregate companies have often helped build the condos and subdivisions that now oppose them.

The OSSGA maintains a mantra of peaceful coexistence.

“We fully believe they can work side by side if everybody just gets it right at the beginning,” Ms. Miller says. Industrial companies can shift their schedules and put up walls to block noise and dust. In

exchange, residents can outfit their neighbourhoods with appropriate buffers.

The Region of Peel, for instance, sets out strict zoning limits to keep homes buffered from rock and gravel quarries. The region’s website even includes downloadable maps of mineral-rich areas that may be turned into aggregate quarries in the future.

Toronto, on the other hand, has a strong penchant for forcing loud or dirty industries deep into the countryside. Until the 1990s, Torontonians sent their waste to local landfills. Now, every mattress, broken TV and baby diaper collected within city limits is shipped 200 kilometres southwest to a city-owned dump south of London. The past few years have seen a round of Toronto-area dumps, power plants and wind turbines vigorously shot down by citizen’s groups.

“Municipal plans tend to focus on attractive development, and there’s less and less opportunity for heavy industrial — it’s not as welcome as it once was,” says Glenn Miller, vice-president of education and research at the Canadian Urban Institute.

He notes that local governments will sometimes “passive aggressively” approve housing complexes on rich sources of rock in order to block any future development of an aggregate facility.

Environmental groups and aggregate companies will often spend thousands of dollars battling one another in Ontario Municipal Board hearings.

But there may be hope yet for peaceful coexistence. On June 1, industry and environmental representatives joined together to form Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate, a Toronto-based group devoted to finding ways to dig up sand and gravel without alienating the surrounding neighbourhood. Says Nicholas Schulz, a spokesman for the group: “They recognized a need to find a new way forward, because really, both sides were quite frustrated at the way things were working.”

National Post

thopper@nationalpost.com

Richmond Hill Real Estate - Real Estate - 

Condo Feature: The Richmond

he Richmond is more than an oasis for your new life; it also offers a convenient Yonge Street location. Just a short walk north and you can experience the small town charm of Richmond Hill's town centre. Heading south is the vibrancy and convenience of Yonge street where you can enjoy major shopping venues including Hillcrest Mall, as well as grocery stores, outstanding entertainment and dining opportunities, and many other local shops and services. 

The rest of the Greater Toronto Area is easily accessible, with VIVA services at your doorstep connecting you to the TTC and GO Transit - and Highways 407, 404, and 7. There are also many excellent leisure activities to be enjoyed only moments away, such as the Lois Hancey Aquatic Centre and the Richmond Hill Golf and Country Club, as well as splendid parklands, nearby schools and places of worship. The Richmond condos address your every lifestyle need by placing you at the centre of it all. 

The Richmond is located at 18 Harding Blvd East in Richmond Hill. Click the following links to learn more about the Richmond | Richmond Hill condos | Richmond Hill Real Estate

Richmond Hill Budget Meeting

2.95 tax hike approved in wee hours of morning

At 12:15 this morning, council approved the town’s operating and capital budget.
A busy agenda of property applications and dog park discussion, pushed budget talks past midnight. After final approval, residents will see a tax rate increase of 2.95 per cent to help pay for a $127.9-million operating budget.
When combined with the Region of York’s 1.94 per cent increase, residents of Richmond Hill will see an increase of 1.72 per cent in their overall tax bill.

The town’s 2011 capital budget was set at $38.5 million.
The budget did not pass unanimously, as Councillors Nick Papa and Godwin Chan voted against the 2.95 per cent increase and wanted an additional $758,600 taken from the town’s tax rate stabilization reserve, to trim the increase down to 1.95 per cent.

A total draw of $1.185 million from the stabilization reserve was approved to reach the 2.95 per cent hike, rather than 3.82, which would have been the tax increase if no reserve money was used.
Reserve funds are expected to be replaced by surplus funds, of which the town had $1.4 million last year.
The 2.9 per cent increase will have an annual impact of $32.14 for a median assessed residential property valued at $430,000.

The budget includes $1.2 million in improved services, which alone contributes a 1.59 per cent increase to the tax rate.
These service changes include the town fully operating and maintaining five arenas and seven ice pads, four new fire fighters for the new Yonge-Gamble fire hall and new programs and services to be offered at the new Oak Ridges Community Centre later this year.

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Renegade Tractor @ Richmond Hill Walmart

Taken from the National Post Blog.

Video footage of a driverless tractor circling a Wal-Mart parking lot in Richmond Hill, bashing into everything in its path, has garnered more than 240,000 views on YouTube in the past week.

The video, posted to YouTube, shows the tractor driving in circles around the parking lot near Bayview Avenue and Highway 7 for at least five minutes while a crowd of onlookers gathered, with no clue how to stop it. York Regional Police were called to the Wal-Mart at 9.30 p.m. last Wednesday, and found that the someone had deliberately put the tractor into motion.

Police do not have any suspects as of yet, but they are viewing security footage from the area, said Sgt. Gary Phillips.

The tractor smashed into three different parked cars, a fire hydrant, a bench, the building itself, and almost flattened a tree. Police show up at about three-and-a-half minutes into the video and helplessly follow the tractor on its dizzying track around the parking lot. The runaway machine finally came to a stop when it crashed into a light post. At that point, a man jumped on board and turned the ignition off.

Sgt. Phillips said the damage caused by the rogue vehicle is expected to “be in the thousands.”

Experience the Renaissance of Richmond Hill - From Tridel

EXPERIENCE THE RENAISSANCE OF RICHMOND HILL

Tridel’s Boutique Condominium Honours the History of Richmond Hill While Offering the Latest in Healthy Living and Energy Savings

Richmond Hill, Ontario... The Town of Richmond Hill is a rapidly growing community in the Greater Toronto Area with roots reaching back as far as the late 1700’s. Tridel, Canada’s leading developer of condominium communities, is both contributing to the area’s future, and honouring its longstanding history with its newest boutique condominium called Renaissance of Richmond Hill condos. Renaissance of Richmond Hill condos will also feature Tridel’s “Naturally Better” program, allowing residents to directly benefit from a healthier living environment and reduced maintenance costs.

Located on Yonge Street, just north of Major Mackenzie Drive, Renaissance has been designed to blend seemlessly with the historic neighbourhood that surrounds it. Featuring an exterior design with traditional styling and materials, the seven-storey, terraced residence respects the heritage streetscape, allowing sunlight to flood the streets and pour over the beautiful old buildings. A European-styled arched entryway on Yonge Street leads residents and guests to a pristine, private courtyard, and onward to the grand entrance.

Inside, the charming two-storey lobby reflects the character of the surrounding area and captures the tastes and desires of the most sophisticated condominium purchaser. Upholstered fabric panels, rich wood trim and light wood paneling with dark borders adorn the walls, while imported Italian porcelain tile with an inset stone border graces the floor. A Château-style staircase sweeps along the lobby’s perimeter, drawing the eye up to the dramatic coffered ceiling with its intricate scalloped mouldings, and grand chandelier.

A Charming and Intimate Community

Renaissance of Richmond Hill condos is an intimate boutique condominium of just over 100 luxurious residences. More than 30 two-bedroom suite designs are available ranging in size from approximately 1,000 to over 2,800 square feet. Most suites feature a den or family room, as well as a balcony or oversized terrace. Priced from $720,000 to over $1 million, meticulous attention to detail has gone into each home, with formal foyers, nine-foot ceilings, well proportioned living and entertaining spaces, and large windows ensuring beautiful views and plenty of natural light.

Designer U- and L-shaped kitchens feature granite counters, quality, stainless steel appliances, extended height upper cabinetry and under-cabinet lighting, along with an adjacent breakfast area. And, no detail has been overlooked, with each suite giving homebuyers graceful sightlines from the kitchen through to the dining room. High quality flooring includes imported, Italian porcelain tile in kitchens and bathrooms, while four-inch plank laminate flooring is found in the principal living areas.

In the powder rooms, bathrooms and ensuite baths, lavish finishes and functional design prevail. Many feature deep oval soaker tubs, separate showers, and room for more cabinetry, as well as a beautiful feature mirror running the length of the vanity and lit by overhead sconces.

Every suite at Renaissance also comes with Tridel's Softwire technology, which allows homeowners to take advantage of tomorrow’s emerging communications, Internet and home entertainment technologies.

Renaissance Club

Warm and welcoming are the words to describe the unrivaled luxury and spaciousness that is the Renaissance Club. Here, residents have access to a fitness, recreation and social centre with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities that include separate men’s and women’s change rooms, complete with steam rooms. French doors open to a stunning party room with bordered parquet floors, and a dramatic barrel vaulted, intricately coffered ceiling. A classically styled bar is finished with dark wood paneling, granite counters and a mirrored wall with glass shelves, which is backlit to add to the ambience. A fully functional caterer’s kitchen is hidden behind the bar, and another set of French doors lead out to a large landscaped terrace. An impressive arched entry leads to the media lounge, which is well appointed with a widescreen plasma television, surround sound and comfortable sofas. In the fireside lounge a granite-faced fireplace is encased by dark wood and flanked by sconces, while six striking mirrors are inset above the mantle.

A Community For Tomorrow

Renaissance of Richmond Hill will not only be a sophisticated, luxury community, but also a community that responds to the realities of today’s environment: harmful greenhouse gases, waste, pollution and consistently increasing energy and operating costs. Tridel will implement its “Naturally Better” program at Renaissance, a program that will give residents a high performance, efficient home, where they will directly benefit from a healthier living environment and reduced maintenance costs.

Renaissance of Richmond Hill will come with numerous environmentally preferred features, including an efficient heat-recovery ventilator system in every suite that will provide cleaner, fresher air in a more cost effective manner, as well as energy saving compact fluorescent lighting, high efficiency ENERGY STAR®; appliances, water saving toilets, faucets and showers, low maintenance plank floors, landscaped rooftop terraces, recycling facilities and increased natural lighting to reduce electricity consumption and increase personal comfort. Residents will benefit from environmentally preferable corridor carpeting, wall coverings, adhesives, coatings and paints with low volatile organic compounds that help to minimize toxic odours, both in their suite and in the buildings common areas.

Renaissance of Richmond Hill has also been designed to outperform Canada’s Model National Energy Code by a significant margin, which will translate directly into cost savings. Each suite will be individually metered so that residents who use less energy in their suites will pay less in utility costs. And, wherever possible, Tridel has selected durable building materials that have the smallest environmental footprint, and are either capable of being reused, salvaged or have a high level of recycled content to minimize waste.

As part of the “Naturally Better” program Tridel has registered Renaissance to pursue LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by The Canada Green Building Council. LEED® defines green buildings by establishing a common standard of measurement, promoting integrated, whole building design practices and raising consumer awareness of green building benefits. It’s the most recognized certification system for green buildings in North America and Renaissance is the first condominium community in Ontario to be officially registered.

A Historic Town with Today’s Amenities

The history of the Town of Richmond Hill is closely linked with the development of Yonge Street, which was planned as a military road by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe in the late 1700’s. The village of Richmond Hill began to take shape in 1801 when Abner Miles, an innkeeper and merchant from York, settled at Yonge Street and Major Mackenzie Drive, where he established an inn and store, which became the nucleus for future development. The town continued to grow and was officially incorporated as a village in 1872, and then as a town in 1957. While the burgeoning town has experienced rapid growth, the old village core and many of the surrounding hamlets have retained their historic identity, preserving Richmond Hill’s unique character.

Today, the Town of Richmond Hill offers its residents every modern amenity. The community is home to over 130 parks and natural areas, with numerous athletic fields, nature trails and playgrounds. In the summertime, residents frequently enjoy concerts at Mill Pond Park, and relaxing at Lake Wilcox. The area is also home to pristine golf courses such as Maple Downs Golf Course, Richmond Hill Golf & Country Club and Angus Glen in the neighbouring Town of Markham. There is no shortage of shopping with outdoor plazas and shopping centres to meet everyone’s tastes, including Hillcrest Mall and Richmond Hill Shopping Centre. And, for those residents wishing to travel further afield, the York Region Transit System provides a direct connection to the TTC and local Go Transit Stations, while highways 404 and 407 are also easily accessible.

Tridel A Builder Known for Quality

Tridel is Canada’s leading developer and builder of condominium residences with more than 70 years of homebuilding experience. To date the Tridel Group of Companies is responsible for producing over 66,500 homes, and continues to lead the industry in innovation, technology and design. Tridel is determined to develop condominium communities that meet the needs of today’s homeowners while safeguarding the wellbeing of future generations. The company is working to meet this goal by focusing on environmentally sustainable building design, performance in construction and corporate stewardship. In recognition of Tridel’s outstanding service to its homeowners, Tridel has also been awarded the coveted Customer Service High-Rise Builder of the Year Award by Tarion Warranty Corporation, and High-Rise Home Builder of the Year by the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association.

For more information on Richmond Hill condos or Condos in Richmond Hill Click here.

Richmond Hill Condos Outline

 Several Richmond Hill Condos are going up in the Yonge St. corridor north of Highway 7 towards  Bloomington Rd.

Richmond Hill is one of the more affluent suburbs of Toronto and is close to major shopping malls, super stores and a wide variety of restaurants. Transportation is great with GO buses and trains servicing downtown Toronto.

Here are some of the Condos under construction in Richmond Hill.

• The Manors of Fontainbleu
• Renaissance of Richmond Hill
• The Richmond 18 Harding
• The Royal at Bayview Glen 185 Oneida Cr
• Silverwoods
• The Vineyards 310 Red Maple 350 Red Maple

The Manors of FontainbleuLocation: Bloomington Rd. Between Yonge St. and Bayview
Builder: Queensgate Homes
Size: 59 Two-storey homes
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: 30 to 90 days
Web: queensgatehomes.com

Renaissance of Richmond Hill Condos:Location: Yonge St. North of Major Mackenzie Dr.
Builder: Tridel
Size: 7 Storey-104 units
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: March 2009
Web: tridel.com

The Richmond:Location: 18 Harding Blvd. East of Yonge St.
Builder: Greenpark Homes
Size: 14 storey-352 units
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: summer 2009
Web: therichmondcondo.com

The Royal at Bayview Glen Condos:Location: East of Yonge St. North of Hwy 7
Builder: Pemberton Group
Size: 12 storey-201 units
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: March 2008
Web: pembertongroup.com

Silverwoods Condos:Location: Yonge St. and Silverwoods Ave.
Builder: Pine Lake Group
Size: 7 and 8 storeys-156 units total
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: Immediate
Web: pinelakegroup.com

The Vineyards:Location: 330 Red Maple, East of Yonge St.
Builder: Empire Communities
Size: 3 phases 14 storey-221 units each 
Price: Please contact the builder directly
Occupancy: fall 2007 to Dec 2008
Web: empirecommunities.com

Here are some current Richmond Hill Condos for sale including Townhomes as well.

If you are interested in Buying or Listing any Richmond Hill Condos and would like to discuss the current market, please fill out this contact form or call direct at 416 505 8023.

For current Richmond Hill Condos click Search Toronto Mls Listings and contact me for further details.