{"id":26163,"date":"2020-03-12T19:35:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T23:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26163"},"modified":"2020-03-19T19:32:38","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:32:38","slug":"rental-housing-development-clears-first-council-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rental-housing-development-clears-first-council-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"Rental housing development clears first Council hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New purpose-built rental units are often cited as a\nmissing piece of Aurora\u2019s housing puzzle, but a proposed new development on\nWellington Street West might help fill some of the gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting at the Committee level last week, Council signed\noff on a zoning bylaw amendment that could help pave the way for nearly 60 new\nrental units at 145 and 147 Wellington Street West. If ratified by Council\nlater this month, the next phase of the planning process will begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property owners have proposed a new infill development on\na site which is already home to two multi-unit residential buildings. The plan\nis for 53 new rental townhouse units to be built to complement of the existing\nbuildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen this application was originally submitted to the\nTown [there were] 64 units to be constructed on the site,\u201d T.J. Cieciura,\nPrincipal Planner and President of Starlight Investment, told Council last\nweek. \u201cThe new proposal, as revised through the process, and after extensive\nconsultation with the public, has been revised down to 53 new townhouse\ndwellings, in addition to the existing apartment units, for a total of 260\nunits that would be on site.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal has been subject to significant public\ninput, recently hitting the table during the Public Planning process where\nnearby residents \u2013 some of whom live in the existing buildings \u2013 spoke out\nabout the impact the development might have on the surrounding community as\nwell as the parking situation for those who might be displaced during the\nconstruction process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 295 parking spaces have been proposed for the\ncompleted development, which Mr. Cieciura said represents a single parking\nspace for every residential unit and .1 visitor parking spaces per unit. In the\nmeantime, proponents of the development said they were close to striking a deal\nwith the nearby Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on Wellington Street West,\nlocated approximately 400 metres from the building site, where they would be\nallowed to erect temporary parking on their large lawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis shows the majority of our tenants will be able to\npark on site during construction,\u201d said Mark Chemi of Starlight Investments at\nthe same meeting,\u201d noting that some parking spaces will be available where they\ncurrently sit, allocated to residents based on mobility, children, and\nadditional factors. \u201cWe have to go through our tenant list at the time of\nconstruction, which won\u2019t be for another year, but anyone who has mobility\nneeds will [be able to stay on site].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In making their pitch, the Starlight representatives\nunderscored the benefits their proposal will bring to Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRental housing is something that is needed in Ontario\nand in Aurora,\u201d said Mr. Cieciura. \u201cThis is an important project and this, to\nour knowledge, is the only purpose-built rental project that we\u2019re aware of in\nAurora that will ultimately add to the range and mix of housing in the\nneighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Mr. Chemi: \u201cWe are asking\nfor Council to approve the rezoning application today. I think everyone in the\nroom is aware that Aurora is a great place to live and is a very desirable\nplace to live. Our site benefits from location to many amenities, access to\ntransit, proximity to downtown and great schools. However, there is a lack of rental\nsupply in Aurora and this will bring some [badly needed] units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to work in\nthe community, with our neighbours, with our tenants throughout construction if\nwe are approved tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that approval ultimately\ncame at the Committee level, the nearly two-dozen community members who sat in\nCouncil Chambers last week to hear Council\u2019s tentative verdict were less than\npleased when they left following the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Council\u2019s approval came\nwith some reluctance as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been a long process\nand it started in last term that we have been dealing with this one,\u201d said\nMayor Tom Mrakas. \u201cI think every step of the way we have been asking the\napplicant to look at basically some things that are concerning to the residents\nand to this Council. I think, so far, every step they have come back and they\nhave kind of answered those concerns; maybe not to the best that we would like\nto see, but ultimately we all need to understand \u2013 and we have pointed this out\nto the residents and to each other sitting here \u2013 that there is an appeals\nprocess, there is LPAT (Local Planning and Appeals Tribunal), and I know with\npurpose-built rentals, if this Council was to say no, you\u2019re going to go to\nLPAT, LPAT will overturn that decision I guarantee in a second, and all we\nwould do is just waste tax dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, when you look at it, it is\nalways about how do we work with the applicant to get the best for our\ncommunity and for the residents in the area? While it might not be the most\nideal, I think, at the end of the day, they have answered a lot of those\nquestions, they have provided us with a solution to offsite parking. Like I\nsaid, it might not be the most ideal, but I think this is the best thing for\nour Town as an overall solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Sandra Humfryes\noffered a similar viewpoint, reaffirming her commitment to getting answers on\nbehalf of impacted residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe heard the residents loud and clear,\u201d she said, suggesting the establishment of a \u201chotline\u201d to streamline communications for any concerns between residents, the municipality and developers, \u201cto make sure we listen to all the issues and complaints moving forward [and] do our best to understand that as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New purpose-built rental units are often cited as a missing piece of Aurora\u2019s housing puzzle, but a proposed new development on Wellington Street West might help fill some of the gaps. Sitting at the Committee level last week, Council signed off on a zoning bylaw amendment that could help pave the way for nearly 60 […]<\/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_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-26163","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\/p3D2k4-6NZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 15:32:36","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\/26163","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=26163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}