Under the Places to Grow Act, the province has designated Newmarket to grow exponentially from now until 2031. For many long term residents, it is hard to imagine the town we grew up in changing so quickly. What will Newmarket look like in fifteen years?
We know that the trend will be towards concrete and steel high rise towers reaching as high as 15-storeys or more. Our town has run out of develop-able land upon which single families homes can be built.
Looking at recent construction projects undertaken by the Town of Newmarket, I wonder if these new towers will be aesthetically pleasing. After all, nobody is going to look at the Magna Centre or Belinda's Place and think those are nice looking looking buildings. With each passing day as it nears the completion of construction, Belinda's Place is turning out to be a real architectural eyesore.
Even the Courthouse on Yonge and Davis, while not actually constructed by the Town but would have had building plans approved by the Town, is as ugly as any building can be with a glorified port-a-pak type expansion. Every time I drive past I ask myself, "They cut down 100 year old trees for this?"
And lastly, the Old Town Hall, which was a nice looking building before its most recent renovations, will look to become a gaudy hybrid with an uninspired glass atrium that has only served to jack up the cost of construction substantially.
With such an unimpressive track record, I believe that Newmarket should be looking into bringing in a planner who understands what it means to build an aesthetically pleasing community. If we don't take appearances into consideration soon, we'll under up with a Town that will be reminiscent of some Soviet era eastern bloc nation.
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