{"id":23927,"date":"2019-06-05T20:04:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T00:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23927"},"modified":"2019-06-13T14:12:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T18:12:05","slug":"stable-neighbourhood-data-doesnt-add-up-say-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/stable-neighbourhood-data-doesnt-add-up-say-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Stable Neighbourhood data doesn\u2019t add up, say residents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Data used by consultants to come up with a series of\nbylaw recommendations designed to protect Aurora\u2019s so-called \u201cstable\nneighbourhoods\u201d just don\u2019t add up, according to area residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council, sitting at the committee level this week, is\nexpected to take a first look at a new set of zoning standards for the Aurora\nHeights, Town Park, Regency Acres and Temperance Street communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new proposed zoning standards include a maximum\nbuilding height of nine metres and a maximum lot coverage of 2,530 square feet\nwith an incorporated garage, and a maximum gross floor area of 370 square\nmetres, or 2,314 square feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed new standards are intendent to address\nconcerns from residents and neighbours alike over the influx of \u201cmonster homes\u201d\ninto long-established communities, or, at the very least, new builds that are\nincompatible with surrounding homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommendations, however, hit a speed bump last week\nwhen Council voted in favour of a motion from Councillor Wendy Gaertner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her motion, Councillor Gaertner said previous reports\ndid not include the data that consultants used to calculate both the GFA and\noverall percentage lot coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a view bolstered at the podium by Sandra\nSangster, representing the Regency Acres, Aurora Heights and Town Park Area\nRatepayers Associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, she and Councillor Gaertner, called on The\nPlanning Partnership, the consultants retained by the Town, to prepare a new\nreport outlining their methodology, ahead of this week\u2019s General Committee\nmeeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They agreed, in short, that the numbers just didn\u2019t add\nup and suggested including data for Temperance Street, an area with far fewer\nhomes than the other three study areas, skewed results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResolution of these issues is vital as Council will soon\nmake its final decision,\u201d said Ms. Sangster. \u201cAurorans have the right to expect\ntransparency in the data used to create the bylaw recommendations for stable\nneighbourhoods. Council and staff have an obligation to ensure that the methods\nused are statistically sound. The mere fact that a consultant did the work\nprovides no such guarantee based on my thirty years as a research officer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Sangster paid particular attention to the issue of the\nGross Floor Area as she said it would have \u201cthe greatest impact on the evolving\nstreetscape and is of the greatest concern to our members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe report did not identify the number of dwellings used\nin calculating the average for each study area, nor did it state how many new\noversized homes were included,\u201d she said, noting consultants used an average\nrather than a median to come to their conclusions, whereas, she argued, the\nmedian would be more applicable. \u201cSome may argue that a median may only make a difference\nof 100 or 200 square feet, but these increments add up, especially when you\nconsider that minor variances can add more square footage beyond what the\nbylaws allow. It would be a simple exercise to calculate the median. We know\nthe data file exists. We think that Council should have that information so\nthat you\u2019re familiar with the impact of that type of measurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe inclusion of Temperance Street has been an unclear\nprocess. However, if it is included then the calculations must weigh the GFA\nfor each study area by the number of dwellings in the area. The consultants\u2019\nfigures show that the GFA is substantially larger for Temperance, whereas the\nnumber of dwellings is dramatically smaller. Weighting based on the number of\ndwellings will ensure that the recommended GFA properly reflects the\ncharacteristics of homes in all four areas. We ask planning staff to provide us\nwith the number of dwellings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the issue of whether or not Council had that\ninformation, or could even pass it on, was the subject of conservable debate\naround the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to her motion, Councillor Gaertner said\nreviewing the data and the inclusion of Temperance Street just made \u201cperfect\nsense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is such a small area and is [being] given equal\nweight to the others,\u201d she said. \u201cI would like to know how many homes were used\nand the largest home calculations because that does make a difference to the\ndata. I think these are all reasonable asks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went on to reject staff claims that providing such\ninformation to staff or consultants for these purposes would require a Freedom\nof Information request because names and specific addresses are not required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff, however, were of a different opinion, insisting\nthat carrying out the job would require \u201csome time\u201d for consultants to prepare\nand a report would not likely be ready by this week\u2019s meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe certainly want to work with our planning department\nto figure out the format they provided the information to the consultant,\u201d said\nTown Clerk Mike de Rond. \u201cIt is not as simple as a spreadsheet, there could be\npersonal information on there and things we need to black out. It could be a\nlot of work, it would involve our legal team analysing legal agreements we have\nwith MPAC to see what we\u2019re allowed to give out and things like that. It\u2019s not\njust a matter of, \u2018Here\u2019s a spreadsheet with redacted data.\u2019 It is a lot of\nhours from staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council did not give up on getting the answers. Through\nsome wordsmithing around the table, they came up with a resolution they could\nagree upon, and called on staff and consultants to get the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not asking the consultant to give us any extra\ninformation,\u201d said Councillor Gaertner. \u201cWe\u2019re just asking them to really tell\nus how the calculations were done and what difference it would make if we had\naverage, mean, and a different weighting for Temperance. I think all of those\nrequests from the residents just make sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor John Gallo: \u201cWe gathered [the\ninformation for the consultants] and gave it to them. I also understand there\nis possibly some information that is private in terms of names associated to\naddresses. The residents, I don\u2019t believe, are asking for that and there\nwouldn\u2019t be any value in that anyway. I am having a tough time understanding\nhow we can\u2019t release the same information we gave the consultants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas, along with Councillor Sandra Humfryes,\nand Rachel Gilliland all agreed, as did Councillor Harold Kim, who said the\nresidents made a \u201cvery good claim\u201d on why methodology needs to be consistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are some people out there in the community that\nwhether you\u2019re for stable neighbourhoods or not, they may have had a\n<\/p>\n\n\n

[preconceived]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

number in mind, but if Council, and if Town Staff are going to, with\nsome kind of methodology, come up with a number, we have to disclose what that\nmethodology is,\u201d he said. \u201cI think at the last meeting that methodology was\nrevealed but there were certainly some gaps that [have been] uncovered.\u201d\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Michael Thompson: \u201cWe all understand the\nintent behind the motion and I think we should encourage staff to do what they\ncan in the time allotted to provide as much detail as possible without getting\ntoo hung up on some of the bigger issues. Then, if the report comes\u2026and it\ndoesn\u2019t drill down far enough, we can address it at the time. Let\u2019s at least\nget something to try and remedy it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, Councillor Gaertner said the\nongoing Stable Neighbourhoods study was \u201cone of the most important things that\nany Council has undertaken\u201d as it has a direct impact on \u201cthousands of people\nin many neighbourhoods\u201d and indeed the Town as a whole.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data used by consultants to come up with a series of bylaw recommendations designed to protect Aurora\u2019s so-called \u201cstable neighbourhoods\u201d just don\u2019t add up, according to area residents.<\/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-23927","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\/p3D2k4-6dV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-14 14:13:32","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\/23927","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=23927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}