Newmarket Growth Study

The Town of Newmarket engaged Mark Sterling and Sweeny Sterling Finlayson &Co to project a 20-year plan that will focus its future growth in the Yonge Street Regional Centre and the provincially-designated Yonge-Davis Urban Growth Centre in response to the Town’s new Official Plan and Ontario’s Places to Grow policies. The Newmarket Growth Study used vision-based planning to demonstrate the transformation of a corridor from an auto-oriented suburban strip to a pedestrian-scaled urban main street.

A new planning philosophy that builds vision before developing the regulatory guidelines was utilized. Vision-based planning is a process that uses rapid visualization techniques combined with a community engagement process that produces a clear vision for the future of a place. It is a place-making approach that emphasizes the look and feel of communities by producing on-the-ground illustrations of future scenarios. Once the vision has been established regulatory tools and policies are developed to ensure the vision deliverable.

Working with the Town a future vision that was sustainable, contemporary, and unique to Newmarket was developed. It is intended to ensure compact, transit supportive, pedestrian-friendly and mixed-use development. Future developments are planned to occur at a pace and scale that respects the existing character of the Town, in-line with servicing and transportation infrastructure capacity to meet the needs of existing and future residents and businesses. Supporting the visualizations detailed urban design guidelines and innovative yet practical implementation tools were developed.