About Markham's Cornell

New Traffic Lights at Markham Stouffville Hospital

In early October 2010, new traffic lights were installed at the intersection of Church Street and Country Glen Road in the Cornell neighbourhood of Markham, Ontario.

These traffic lights are located on the primary route used by ambulances to access the emergency department of Markham Stouffville Hospital. Make sure that you do not block the intersection so that ambulances can get to the emergency department quickly.

The traffic lights will also help to control traffic in this rapidly growing part of Cornell including the Markham Stouffville Hospital expansion, the new community centre currently under construction and so much more.

New Traffic Lights at Markham Stouffville Hospital

Cornell Centre Boulevard - Temporary Road Closure - Markham, Ontario

The Town of Markham is temporarily closing Cornell Centre Boulevard to through traffic from 16th Avenue to Highway 7 from 12 am (midnight) on MOnday, August 16, 2010 to 12 am (midnight) on Wednesday, September 1, 2010.

The reason for the road closure is to install sewers and watermains across Cornell Centre Boulevard south of Riverlands Avenue in order to facilitate ongoing construction and expansion of the Cornell community and surrounding area.

If you have any questions regarding the construction, direct them to the Town of Markham at (905) 477-7000.

Below is a summary of Cornell Projects for 2010 and beyond, as per Steve H. - www.cornellvillage.ca

Transportation

Donald Cousens Parkway - Work is expected to begin next year on the portion south of the 407 that will connect to 9th line north of Steeles. Completion is expected in 2011.

Bus Terminal - This terminal is planned for the south side of Hwy 7 near Donald Cousens Parkway. The project is expected to start in 2011 with completion in 2013.

16th Ave & Reesor Rd - New intersection to remove jog in road as well as new 2 lane bridge just East of Reesor Rd. Existing single lane wooden bridge will be kept for pedestrian traffic. Project is expected to start in 2011.

Public Projects

Community Centre and Library - The Community Centre will be located on Bur Oak Ave (south of Church street). It will connect with the Hospital and will contain a swimming pool with slide and splash pad, triple gym, library, rehearsal room, fitness centre, youth and seniors room. RFP is expected to go out in spring of 2010 with construction to start in the summer of 2010. Community Centre is expected to take 2 years to build (2012 completion).

Hospital Expansion - The 1st phase of clearing land, installing sewage and building parking lots started this fall with completion expected by summer of 2010. Once final approval is given from the Provincial Government, the hospital expansion is expected to start in the fall of 2010 with final completion expected by 2014.

Cornell Rouge Public School - Current plans are for this school to open in 2013. This date could get pushed up due to the full time Kindergarden program getting implemented.

Fire Hall - Construction of the Fire Hall on Bur Oak, just south of the Community Centre, is expected to start the summer of 2010 with completion by the end of 2011.

Private Projects (High Density)

Medical Building - This 4 storey building is currently being built on south side of Church street. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

Macwood and Springhill Condos - 6-12 storey condos (1200 units) are planned for the North-West corner of Hwy 7 and Cornell Centre Blvd. Final approval for the plans is expected by spring 2010 with sales projected by the end of 2010. They currently have sewage allocation for 200+ units.

Lindvest Condo and Retail - The first phase of 1,300 condo units, 50 live/work and commercial/retail/office buildings on the South side of Hwy 7 were approved 2 years ago. They have sewage allocation for a 150 unit condo building and the live/work buildings. There is no estimated start date for this first phase.

Cornell Gates - They are still working on the plans for this project. They are trying to encompass all of the land holders on the north side of Hwy 7 between 9th line and Bur Oak which will likely contain many high density buildings. They will need to update the Cornell Secondary plan first before they can bring specific projects forward. This is a few years away yet.

Woodhaven Retirement Residence - Plans have been approved for this 5 storey building situated between the existing Woodhaven building and Bur Oak Ave. There is no estimated start date although they will likely have it done for when the Community Centre opens. «

The Hospital Site plan was approved last week. Looks like the hospital expansion plans are moving quicker then expected and will be under construction at the same time as the community centre.

http://www.markham.ca/markham/ccbs/indexfile/Agendas/2009/Development%20 Services/pl090505/Markham%20Stouffville%20Hospital%20Site%20Plan%20Endorsement.htm

The proposed expansion includes a four storey, 34,490 m² (371,247 ft²) addition to the southwest of the existing hospital building; renovations to the existing hospital building, which will provide a physical link to the proposed East Markham Community Centre & Library (EMCC&L); proposed future locations for additional medical office buildings fronting Church Street (which will be subject to a separate site plan application); and a proposed location for a district energy building near the proposed EMCC&L. The proposed site plan also includes 920 additional surface parking spaces.

The proposed expansion is expected to be phased over the next six years as follows:

Phase 1 - Enabling works including site preparation, development of a construction staging area on the existing parking lot, construction of the parking lots north of Church Street, construction of municipal services external to the Hospital site, and construction of the new access from 9th Line (Spring 2009 – Fall 2009)
Phase 2 – Construction of the new building, expansion of the parking lots and main entrance (Fall 2009 – Spring 2013)
Phase 3 – Renovations to the existing hospital building (Spring 2013 – Fall 2014)
Phase 4 and 5 – Construction of the additional parking lots in the southern portion of the site (Summer 2014 and Summer 2015)



Site Drawing

http://www.markham.ca/markham/ccbs/indexfile/Agendas/2009/Development%20 Services/pl090505/site%20hospital.PDF

“If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you are right” - I heard these words from Christine Rae, the founder and president of Certified Staging Professionals CSP, entrepreneur, mother, business woman, wife...and a lot of abbreviations that I have no idea what they mean... how much wisdom and motivation in just few ordinary words.

As the last week full of events fast approached, I was oscillating between excitement, fear and doubt that I will be able to survive until this Sunday. But as every day in the life of a stager is full of challenges of every kind, looking back I can say that it wasn’t even that hard.

Hit the nail in the head!

Everything started on Wednesday, April 22 when a group of CSP stagers participated in a Charity Build for the Habitat for Humanity. As my company, Staged 2 Sell Solutions donates a portion of each staging project to the Habitat, I considered that participating in the build will do more to the cause than just handing my cheques.

I never wore a hard hat or safety boots before. I am not that kind of girl. And actually never built a home...errr....a wall even, so when I arrived at the site and got the safety talk, I was still doubting my inner building skills. It was then when I realized that some protective gloves and a warmer jacket would’ve come handy. Don’t get me started with the weather forecast network:) So here I am frozen to death and we haven’t even started the build. We got the safety talk, quality talk and fun talk, but when you are freezing, you can't actually think that fun, safety and quality work can go hand in hand. Never mind. A cute and obscenely young guy named Rob was “allocated” to us as the crew leader and things kind of got a little warmer:) The gloves from Michelle Finnamore helped too. Thanks Michelle!

When I decided to do the build, I was convinced that nobody in their right mind will ask the inexperienced volunteers to actually build, but use them for painting, cleaning or hm...even decorating these new houses, right? WRONG! Our house had only partial walls on the first floor and our group built the entrance wall. Yes, I know, you will think is not much, this is what I thought too, but actually was a LOT. We barely finished by the end of the day, as a matter of fact. Do you know how much math, measuring, cutting and nails are required to just make the proper “hole” for the door or window? Maybe not so many nails if you hammered them right:) Guilty as charged...but they were stubborn long nails, not the monkey tails I use in my staging projects:)

Anyway, the day started right, we were asked to find a stud and Michelle pointed at Rob, our cute civil engineer. His face was red, but hey, he will have to learn the construction talk, right? I met Michelle few times and I read her blogs, but being the hermit type, it takes some time to open up. This is when I knew she’s game.

And the built went on. And the rain came on. And I was still on the site hammering those nasty nails. I could barely feel my fingers and my right arm, and it wasn’t even 10 am. Then a nature call brought me in a little piece of heaven: a clean, fancy port-a-potty that had not only a running water sink, but it was HEATED. Now that I found my oasis, I have to admit my guilt of taking few unnecessary trips there just to warm up:) The rain stopped, and then it came again. The temperature hiked from 8 to 10 degrees. Still on the site hammering the nails. By mid day I found my “niche” and was crowned the “Queen of Nails”. It was Rob who showed me the right technique when using the hammer, he took me out of my comfort zone and thaught me how to use various electrical cutting tools. I was always terrified of these machines. I get the "bag of ice with bloody fingers" image every time I see someone using them. Plus I have a husband, why bother? But I risked my cute manicured fingers that day and I did it just to prove myself that I can do it. It wasn’t that bad after all. Was scary, very scary, though. Then went back to may hammer and nails. By the end of the day I was so experienced working with my hammer that I barely had a miss. I could sense the envy in my group, oh well... they had to suck it up. It is so good to be a Queen!

By the end of the day, a new, extremely good looking wall, actually the best wall ever being built, was sitting straight up in front of us. Was I proud? You bet I was! Will I do it again? You bet I will!

There are news that the Habitat for Humanity will open one of their stores in my Cornell Village. I am already involved with their cause, can’t wait to be able to do more. I wake up every morning being thankful for having such a wonderful life: a great family, a roof over my head, food on my table and the most fantastic job of selling dreams. Habitat for Humanity make dreams possible. They had me at “Hello”...

I don’t have the pictures with our group and our wall, I will post them as soon as I get them. Some from my group are Active Rainers.