{"id":23903,"date":"2019-05-31T13:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T17:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23903"},"modified":"2019-05-31T13:10:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T17:10:13","slug":"business-improvement-area-business-plan-tax-levy-set-for-green-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/business-improvement-area-business-plan-tax-levy-set-for-green-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Improvement Area business plan, tax levy set for green light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

A tax levy on several\nbusinesses and properties in Aurora\u2019s historic Downtown Core to help fund the\nnew Downtown Business Improvement Area is set to get the green light this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Tuesday, while sitting at\nthe Committee level, Council tentatively approved a new business plan and\nassociated tax levy proposed by Anthony Ierullo, Aurora\u2019s Manager of Economic\nDevelopment, for the Aurora Business Improvement Area (BIA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora\u2019s BIA was formally\nestablished last September by a group of property and business owners in\nAurora\u2019s Downtown Core with a goal towards driving people and business back\ntowards the centre of Town through events, improved streetscapes and much more.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIA encompasses a stretch\nof Wellington Street East from Berczy Street in the east to Yonge Street in the\nwest, and from Yonge Street heading south to Church Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the BIA Board\noriginally presented their vision and associated business plan to Council on\nApril 16, and this plan includes a tax that would be levied on all property\nowners living within the boundaries of the BIA, for a total of $40,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the April 16 General\nCommittee meeting, the BIA Board of Management presented their 2019 Business\nPlan and Budget to Council,\u201d said Mr. Ierullo in his report before last\nTuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cThe total amount of the BIA levy is established by the\nBIA\u2019s annual budget process. The levy is typically distributed proportionally\namongst all the commercial properties in the downtown Improvement Area. This\ndistribution is based on the relative assessments of the properties paying the\nBIA levies. The final billing will be issued in June 2019. All eligible\nproperties within the BIA Boundary must pay the BIA levy and cannot opt out of\nthe association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposed 2019 BIA levy is\n
\n$40,000, as per the 2019 Business Plan and Operating Budget submitted by the\nAurora BIA. The proposed Business Plan includes funding for marketing and\npromotion, business attraction and member engagement. In order to allow for the\ncollection of the final non-residential tax billings, it is necessary to pass a\nbylaw to outline the proposed levy. The Special Charge will allow for the\ncollection of the $40,400 BIA levy. This amount will be collected from the\nmember properties within the BIA and will have no direct impact on the general\nproperty tax base rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council\u2019s approval this week\nwill be required to make the tax levy a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the tax levy,\nthe BIA is looking to hit the ground running on making streetscape improvements\nto Yonge and Wellington. As part of Aurora\u2019s 2019 Capital Budget, Council\nconditionally approved $730,000 for area streetscape improvements and the BIA\nis now looking for Council to allow access to this fund for the creation of\nBIA-related promotional banners for the core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe activities proposed in\nthe approved Capital Budget for streetscape improvements include $150,000 to\ndevelop historic downtown promotional banners for area events and seasons,\u201d\nsaid Mr. Ierullo. \u201cStaff will work with the BIA to explore the opportunity to\nutilize a portion of the Capital Budget for the banners and advise Council on\nthe details in a future report.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A BIA, according to organizers \u201cis integral to advancing\na distinct, livable, vibrant and resilient business district in its local\ncommunity\u201d and the historic downtown is the obvious candidate for such a\ndistrict. Downtowns represent \u201csustainable development, making best use of our\nexisting infrastructure and creating compact communities that encourage\nwalking, cycling and transit use\u201d while having \u201chistoric connections to the\norigins of the community.\u201d
\nThey define their mission statement as \u201ca volunteer-run organization committed\nto improving and promoting the Aurora Historical Business District through\ninvestment and advocacy to build and maintain its position as Aurora\u2019s premier\nshopping, business and entertainment destination.\u201d
\nTheir goals are to use membership fees and sponsorship opportunities to \u201crevitalize\nand beautify the Aurora historical centre and make it a destination for local\nresidents to work, shop and play\u201d and \u201cprovide opportunities for area\nbusinesses to thrive through community events and focused advertising.\u201d
\nTheir plan includes a three-year outlook to revitalize and beautify the\ndowntown core through street benches, lamp post banners, historic metal\nbuilding and lawn signs, piped in street music, building murals and a historic\nmetal archway, all to be sourced locally wherever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community events proposed within their plan include an\non-street kickoff to upcoming seasons of the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market, an\nexpanded Aurora Chamber Street Festival and Canada Day program in the summer,\nkeeping stores open during each occasion and providing incentives for people to\npatronize the local stores while they\u2019re there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also being floated is a \u201cTaste of Aurora\u201d on an August\nSaturday that will see a street closure with food being served by local\nrestaurants and vendors all to the sounds of live music. <\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tax levy on several businesses and properties in Aurora\u2019s historic Downtown Core to help fund the new Downtown Business Improvement Area is set to get the green light this week.<\/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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23903","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\/p3D2k4-6dx","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 13:47:23","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\/23903","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=23903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}