Employment Lands are areas of land designated in an official plan for clusters of business and economic uses. Types of uses include: manufacturing, warehouse, office and retail.

Provincial planning policy mandates municipalities to provide and protect sufficient land to accommodate competitive opportunities for employment growth, while promoting intensification and mixed-use development, all within the context of sustainable, complete communities and long term economic prosperity. Municipal decisions and Official Plans must conform with the new policy direction of these documents.

In mid 2008, the Town retained urbanMetrics and Meridian Planning Consultants Inc. to undertake an Employment Lands Strategy Study for the Town.

The purpose of this study is to:

• provide guidance to Town decisions regarding land requirements to achieve employment forecasts to 2031 (Phase 1)
  
  
• update Official Plan policies for employment lands (Phase 2).
  

In November 2008, the Town hosted a stakeholder consultation and invited executives from development and business communities including major land owners and developers, realtors, and multinational corporations headquartered in Markham with a strong interest in shaping the future development of Markham’s employment lands.

In September 2009, Council approved a Terms of Reference for an Employment Area Intensification Study to determine:

• How many forecasted ELE jobs can be accommodated within the current settlement area before 2031 on developed sites, as opposed to available vacant lands within the current settlement area or potential future lands outside the current settlement area.

Bidding is now complete and it is anticipated that consultant selection will be completed by early 2010. 

Elisabeth Silva Stewart
Senior Policy Planner
esilva-stewart@markham.ca
905-477-7000 ext.3115

Reports/Presentations
Additional information is available from the following staff reports and presentations: 2009
Sept. 22	Employment Area Intensification Study - Terms of Reference Report, Appendix
Jun 16	Employment Land Strategy Report
May	Employment Lands Strategy (Phase 1) Consultants Report  (1.45MB/124p)
Mar 31	Employment Lands Strategy (Phase 1) Conclusions Consultants Presentation  (1.5MB/24p)-
2008
Nov 12	Stakeholder Consultation Providing the Right Real Estate for Markham Business Presentation by Peter Thoma, urbanMetrics Inc. (1.3MB/25p) Markham 2020 - Maintaining Markham's Competitive Advantage Presentation by Stephen Chait, Town of Markham Economic Development  (151k/16p) Providing for the "Right" Types of Employment in the "Right Places Presentation by Nick McDonald, Meridian Planning  (243k/23p) Improving Transportation Options for Markham's Employment Areas Presention by Joshua Engel-Yan, IBI Consulting  (1.4MB/27p)
2007
Jun 12	Employment Lands Strategy 1998-2007 Presentation  (576k/19p)
Documents above are PDF  version formatted for print. You will need the latest version of the Free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the PDF files in this section. Get Adobe Acrobat Reader!