HawthorneVillager.com

Thanks for the info Colin.

I am hoping the grocery store would be some what of a middle-of the road one and not being an eye-sore. Longos would be perfect for the location.

Second thought: We should get a HighLand Farms grocery store!

I do not like the idea of having 1 single store & 1 bank at the plaza as there is not enough diversity.

Lastly, traffic is already bad enough at Scott & Derry. What is the plan to deal with any additional traffic to the area? Currently there are street parking on Scott Blvd and will street parking be taken away?


PS. I live right across from the plaza on the south east side of Scott. Street parking on Scott once in a while is nice for friends & family that are visiting.

The new grocery store will likely result in increased car traffic in HVE, as not only people living on the west side of town will be shopping here. I really can't see this working - look at the traffic at Scott/Derry now, and imagine what will happen when the new store opens. Derry widening/rail underpass construction seems to be a neverending story, and the new retail areas that are popping up are making HVE less accesible for its residents. I feel like I'm living in a satellite part of Milton - getting out or into HVE is becoming harder and harder.
Again, well done Milton planning department. Instead of developing infrastructure in this part of town, let's bring in even more traffic.

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I wonder how many folks live around Scott & Derry are aware of the town changing the plaza layout and putting in a grocery store.

We all agree on the fact that traffic will be horrendous if a grocery is put in at the corner.

As resident directly across Scott Blvd I am strongly against a 30,000sq/ft grocery store no matter how convenient it is. Added traffic will offset any benefit of having a grocery store near by. I wouldn't mind an express store though as it will tend not to drive up the traffic as much.

The only positive note is that there will be a grocery store on the west side of the tracks.

There seem to be more negative comments than positive ones. I'll have to start knocking doors around the neighbourhood and see if folks are aware of the issue.

I will have to say that traffic can be improved by widening the roads. Lets not stop a necessity from coming to our area. I would certainly like No Frills!!

This would be the case of a small grocery store (Rabba or similar), but not the case of No Frills where people tend to shop once or twice week and stock up. Even if someone would live 500 ft from the store, they probably won't walk with 15 bags full of groceries. Also, No Frills is a discount retailer, and there is no doubt that this store would attract shoppers from around the town.

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My guess it has to be a sobeys express or rabba (which is good enough for the area and would sound about right) anything else I will go out of my way and avoid the store.

If Sobeys was kicked out of there, maybe they're planning a Lite version for Scott/Derry, makes sense to me.

Widening? Derry will be 4 lanes and you propose Scott to become 4 lanes?

How do you suppose the traffic will be improved with an addition of a major grocery store other than a Sobey's express or Rabba?

No Frills make sense if the plaza is bigger. There will be less than adaquet parking space left after a 30,000sq/ft grocery store and a 5,000sq/ft bank in the plaza.

How often are you going to walk home from a grocery store with 5-7 bags of groceries in hand? If people want to buy milk they can easily walk over to Rexall or Shoppers and pick up a bag.

I'll take a stab at both of these.

My mother in law doesn't drive. But if she lived with us, she would likely walk to the grocery to get a few things. She would enjoy that there are a few things in walkable proximity. Agreed the weekly pickup at the No Frills (if that ends up being what is built) would need a car.

As for building a grocery at Derry & Bronte -- I remember this, and if my memory served it was for building this before West of Bronte had been developed -- I'm thinking (and I think its reasonable) at the time, having a 3rd grocery store in such close proximity to Foodport (which I love) and food basics would hurt these stores (especially Foodport).

Now that there is a built up area west of bronte, there is a serious need for a grocery store in this area. Am I glad I don't back on to this, sure -- but I made sure when i purchased there was no way commercial would go anywhere near my house. Heck, I paid some stupid mattamy upcharge for a 'quiet street'

One thing I will say for the people complaining is that a no frills would increase traffic over putting a rabba/loblaws/metro. My reasoning is simple; it would be the only one in our town, and everyone that wants to go to no frills would come into our area. If we got a metro, they would most likely just go to the one on thompson were that one closer.


No matter how you slice it, traffic is going to increase dramatically with a grocery store going in. But from what Zeeshan hamid is saying…The town of Milton (not Zeeshan) is not interested in putting a grocery store at a larger intersection such as Bronte and Derry. But they are ok with one going in at the corner of Scott and Derry. Zeeshan, please correct me if I have interpreted it incorrectly.[/quote]

Looking at existing stores in Toronto....
Choices for a 30,000 sq/ft grocery store:
1. No Frills (75m-80m by 50m)
2. Metro (65-70m by 50m)
3. Sobey's (75m by 50m)
4. Longo's (~75 by ~50)
etc.

Keep in mind that most, if not all of the plazas that have these grocery stores have at least 3700sq/m (30,000sq/ft) of parking and more. Some of them have double the parking space available on top of the grocery store itself.

Exception: some Longo's locations have just less than 30,000sq/ft of parking space.

I hope they splurge and get the carts that lock when you try to take them offsite so we dont have carts scattered around the neighborhood. As far as walking to and from the grocery store, it really depends on your shopping habits. If youre a buy fresh and frequent kinda person then its really not that big of a deal to walk home with 2-3 bags , Obviously you might need your car for the jumbo paper towel sale, but its certainly feasible especially if you have a spouse or someone else with you.

Colin,

Is there any room for public input on this development?

Thanks.

I can help ya with this (from a quick PM a few days ago with Colin).
"I spoke with Bill Mann the Town Planning Director who said the planner in charge of the site plan for the Mattamy Commercial land at the south-west corner of Derry and Scott is Christian Lupis who can be contacted at 905-878-2305 or his email at christian.lupis@milton.ca.

The Town will be doing a circulation of the site plan for comments to residents within 120 metres of the proposal and planning staff will review the comments and make recommendation for the site plan including off site impacts."



This is from Christian:Hi Peter,

The southwest corner of Derry Road and Scott Boulevard is permitted a retail/commercial plaza of up to 3700 sq m. (approx. 40,000 sq. ft). While the original site plan submitted for the site included multi-tenant commercial units, the owner has since changed direction and is now proposing a 30,000 sq. ft food store and a bank on the property. With respect to land use, retail/commercial uses including a food store are permitted as of right and the time to raise any concerns with respect to use of the property have since passed as the site-specific By-law was passed in June 2008. While the site plan process is not normally a public process, you are more than welcome to view the site plan once it is submitted and note any concerns to our Site Planner, Aaron Raymond (aaron.raymond@milton.ca) who will carefully consider any comments brought forth. As a site planner, Aaron will ensure that all of the issues with respect to urban and site design including architectural requirements are met.

With respect to your concerns regarding traffic, the proponent will be required to provide an updated traffic impact study by a qualified traffic engineer who will assess the traffic impacts of the proposed development, if any, on the adjacent road system. A review with respect to site access, circulation, parking and loading, and level of service (LOS) operation for signalized and un-signalized intersections directly affected by the proposal should be looked at through the study including any road works improvements that may be deemed required. Through the site plan process, Town's Engineering Dept. will review and evaluate the traffic impact study to ensure it is completed to the Town's satisfaction.

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.





Anyway.... ------------------------
You bet I will be voicing my concerns and I will try and talk to a few neighbours about the plan as well. Don't be surprised if you see a banner put up on the Scott/Derry corner telling the town to put the plaza back where it was planned before.

Thank you, this is what I have been trying to say since the news broke out about a grocery store being in the plans. If it happens I will be putting in a meter and collect parking fees



Agreed 110%



Other Mattamy plazas do not seem to generate additional traffic to the area. Adding a major grocery store will. Lets keep the plaza a plaza not a grocery location.



Apparently I am the only one that is against a grocery store due to the proximity to my house and it does seem that I am against it. Yes I am against a grocery store AS it will generate more traffic to the area. I would love the convenience to walk across the street and pick up groceries and toss the fridge out. However, the convenience is at the expense of two times or more traffic as what we have right now.


From my own estimate: there will not be enough parking space available in the plaza to accomodate the shoppers. I predict that parking will over-flow onto Scott and directly impact traffic even more.



Zeeshan: Thank you for your opinion in this matter. It is nice to know someone else that don't live in the immediate area cares about the increased traffic issue and parking issues with a grocery store put the corner.

120m...that's a joke.

thanks for the post.