{"id":24906,"date":"2019-10-10T17:56:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24906"},"modified":"2019-10-17T14:18:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T18:18:59","slug":"streetscape-improvements-for-aurora-promenade-receive-green-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/streetscape-improvements-for-aurora-promenade-receive-green-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Streetscape improvements for Aurora Promenade receive green light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Removable features focus of plan as \u201cmain street\u201d area could be redeveloped <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

With the bulk of the heritage properties in Aurora\u2019s\nhistoric downtown core being owned by less than a handful of individuals, the\nTown of Aurora is leaving the door open to possible redevelopment as it looks\nat options to beautify the Aurora Promenade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Promenade is a vision for the Town\u2019s \u201cmain\nstreet\u201d area and comprises of large swaths of Yonge and Wellington Streets,\nfrom Irwin Avenue in the north, to Church Street in the South, and bordered on\nthe east and west by Wellington\u2019s intersections with Mill Street and Larmont\nAvenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streetscape improvements for the area have been envisioned\nfor more than five years and have seen a number of various proposals hit the\nCouncil table, but the latest vision, which is expected to be ratified this\nweek, will have some teeth behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting at the Committee level last Tuesday, local lawmakers\ngave the green light to the Aurora Promenade Streetscape Design &\nImplementation plan in the amount of $570,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While previous proposals have included more permanent\nadditions such as patterned concrete pavers to replace existing sidewalks, the\nlatest concept centres on \u201cremovable\u201d elements like benches and planters in the\nevent of redevelopment or infill in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough the buildout of the Aurora Promenade is\nanticipated to occur over a long-term horizon, there is potential in the main\nstreets area\u2026based on the recent consolidation of properties on Yonge Street,\u201d\nsaid Anthony Ierullo, Manager of Policy Planning and Economic Development for\nthe Town of Aurora, in his report to Council. \u201cAs a result, staff are\nrecommending that the proposed improvements initially focus on the removable\nstreetscape components that can be relocated in the event that construction\noccurs. These components include container landscaping, new street furniture,\nand promotional banners that will improve the streetscape without investing\nsignificantly in permanent hard infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should the plan be formally approved by Council this\nweek, staff will be further refining the plan to ensure snow removal is not\nimpacted during the winter months, that on-street parking remains accessible,\nand further opportunities to enhance plantings and street furniture, all in\nconsultation with the Downtown Aurora BIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a proposed price tag of $415,000, the budget\nincludes $50,000 for year-round hanging baskets on all pedestrian light poles,\nallowing for year-round landscaping, $95,000 for the installation of \u201clong, narrow\nplanters\u201d for year-round landscaping, $145,000 for \u201cheritage-style\u201d furniture,\n$75,000 for promotional banners in the area, and $50,000 for seasonal winter\ndecorations for street lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removed from the project is an $80,000 allocation for\nstreet trees, a matter which raised some eyebrows around the Committee table\nlast week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have looked at a lot of main streets recently and, to\nme, one of the most inviting things about the main streets I liked was the\ntrees,\u201d said Councillor Wendy Gaertner. \u201cStreet furniture and all that is\nreally nice, but I think we need trees for the ambiance and, frankly, for the\nshade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a concern shared by Councillor Sandra Humfryes,\nwho said she has seen examples in other Canadian cities, including Halifax,\nthat have been able to accommodate trees in revitalization projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Operations, said\ntrees are \u201csomewhat problematic\u201d in the Aurora Promenade area at it is\nrecommended trees be placed in a \u201cwell system\u201d to accommodate drainage, in a\nsimilar vein to plantings in and around stops in the Viva Rapidways in\nNewmarket and elsewhere in York Region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat would mean we would actually have to tear up the\nentire sidewalk in order to plant the trees which, at the same time, we would\nthen want to look at relocating some of the utilities that are within,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cOne leads to another and certainly part of the discussion when we were\nlooking at this report, we felt this was going to be fairly intrusive into the\nexisting infrastructure within the Downtown Core, in order to introduce those\ntrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am happy to provide Council with the information\nwithin the Promenade about what we have to do in order to introduce trees. This\n($80,000 item) is just the cost of the trees, but you have to put the trees in\nsomething, so now we have to dig up the sidewalk, we have to actually build the\ntree wells, we need to put in irrigation, we need to put in drainage. Those\nneeds to be connected into our services, so now we need to tear up Yonge Street\nin order to do that. We need to come back and refinish that again. Those costs\nare not included in that. This is just the cost of trees. I would be happy to\ngive Council perhaps a cross-section of some of the work that is required within\nthe promenade in order to support trees within the sidewalk area and then a\ndecision can be made from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members were nevertheless interested in seeing a\nfurther report come back outlining what would be entailed to make street trees\na reality.\n\n\u201cI recall when we did the Promenade Study [the\nconsultant] was heavily involved in the redesign of Bloor Street and I think we\ncan probably learn a lot from him and what they did there,\u201d said Councillor\nJohn Gallo. \u201cI think it gives a dynamic to our downtown that you cannot\nduplicate with anything \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Removable features focus of plan as \u201cmain street\u201d area could be redeveloped By Brock Weir With the bulk of the heritage properties in Aurora\u2019s historic downtown core being owned by less than a handful of individuals, the Town of Aurora is leaving the door open to possible redevelopment as it looks at options to beautify […]<\/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-24906","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\/p3D2k4-6tI","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 21:04:46","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\/24906","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=24906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}