{"id":31854,"date":"2022-09-01T18:42:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T22:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31854"},"modified":"2022-09-01T18:42:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T22:42:17","slug":"aurora-should-be-healthy-accessible-and-age-friendly-complete-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-should-be-healthy-accessible-and-age-friendly-complete-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora should be \u201chealthy, accessible, and age-friendly\u201d complete community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A complete community that is \u201chealthy, accessible and age-friendly\u201d could be the vision for Aurora\u2019s future as work continues on a revised Official Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Official Plan (OP) is a key planning document and the revised OP, once approved, will help guide Aurora\u2019s growth and development through 2051.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be a key factor for the incoming 2022-2026 Council term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vision of the Town in the revised draft of the OP is aimed at developing a community that is \u201chealthy, accessible, and age friendly\u201d while providing a \u201crange of places and opportunities to live, work, shop, be educated and play\u201d in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA healthy, accessible and complete community is designed for residents of all backgrounds, abilities and stages of life to lead fulfilled lives,\u201d reads the draft vision presented to Council. \u201cThis vision for Aurora includes providing an array of jobs and investment opportunities, a full range of community services and amenities, opportunities for active and public transportation, and a broad mix of building and housing types, including affordable housing options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe vision also includes providing access to a well-connected natural heritage system, places to meet and build social connections, and encourage active and healthy lifestyle choices while ensuring accessibility to all residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future growth, notes the vision, includes welcoming future residents \u201cin a way that preserves the Town\u2019s natural features and compliments its overall character. It is envisioned that Aurora will continue to value its historic charm while celebrating the current and future culture and diversity of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key principles guiding the development of the draft updated OP are promoting what\u2019s described as \u201cresponsible growth management\u201d to accommodate a \u201csignificant amount of population growth\u201d mandated by the Province through 2051, ensuring design excellence, building a greener economy (including protecting green spaces), and providing \u201cmeaningful\u201d community services and facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuilding a greener community\u201d is highlighted as a priority to ensure that Aurora\u2019s communities are designed to be sustainable and mitigate the impact of climate change by incorporating green building technologies and energy-efficient development approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a growing collective awareness concerning environmental sustainability and its interrelationship with the way our communities develop and function, sustainability must be recognized as a key consideration in the way we plan, design and build our communities now and in the future. Sustainability must be applied to all aspects of the built and natural environment to ensure that objectives for economic vitality, social vibrancy, and the preservation and enhancement of the natural environment are integrated into all aspects of planning and design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora\u2019s \u201ccharacter,\u201d the draft continues, is \u201cintrinsically linked to its diverse natural features and systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plan seeks to protect the natural environment and promotes the creation of comprehensive and linked Greenlands systems. It\u2019s an objective of the Town to ensure that all new development occurs in a matter that protects people and property and prevents social disruption from natural hazards such as flooding and erosion. The public cost or risk to the municipality and its residents from natural hazards should be avoided and minimized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability principles extend to new builds, infrastructure and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renewed plan calls for the growth of a \u201crobust\u201d transportation system that meets the needs of all residents in line with the Town\u2019s goals for \u201cmanaged growth and sustainable development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Town will prioritize the development of a safe, comfortable and enjoyable multi-modal network for vehicles, active transportation and transit that balances the needs of each mode of travel while providing for convenience and accessibility. [The plan ensures] the provision of sustainable infrastructure. The Town\u2019s infrastructure system, including its sewer, water, and stormwater systems and utilities serves an essential role in a community\u2019s successful operation and the ability to support development. The policies of this plan seek to ensure Aurora\u2019s physical infrastructure is developed to meet the needs of all residents and are consistent with the Town\u2019s objectives for managed growth and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revised draft of Aurora\u2019s Official Plan has been the subject of extensive community engagement activities over the last two years and this work still continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft can be read in full at engageaurora.ca\/opr and there residents can continue to provide their input, suggestions and more for consideration.<\/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 complete community that is \u201chealthy, accessible and age-friendly\u201d could be the vision for Aurora\u2019s future as work continues on a revised Official Plan. The Official Plan (OP) is a key planning document and the revised OP, once approved, will help guide Aurora\u2019s growth and development through 2051. It will be a key factor for […]<\/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-31854","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\/p3D2k4-8hM","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-27 21:23:44","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\/31854","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=31854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}