{"id":9351,"date":"2014-12-23T22:23:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T03:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9351"},"modified":"2015-01-07T18:21:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T23:21:23","slug":"study-could-lead-to-new-approach-to-downtown-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/study-could-lead-to-new-approach-to-downtown-revitalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Study could lead to new approach to Downtown revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

A study to look at what it would take for the Town of Aurora to secure historic and vacant properties along Yonge Street could lead to new approaches to revitalizing Aurora\u2019s Downtown Core, according to some Councillors.<\/p>\n

Council voted 8 \u2013 1 last week to investigate a potential purchase price for historic Horton Place, which is situated on the northwest corner of Yonge Street at Irwin Avenue, as well as the two properties immediately north and south of the house, with a potential eye to spurring positive development and growth in Aurora\u2019s historic centre. Council\u2019s approval also came with the direction of a full review of liabilities and risks that would be part and parcel of such a purchase.<\/p>\n

The investigation is a result of a motion brought forward by Councillor John Abel. He said he believed it is the role of municipalities like Aurora to add to their land reserves with an eye towards heritage, culture, business and commercial uses.<\/p>\n

He stressed all he wanted was for Town Staff to look at potential purchase costs rather than committing any funds. In looking at revitalization plans in other places, municipal involvement was key and Aurora needs to decide whether or not it plays a role here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be, in my mind, the first step going forward, putting in some valuable land right off Yonge Street in our core,\u201d said Councillor Abel. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can wait for private developers to come and do it piecemeal, but if we grab parcels of land together, the opportunities are that much greater and will keep a lot more interest in development. We will also send a message that we are prepared to move forward with revitalization and it is a commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPurchasing land is not high risk, in my opinion. If there is a failure, we are not committing any money to develop the land. We\u2019re only committing to purchase the land. The risk of failure to look at purchasing key properties in bulk, I think, is minimal compared to opportunities and potential that exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

First to lend her support was Councillor Sandra Humfryes, who said it was the \u201cabsolute right thing to do.\u201d Harkening back to comments made in the last term of Council towards the failed \u201cHillary-McIntyre Park\u201d idea to acquire Horton Place and the two properties to its north, including Hillary House, for a \u201cheritage park\u201d, she said while she liked that initial idea, this is a step forward.<\/p>\n

While they ultimately voted in favour of the motion, the enthusiasm of some Councillors was more tempered. Councillor Harold Kim, for instance, said while it is one thing to move forward with evaluating the properties, the question of what Aurora would then do with them weighed on him. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be nice if staff could also come back to us looking one step ahead [to see] how much it would cost to maintain the properties while we are debating on what we can do with the properties,\u201d said Councillor Kim. \u201cI would hate for us to purchase the land and then have to spend tens of thousands maintaining the properties while debating for a year or two, or three, what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Jeff Thom, on the other hand, said a report would help in having all options on the table when making a final decision, but time could be of the essence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t choose what properties go up for sale and I think if Council wants to have a long-term vision for what the Downtown Core needs to be, then you need to look at acquiring the properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the perspective of Councillor Michael Thompson, moving forward with the concept of looking at new ways to revitalize Downtown Aurora is good, and the role of Council to examine all those opportunities, he didn\u2019t want to lose sight of other revitalization opportunities also on the table, such as the future of Library Square on Victoria Street at Church. An extra step was needed in the process, he noted, to address these concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see a step in between where there is that information piece\u2026around that strategy [but] I don\u2019t want us to lose our focus with regards to Library Square,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a number of different initiatives all costing dollars. I don\u2019t want this decision made in isolation of what we\u2019re doing overall. I think it is the right thing to explore and investigate, and have that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dissenting voice to the plan came from Councillor Wendy Gaertner. While she does want to see revitalization of the Downtown Core, something she has spoken of for many years, she objected to Council\u2019s conversation taking place out in the open, calling the process \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very intensive closed session discussion on this property,\u201d said Councillor Gaertner of the two properties north of Irwin. \u201cWe had the advice of a consultant, we did a lot of work on this last term\u2026but we decided as a Council for many reasons, in particular the condition of one of the buildings, the amount of money we would have to put in of the taxpayers\u2019 money. I think there were so many issues that made us decide this was not the appropriate way to go, and I am without words.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A study to look at what it would take for the Town of Aurora to secure historic and vacant properties along Yonge Street could lead to new approaches to revitalizing Aurora\u2019s Downtown Core, according to some Councillors.<\/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-9351","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\/p3D2k4-2qP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 04:12:01","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\/9351","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=9351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}