{"id":20949,"date":"2018-06-24T00:31:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T04:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20949"},"modified":"2018-06-28T09:57:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T13:57:09","slug":"property-owner-could-appeal-designation-of-auroras-historic-business-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/property-owner-could-appeal-designation-of-auroras-historic-business-core\/","title":{"rendered":"Property owner could appeal designation of Aurora\u2019s historic business core"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the last few years, Benny Soscia has been buying up buildings in what is seen by many to be Aurora\u2019s historic downtown business core \u2013 but now that Council has begun the process of designating six of his buildings under the Ontario Heritage Act, he could move to appeal the decision.
\nThat was the message brought to Council last week on Mr. Soscia\u2019s behalf by Claudio Balbinot of Agora Research Group.
\nResponding to Council\u2019s move to designate a total of 15 historic storefronts on Yonge Street from Wellington Street in the north to Mosley Street in the south, Mr. Balbinot said area property owners had not been adequately consulted on the matter.
\n\u201cThis Council is aware that Mr. Soscia was at no point consulted on the evaluation process, nor was he notified at the meetings to consider the evaluations,\u201d said Mr. Balbinot of the process started by HAC, Aurora\u2019s Heritage Advisory Committee. \u201cBased upon our experience in other markets, a newsletter is typically sent out to the community explaining the project background, work underway and next steps in the process. The newsletter typically contains an invitation to residents and owners to attend a public information open house. No such communication or consultation was initiated by HAC.
\n\u201cFurthermore, the local BIA was not contacted or requested to participate in the process. In our opinion, the lack of inclusion and transparency is troublesome since 15 of the 30 commercial property along the Yonge Street core are recommended to be designated. The HAC recommendations, if approved by Council, will impact business investment, livelihoods and jobs. It is our opinion that instead of working within the active owners\u2026 and searching for a solution that will benefit all parties, the HAC recommendations will work counter productive to the promenade urban strategy and the general wellbeing of the historic core.\u201d
\nIt was unclear, he added, who completed the evaluations of the buildings, nor is it clear what qualifications they have to do so, he claimed. A \u201cqualified heritage professional\u201d is typically hired to do detailed research into each property, someone with specialized knowledge with formal training and work experience. HAC\u2019s recommendations, he claimed, did not afford Mr. Soscia the opportunity to hire a heritage professional of his own to look into the merits \u2013 of which the consultant said he believed there were none.
\n\u201cIn addition, the official plan includes policies that support the preservation of heritage buildings and their integration into new development. Furthermore, urban design guidelines are in place to ensure all new developments or redevelopment are compatible with the character of the downtown core,\u201d he continued. \u201cSince purchasing the properties, Mr. Soscia has made significant contributions to removing undesirable uses and replacing spaces with reputable tenants that have contributed to increased traffic and an improved streetscape. Mr. Soscia acknowledges that the Town\u2019s expectation is that any new development proposals will require the owner to demonstrate how heritage buildings will be preserved and incorporated into the development plans. Mr. Soscia has also expressed his desire to work with the Town to ensure that any development will support the downtown revitalization plan while respecting the heritage character of the building.\u201d
\nBut Council members had a different view.
\nCouncillor Jeff Thom, who chairs HAC, said Mr. Balbinot\u2019s claims that the process was anything less than transparent \u201cremarkable\u201d and the process had been followed to the letter. He also said he took issue with Mr. Balbinot \u201cimpugning\u201d the motives of HAC members.
\nThe Councillor noted that Council\u2019s decision last week triggers a further process that would include published notices of Council\u2019s intent to designate the buildings which, in turn, triggers a 30 day window for property owners to get a heritage assessment of their own and appeal the decision.
\n\u201cCouncil has given them the authority to make recommendations regarding heritage matters,\u201d said Councillor Thom. \u201cThis is the process. You might disagree with it, but I don\u2019t think you can come up here and say it hasn\u2019t been transparent when we have followed the process to the T. I vehemently disagree with your comments as well and I think that the members of HAC don\u2019t agree with them either.\u201d
\nThis was a view shared by Councillor Paul Pirri as well, who added he \u201clooked forward\u201d to seeing what comments Mr. Soscia\u2019s professionals have when the process continues.
\n\u201cRegardless of the outcome of what your planners come forward with, I have no reason to doubt that any building that takes place or redevelopment that takes place, as you have mentioned, will be respectful of the heritage elements of those buildings. But this is a process we\u2019re undertaking and I believe we have done it following all the provincial guidelines and mandates.\u201d
\nAdded Councillor Sandra Humfryes: \u201cI think when we dig a little deeper you will see how high those ratings are. To deem them not worthy, it is really scary. Our downtown core is Aurora, it is the heart of our Town. That\u2019s not to say it can\u2019t be developed, but the fa\u00e7ade, those buildings, those intricate pieces\u2026whatever we have there is very crucial. It is the heart of our Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last few years, Benny Soscia has been buying up buildings in what is seen by many to be Aurora\u2019s historic downtown business core \u2013 but now that Council has begun the process of designating six of his buildings under the Ontario Heritage Act, he could move to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5rT","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-05 18:06:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}