{"id":26578,"date":"2020-05-21T14:56:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T18:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26578"},"modified":"2020-05-21T14:57:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T18:57:02","slug":"clean-communities-bylaw-intended-to-tackle-waste-graffiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/clean-communities-bylaw-intended-to-tackle-waste-graffiti\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cClean Communities\u201d bylaw intended to tackle waste, graffiti"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Physical distancing measures have spurred more and more\nresidents to lace up and get their exercise walking around their\nneighbourhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During these walks, you\u2019ve probably encountered graffiti\nof some kind on walls, benches and other pieces of infrastructure, but a new\nbylaw set to get the thumbs-up from Council will look at tackling graffiti,\ntagging and other forms of vandalism directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council has given the tentative green light to a \u201cClean\nCommunities Bylaw\u201d, a new standard set to replace the Town\u2019s existing Clean\nYards and Debris Bylaws to address the current needs of an evolving community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set for formal approval at Council later this month, the\nbylaw accounts for future growth while implementing new standards on graffiti\nabatement to get Aurora in line with policies that are standard across York\nRegion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of a comprehensive review of the Town\u2019s current\nbylaw legislation with the objective to modernize the Town\u2019s bylaws, staff have\nidentified that existing legislation is outdated and does not address current\ncommunity expectations,\u201d said Alexander Wray, Aurora\u2019s Manager of Bylaw\nServices, in a report to Council, noting that what\u2019s on the books today was\nenacted in 2005. \u201cThe existing bylaws are reflective of the Town\u2019s needs when\nit was approximately 35 per cent less populated; however, there are\nredundancies and deficiencies between the two bylaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cModernization of the Town\u2019s existing bylaws allows the\nmunicipality to remain progressive and meet the changing expectations of the\nresidents. It also allows the Town to prepare for future growth and\nintensification while ensuring that the Town maintains its small-town charm.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A primary component of the new plan is bringing Aurora in\nline with neighbouring York Region municipalities on graffiti abatement.\nAccording to Mr. Wray, Aurora is the only municipality that does not have\nformal legislation to address community-driven graffiti concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBylaw services receives minimal complaints related to\ngraffiti and will contact property owners to request graffiti be removed,\u201d he\nexplained. \u201cHowever, if the property owner is not responsive and cooperative,\nBylaw has no ability to take further action as currently there is no\nlegislation in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to the implementation of graffiti standards,\nthe proposed Clean Communities Bylaw enhances compliance timelines and\nintroduces provisions for the maintenance of boulevards on all properties\nthroughout the Town. Maintenance of boulevards is also considered best practice\nand consistent with neighbouring municipalities. The service enhancements will\nrequire property owners to keep their properties and boulevards free of long\ngrass, weeds and waste. Additionally, the proposed bylaw will introduce a\nminimum three-day compliance timeframe. This service enhancement will allow for\nfaster compliance at problem properties and ensure the community standard is\nmaintained in a more efficient manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On their first sweep of the draft bylaw ahead of formal\napproval on May 26, local lawmakers said they welcomed the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am really happy we\u2019re revising some of our bylaw\nhere,\u201d said Councillor Rachel Gilliland, adding she recently had a call from a\nresident on keeping Aurora clean. \u201c[Their concerns were] more aligned with\ncommercial properties and what kind of rules were set in place for commercial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gilliland received assurances from staff that\nthe proposed bylaw applies to all properties in Town, including commercial\nbuildings. While staff said the Bylaw department would respond to any\ncomplaints, open an investigation file and take appropriate action, \u201cproactive\nenforcement\u201d is more challenging as it depends on staff resources and\npriorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing proactive is very difficult, I understand that,\nbut having the ability to bring it to the attention of bylaw [and] register a\ncomplaint with an address, puts that property in a bit of a high alert,\u201d said\nthe Councillor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Techa van Leewen, Aurora\u2019s Director of Bylaw Services\nsaid her department would \u201calways seek voluntary compliance through education\u201d\nas a first approach and, if cooperation was not received, \u201cmore progressive\nenforcement action\u201d would be taken. In the case of a repeat offender, the\neducation step would be bypassed for enforcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also welcoming the proposed new legislation was Councillor\nWendy Gaertner, who singled out the anti-graffiti measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing the pedestrian stairway off Yonge Street\u2019s\nhistoric business block down to parking off Temperance Street as \u201cgraffiti\nalley\u201d, she said the proposed measures would help combat tagging in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is absolutely problematic because the walls of the\nbuildings belong to somebody else but the pathway is ours,\u201d she said, seeking\nassurances that if messages of hate were scrawled out on the walls the Town\nwould now be able to take care of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would certainly, at that point, also engage York\nRegional Police,\u201d said Ms. van Leeuwen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas also praised the anti-graffiti measures,\nciting the graffiti abatement work of his spouse, Alison Collins-Mrakas when\nshe served on the 2006 \u2013 2010 Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI might be a bit biased, but an excellent Councillor back in the day created a task force to look after graffiti and they did a wonderful job as a task force and actually removed quite a bit of graffiti,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas. \u201cI actually went out and helped remove with YRP and they had a youth come out and it was incredible how much graffiti is around Town when you actually go out and see it. I am glad this is being added to it. It is a long time coming and I am glad it is here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Physical distancing measures have spurred more and more residents to lace up and get their exercise walking around their neighbourhoods. During these walks, you\u2019ve probably encountered graffiti of some kind on walls, benches and other pieces of infrastructure, but a new bylaw set to get the thumbs-up from Council will look at tackling graffiti, tagging […]<\/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-26578","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\/p3D2k4-6UG","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 01:14:11","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\/26578","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=26578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}