Change coming to pastoral Harris-Beech neighbourhood in Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill Liberal

Theres a sense of peace along the rolling, snowy fields south of Jefferson Sideroad.

Clumps of mature trees are atwitter with early spring songbirds, muffling the sound of traffic on Yonge Street.

But the pastoral scene is misleading. Bitterness brews beneath the bucolic landscape.

Development has chewed at the edges of this quiet enclave and the few remaining residents havent felt peace for a very long time.

We are desperate people feeling like weve been forced out of our homes, Karen Trofimchuk explains, referring to the handful of neighbours who have not sold or moved away. Weve got rabbit and deer here. It will break my heart when they start cutting down the trees.

The story of the Harris-Beech neighbourhood is a stormy and complicated one. Its also a story of Richmond Hill, a microcosm of the towns metamorphosis from sleepy suburb to mushrooming metropolis.

The final chapter may now be drawing to a close with a recent council decision to pass an infill study, but those who were embroiled in it say they wont soon forget - whether they, too, pack up and leave like their neighbours before them, or hang in and watch their community transform.

The community known as Harris-Beech is tucked into secluded tract off Jefferson Sideroad. Large lots line meandering laneways. Homes are still without town water and sewer services, surrounded by busy thoroughfares and subdivisions.

Developers have been eying the area, real estate agents knocking on doors. For the past decade, this has been a community in limbo.

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Change coming to pastoral Harris-Beech neighbourhood in Richmond Hill