{"id":23333,"date":"2019-03-21T18:35:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T22:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23333"},"modified":"2019-03-21T18:35:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T22:35:47","slug":"councillor-offers-the-facts-and-nothing-but-the-facts-on-stable-neighbourhoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/councillor-offers-the-facts-and-nothing-but-the-facts-on-stable-neighbourhoods\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillor offers \u201cthe facts and nothing but the facts\u201d on stable neighbourhoods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 27 at 7 p.m., the\nseventh meeting on protecting mature residential areas will be held. Residents\nhave been fighting long and hard, enduring frustration, disappointment and\nquality of life changes to their neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact: The policies in our\ncurrent Official Plan are already protective. The new very large homes are not\nallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact: Aurora is required, under\nthe planning act, to change zoning bylaws for stable neighbourhoods to conform\nto our Official Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact: Although individual\nproperty values has become a political issue that has distracted some, the\nreality is that creating good planning policy, that is best for the community\nas a whole, will continuously enhance property values and our status as a\ndesirable place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official Plans direct how a\ncommunity must grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Provincial Planning Act,\n1997, states that Municipal Councils are under the obligation to update their\nOfficial Plans every 5 years. This is to ensure compliance and consistency with\nProvincial Plans and Policies. Aurora\u2019s updated OP was approved by the\nProvince, Region and passed by Aurora in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe process to review and\nupdate this Plan was comprehensive.\u201d The resulting Plan is of great importance\nbecause it evaluates and determines the growth that will be best for Aurora. It\nestablishes rules and tools for Staff and Council to evaluate if developers\u2019\nproposals are in the best interest of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora\u2019s Official Plan: One of\nthe Fundamental Principles is Protecting Stable Neighbourhoods.
\n\u201cAurora\u2019s existing neighbourhoods…are not only a defining element of\nAurora\u2019s character and urban structure, but also a tremendous asset and\nattractor for new residents and investment interests. The Plan seeks to ensure\nthat the stability and vibrancy of these existing neighbourhoods is protected\nfrom the negative impacts of potential incompatible development and growth\npressures. Any infill that occurs must be compatible with the established\ncommunity character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 8 \u2013 Protecting Stable\nNeighbourhoods: The Intent is to have these residential areas \u201cprotected from\nincompatible forms of development and, at the same time permit them to evolve\nand be enhanced over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll new development shall be\ncompatible with its surrounding context.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Development Policy\nsays: \u201cNew development and site alteration abutting existing residential\ndevelopment shall be sympathetic to the form and character of the existing\ndevelopment and shall be compatible with regard to the building scale and urban\ndesign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Policies direct that \u201call\nnew development shall respect and reinforce the existing physical character and\nuses of the surrounding area, with particular attention to\u2026height and scale of\nnearby residential properties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was said by some that the\nmeaning of \u201ccompatible\u201d was not clear enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compatible, as defined in our OP\n\u201cRefers to that development that may not necessarily be the same or similar to\nthe existing buildings in the vicinity, but, nonetheless enhances an<\/p>\n\n\n\n

established community…without\ncausing any undue adverse impact on surrounding properties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meaning seems pretty clear\nto me. The intent is certainly clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents have been required to\nwork and fight for something that should have just happened. According to The\nPlanning Act and Aurora\u2019s OP, I understand their discouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sincere apology. I hope that\nthe results of the Planning Meeting on March 27 will finally put things right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner<\/strong>
Aurora<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 27 at 7 p.m., the seventh meeting on protecting mature residential areas will be held. Residents have been fighting long and hard, enduring frustration, disappointment and quality of life changes to their neighbourhoods. Fact: The policies in our current Official Plan are already protective. The new very large homes are not allowed. Fact: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-64l","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 06:16:32","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\/23333","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=23333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}