{"id":24237,"date":"2019-07-11T19:04:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T23:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24237"},"modified":"2019-07-11T19:04:59","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T23:04:59","slug":"rental-apartments-proposed-for-john-west-way-and-wellington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rental-apartments-proposed-for-john-west-way-and-wellington\/","title":{"rendered":"Rental apartments proposed for John West Way and Wellington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

A rental apartment building of\nmore than 130 units has been proposed for the northeast corner of John West Way\nand Wellington Street East, but the plans have left some neighbours seeing red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans for the six-storey\napartment building were presented at a recent Public Planning meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, proponents behind the\nproject were seeking amendments to area zoning which are presently designated\nas commercial lands. A zoning bylaw amendment would pave they way for a\nresidential build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The land in question has been\nthe subject of considerable speculation. Originally zoned for commercial use in\nthe 1990s, several plaza proposals for the site have come and gone, some\nrejected by Council as they did not fit in with the vision of the Aurora\nPromenade Plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a different vision\naltogether for the corner and one planners say could act as a \u201cgateway\u201d to\nDowntown Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If completed to the vision of\nplanners, the building would consist of 134 units spread over six storeys with\n175 surface and underground parking spots. Town bylaws currently only permit\nfive-storey builds in this area, but developers are hoping to get an extra\nfloor approved through the bonusing process, where the Town would make certain\nallowances in exchange for parts of the project benefiting the whole community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, that community\nbenefit would be nearby trail enhancements, according to planners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the beginning of the\nprocess,\u201d said Katherine Bibby, Planner for the Town of Aurora. \u201cWe\u2019re looking\nat the one-storey bonusing provision and we\u2019re reviewing the potential for\ncommunity benefits. Currently, there are trail enhancements proposed to provide\nthat community benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic comments [on the\nproposals] have been received since the notice was placed in the papers. The\ncomments are primarily related to environmental matters due to the floodplain,\ntrees, wildlife, and the Aurora Community Arboretum, which is in proximity to\nthe site. There are concerns about traffic on John West Way. There have been\nenquiries on whether affordable units will be available for seniors, or whether\nit will be rental or condominium.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, these topics were very\nmuch the subjects of conversation by the time the proposal hit the Council\ntable at June\u2019s Public Planning meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some residents said they\nwelcomed more rental housing opportunities coming to Aurora, particularly for\ndownsizing seniors, others were concerned about traffic in and out of the\nbuilding having a negative impact on what is already a very busy vehicle\ncorridor currently the subject of a traffic calming study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe entrance to this proposed\nbuilding is opposite the Tim Hortons entranceway,\u201d said John West Way resident\nKeith Ingle. \u201cThis is one of the busiest intersections in Town and this\nproposal would mean a severe increase to the traffic in the area, and it is\nalready dangerous going in and out of there. I think if this does get passed,\nthe entranceway has to be somewhere else other than where it is. That is too\nheavy a traffic burden on the area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These worries were shared by\nMark Wyatt, a resident of Amberhill Way, a street immediately east of Town\nHall, which is being reviewed for a future three-way stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe traffic is pretty crazy\ntrying to get off Amberhil onto John West Way,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery once in a\nwhile, we do hear some horrendous accidents [at the corner of] John West Way\nand Wellington.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Amberhill resident\ndescribed the proposal as \u201ctrying to fit an elephant into a bathtub.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents\u2019 concerns were noted\nby Council members and Town Staff at the meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to some of the\nquestions, Town Planner David Waters addressed the issue of the proposed\nbuilding\u2019s driveway facing the entrance to the plaza across the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best place to locate that\nintersection is opposite another intersection,\u201d said Mr. Waters. \u201cIn terms of\nthe traffic on Amberhil, Council has directed us to review the traffic flow at\nthe moment and determine the best way to control it, whether it is through stop\nsigns or through a crosswalk or a light. We\u2019re going to have a look at that and\nreport back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the side of lawmakers,\nCouncillors Sandra Humfryes and Wendy Gaertner said they shared residents\u2019\ntraffic concerns, but Council voted to accept the application in order for it\nto move to a future General Committee meeting for a more formal Council debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While concerned residents will\nhave to wait for a date to be set, Mayor Tom Mrakas made his feelings clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to move it forward\nto a GC, but it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re making any decisions tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cI\nthink there are some concerns, major concerns. We have all tried to get some\ncoffee at that Tim Hortons there and we all know how hard it is to get out and\nhow crazy traffic can be in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas added that in his\nyears sitting at the table, both as Mayor and Councillor, that he has never\nseen a traffic report hit the table that raised alarm bells, and that is\nconcerning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also of concern, he noted, was\nthe planners\u2019 intent to apply for an extra storey beyond what is currently\nallowed in zoning provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am looking through this\napplication and I don\u2019t necessarily see that benefit to warrant giving a\nbonusing provision for that additional height,\u201d he said. \u201cFrankly, without that\ncommunity benefit, I would be absolutely against a six-storey building at that\ncorner. I would be willing to have that conversation on a five-storey building,\nbut at six storeys I\u2019m against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we get all that\ninformation and come back to [General Committee] is when we can make a\ndecision, whether it is the right thing for the community or not, whether it is\nbeing overdeveloped, whether it is appropriate. Let\u2019s give the opportunity for\nthe applicant to work with staff, work with residents, try to alleviate some of\nthose concerns and if those concerns aren\u2019t met, for me, if this proposal comes\nback and it looks exactly the way it is, my vote would be a no at that time.\u201d <\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir A rental apartment building of more than 130 units has been proposed for the northeast corner of John West Way and Wellington Street East, but the plans have left some neighbours seeing red. Plans for the six-storey apartment building were presented at a recent Public Planning meeting. There, proponents behind the project […]<\/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-24237","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\/p3D2k4-6iV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 10:07:51","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\/24237","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=24237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}