{"id":33942,"date":"2023-12-14T17:20:44","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T22:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33942"},"modified":"2023-12-21T12:01:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T17:01:25","slug":"council-hopes-new-official-plan-will-promote-affordable-housing-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/council-hopes-new-official-plan-will-promote-affordable-housing-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Council hopes new Official Plan will promote affordable housing options"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Town of Aurora is close to finalizing its new Official Plan, one which will guide development in the community for the next 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final draft of the Plan, which has been four years in the making, was presented to Council last week, resulting in questions ranging from environmental impacts to density.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affordable housing, a hot-button issue throughout the consultation process that informed the Draft Official Plan (OP), was very much in focus at the Committee level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing a \u201crange and mix of housing\u201d is one of the key tenets of the new OP, with the document stating that this mix is \u201crequired to meet the needs of current and future residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to the more conventional housing types such as single-detached dwellings and townhouses, the provision of an appropriate range of housing includes buildings geared to seniors as well as emergency shelters, affordable housing and special needs housing,\u201d reads the draft, which goes on to explore the needs of the so-called \u201cmissing middle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis refers to housing options that accommodate multiple units at a low-rise scale and built form that are compatible with lower-density housing types such as single and semi-detached dwellings. These housing types are often \u2018missing\u2019 from established neighbourhoods. The provision of a range of housing types, including \u2018missing middle\u2019 housing types, tenures, and forms enables people to live in the community as they progress through the stages of life, and helps to address affordability and access to housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft OP calls for a \u201cminimum\u201d of 35 per cent of all new residential developments within the GO Station area \u2013 the Town\u2019s Major Transit Station Area, or MTSA \u2013 and 25 per cent of new homes elsewhere in Aurora meet a definition of affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affordable housing in the OP is \u201chousing that is affordable for low- and moderate-income households\u201d that can be \u201cpromoted\u201d through higher density and compact housing forms \u201cwhere housing is more affordable due to reduced per unit land costs; multi-unit housing of various forms \u201cto provide affordable family-sized units where housing is more affordable due to both land costs and construction costs; a range of unit sizes in higher-density housing forms, and \u201cbuilding smaller units where housing is more affordable due to lower development and\/or redevelopment costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to facilitate and provide opportunities for affordable housing units, Council may consider: relief from municipal permits or development fees for projects that provide affordable housing; streamlining and prioritizing development approvals that meet the Town\u2019s objectives for affordable housing; maintaining an ongoing inventory of potential and appropriate municipal-owned sites for the purposes of developing affordable housing; giving priority to the development of affordable housing on municipally-owned surplus lands; partnering with the Region and other levels of government to make surplus land available to affordable housing providers at little to no cost; working with and supporting community groups in their efforts to obtain funding allocations for community-based affordable housing initiatives; reducing parking requirements and\/or parkland dedication requirements for projects that provide affordable housing; and informing the development community of government grants and\/or subsidies, including land dedication, that will reduce overall development costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OP was presented to Council last week by planner David Riley of SGL who said the latest draft \u201cadded policies to promote and prioritize the provision of affordable housing\u201d while also focusing on \u201cgentle intensification\u201d within existing neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received a lot of feedback and the Town has done a lot of work on Stable Neighbourhoods in the past and it was certainly something we had to recognize, that we had these low-density residential areas that are part of the Town, but it\u2019s important to think about reinforcing the idea of gentle intensification and gentle density within existing neighbourhoods so that you can make sure this type of intensification is compatible with existing densities and character of neighbourhoods. That includes additional dwelling units where three units, two additional dwelling units can be located on every property and also permitting denser forms of housing on the edges of Stable Neighbourhoods\u2026 and those edge sites where you might have up to four storeys or a little bit more dense development \u2013 still low-rise, but there is an appropriate transition in terms of density, height and mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s unique to Aurora and some other municipalities with respect to density is that you have done some detailed work with respect to your low-rise areas and protecting the character of stable neighbourhoods. What came out of that were some new policies, some regulations that really put into place what\u2019s allowed there. We\u2019re now in a world where as of right municipalities have to permit additional dwelling units, up to two additional dwelling units on every property and that on its own is going to change the character. Aurora understood that and when I say Aurora, I mean everyone \u2013 the Council, the community members that we do need to accommodate that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the meeting, density in key areas was an important issue for Council members with Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese questioning the possibility of requiring incoming developers to adhere to minimum height requirements rather than just a maximum limit of floors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland said she was \u201cnot so sure\u201d developers would be able to \u201cachieve\u201d affordable housing without intensification and incentives for them to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner was blunt in her line of questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you see the possibility of affordable housing?\u201d she asked Riley. \u201cEven basement apartments are going for more than $2,000 a month. Is that a fair question?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI share your concern that things are difficult right now, but I think what Aurora is doing through this Official Plan is setting the foundation for further work,\u201d he replied. \u201cPart of that work is going to be the implementation of a Community Planning Permit System in the Aurora Promenade where you will be able to actually leverage affordable housing from developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to landowners and developers to provide it beyond what can actually be required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will be optimistic as well,\u201d Councillor Gaertner concluded.<\/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":"

The Town of Aurora is close to finalizing its new Official Plan, one which will guide development in the community for the next 30 years. The final draft of the Plan, which has been four years in the making, was presented to Council last week, resulting in questions ranging from environmental impacts to density. Affordable […]<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33942","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\/p3D2k4-8Ps","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 08:20:02","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\/33942","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=33942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}