{"id":30737,"date":"2022-02-03T19:17:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T00:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30737"},"modified":"2022-02-03T19:26:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T00:26:22","slug":"triplex-proposed-for-heritage-conservation-district-takes-step-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/triplex-proposed-for-heritage-conservation-district-takes-step-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Triplex proposed for Heritage Conservation District takes step forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A contentious proposal to build a new triplex in Aurora\u2019s Heritage Conservation District (HCD) took a step forward last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council on January 25 approved a Heritage Permit Application to permit the construction of a two-storey building at 74 Centre Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal has seen several changes since it was first filed and the revised plan that was on the table last week took into account a number of concerns voiced by area residents who have opposed the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Issues raised by nearby residents included the depth of the lot, the number of windows, landscaping and other factors which, they say, were not in keeping with the Town\u2019s only HCD, located in the northeast quadrant of Yonge and Wellington. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFollowing comments received from the November 16, 2021, General Committee meeting, the applicant submitted a revised proposal on December 8 to permit the construction of a two-storey triplex dwelling with parking provided in a detached garage located in the rear yard, which will be accessed by a driveway located along the west side yard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposal includes a landscape buffer with pyramidal cedars along the rear property line to help minimize the visual impact on the abutting property to the north. Extensive planting is proposed along the west property line and near the front of the east property line, while existing vegetation along the east property line will be preserved to further mitigate any potential impacts of the proposal to the abutting property to the east. The large mature tree in the front yard is to remain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposed building continues the Homestead architectural style of a square-shaped building designed with a gable roof,\u201d said Planning staff in a report to Council. \u201cThe proposal further maintains a single detached building form, which is the predominant style in the Northeast Old Aurora neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town Staff and, in general, members of HAC have been supportive of the proposal, but Council had been at odds with their recommendation when faced with neighbourhood opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One neighbour reiterated some concerns at last week\u2019s meeting through a video delegation to Council, particularly relating to the preservation of the large tree between their property and the property in question during construction. By the end of the meeting, however, local lawmakers were satisfied with the changes that had been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In approving the Heritage Application, however, Council underscored that this is not the end of the road in the planning process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to thank the applicant for their willingness to continue to find a compromise instead of pulling the rug out from underneath and going straight to the (Ontario Land) Tribunal,\u201d said Mayor Tom Mrakas. \u201cThat\u2019s what we always ask for. What we wanted is applications to come forward\u2026and we will be building what we envision through our plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is still a lot to do,\u201d he added, with reference to site plan approval. \u201cWe\u2019re going to end up with hopefully with\u2026a triplex that will provide more units for people to live in and hopefully be more affordable, and ultimately that is a good thing for our Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the number of units has not changed in the last few iterations of the proposal, Councillor Wendy Gaertner, who had previously expressed her support for the recommendations coming from municipal staff and from HAC, reiterated her views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe design is in keeping with the guidelines for the Old Aurora Heritage Conservation District, that is what we\u2019re looking at tonight, that is what we\u2019re considering, and that is what is in our staff report,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Councillor John Gallo kept his focus on the matter of the Heritage Permit and said despite concerns over the tree, he was satisfied with the plans the property owner had to preserve it, and it was time to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything else they appear to comply with as far as the heritage permit,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot more road to go in terms of dealing with the site plan and all kinds that need to be checked off. I am content\u2026to move forward with this and take it to the next level. We can go all night regarding parking, setbacks, height and all of that stuff that has no bearing tonight. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But other Council members had lingering concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Rachel Gilliland, for instance, said there were some \u201cunanswered questions\u201d on the table related to the width of the driveway and on-site drainage she would like to see addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do feel they have met a lot of the heritage aspects, I completely get that, but I do think it is good as Council members if we do point out the things that are concerning,\u201d she said. 
\u201cThere are just some unanswered questions and I think that is really a concern where they feel they (the residents) aren\u2019t being heard, but the actual heritage aspect has been worked with and that is great. I am glad we\u2019re getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Sandra Humfryes, a member of the HAC, \u201cI know it seems like a long process to get here and a bit of a frustrating one, but we got here, I really believe, for the right reasons, and just to make sure we have the best build in a Heritage District that we can get. We have a long way to go. I think a lot of the concerns were addressed. Sometimes I believe Heritage would have liked to have seen a single-dwelling or a semi, but it\u2019s a triplex and it is up to Zoning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A contentious proposal to build a new triplex in Aurora\u2019s Heritage Conservation District (HCD) took a step forward last week. Council on January 25 approved a Heritage Permit Application to permit the construction of a two-storey building at 74 Centre Street. The proposal has seen several changes since it was first filed and the revised […]<\/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-30737","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\/p3D2k4-7ZL","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 02:47:55","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\/30737","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=30737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}