BYLAW - Adopt OPA #4 - 19700605 - 218878< '
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BY-LAW NUMBER 2188-78
OF THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF AURORA
Being a By-law to adopt Amendment No. 4 to the Official Plan of
the Aurora Planning Area.
The Council of the Corporation of the Town of Aurora in accor-
dance with the provisions of Section 17(1) of The Planning Act
enacts as follows:
1. Amendment No. 4 to the Official Plan of the Aurora Planning
Area, consisting of the attached explanatory text, is here-
by adopted.
2. That the Municipal Corporation of the Town of Aurora make
application to the Minister of Housing for approval of
said Amendment.
3. The Clerk is hereby authorized and empowered to make or
cause to be made on behalf of this Corporation such appli-
cation as may be necessary to the Minister of Housing for
approval of said Amendment and to execute under the Cor-
porate Seal such documents as may be required for the above
purposes.
READ A FIRST AND SECOND TIME THIS ... } /J. { ... DAY OF .. -. fl:t.&.y. .....
19. 7~.'.
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MAYOR
READ A THIRD TIME AND FINALLY PASSED
... ~~ ...... 197.£.
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MAYOR
CLERK
,5-~ -.Lti
THIS ......... ~ .... DAY OF
CLERK
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SECTION
I
II
III
AMENDMENT NO. 'I
TO THE OFFICIAL ~LAN
OF THE AURORA PLANNING AREA
-TABLE OF CONTENTS -
THE. CERTIFICATION
THE PREAMBLE
1. Title and Components
2. Purpose of the Amendment
3. Basis of the Amendment
THE AMENDMENT
.1. Purpose
2. Administration and Implementation
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AMENDMENT NO.tj
TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN
OF THE AURORA PLANNING AREA
PART I: THE CERTIFICATION
The explanatory text constituting Amendment No. h to the
Official Plan of the Aurora Planning Area, was adopted
by the Council of the Town of Aurora by By-law No. ;), 18/S ~ '1/?.
in accordance with Section 17 of The Planning Act on the
...... /f /.II ... day of ...... :fw-1 ~. . . . . . . . . . . 19 ."!.S: .••
MAYOR CLERK
This Amendment to the Official Plan of the Aurora Plan-
ning Area which has been adopted by the Council of the
Town of Aurora is hereby approved in accordance with
Section 16 of The Planning Act, as Amendment No.A. to
the Official Plan of the Aurora Planning Area.
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AMENDMENT NO .. 'f
TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN
OF THE AURORA PLANNING AREA
PART II: THE PREAMBLE
TITLE AND COMPONENTS
The Amendment when approved by the Minister of Housing
shall be known as Amendment No. 4. to the Official Plan
of the Aurora Planning Area.
Part III of this document constitutes Amendment No.~
to the Official Plan of the Aurora Planning Area.
PURPOSE OF THE AMENDMENT
The purpose of this Amendment is to add to the Offic-
ial Plan a policy to conserve and rehabilitate the
existing and future residential and non-residential
property in order to ensure an efficient and pleasant
living environment for the Town's residents. In addi-
tion, the enactment of a Property Maintenance and
Occupancy Standards By-law which will implement this
Amendment will make the Town eligible to participate
in several rehabilitation pr 0 grams which would be
j oint.ly funded by the Federal, Provincial and Munici-
pal governments.
BASIS OF THE AMENDMENT
In order to determine the physical state of buildings
in the Municipality, a survey of Residential Buildings
was carried out and discussions among Town Officials
concerned with health and safety standards were held.
Both methods revealed that the Town, as a whole, is
well maintained and provides good living conditions
for ·its residents. From time to time complaints con-
cerning hazardous or unhealthy situations are received
which is the major reason the Town wishes to enact a
Property Maintenance and Occupancy Standards By-law.
A. Residential Appearance
A windshield survey was carried out in the fall
of 1976 of all Residential Buildings within the
Town. These were classified according to the
structural and maintenance conditions as follows:
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Good
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Dwelling size and design good;
building requires none or only
minor repairs, maintenance is ex-
cellent and recent.
Satisfactory Building is structurally sound
and fit for use but due to age or
lack of maintenance requires re-
pairs, painting, etc.
Poor Major repairs required; mainten~
ance is totally lacking.
Of a total of approximately 4,300 dwelling units
approximately 50 were designated as satisfactory
and 5 were designated poor. The remainder were
considered to be in good condition.
B. General Maintenance Standards
A meeting was held among the various Town Offic-
ials presently involved with enforcing health
and safety standards. Present were the Town's
Fire Chief, the Building Inspector and the Health
Inspector responsible for the general area.
Generally all persons in attendance agreed that
Aurora has very few problems with respect to
health and building standards or fire hazards.
Each noted that they received complaints from
time to time which usually represented an isolat-
ed situation.
The problems most frequently experienced are as
follows, but not in any particular order of. gra-
vity:
i) Conversions of Single Family Dwellings to
Multiple Family Dwellings
This is often done without the required per-
mits or subsequent inspections. Problems
exist with overtaxing of electrical systems,
improper sanitary facilities, and heating
facilities which cannot properly meet in-
creased demands.
ii) Absentee Landlords
There are a few isolated cases where extre-
mely substandard living conditions exist
and these are a source of complaints to all
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departments. Most frequently these concern
poor water conditions, frozen pipes, inade-
quate and unsafe heating facilities, inade-
quate living space. These are normally
occupied by people on fixed, or limited in-
comes and for whom no other form of housing
is available.
iii) Vacant Houses on Property
Vacant houses have from time to time been a
problem however, no one could cite a parti-
cular case at this time. Vacant land has
been a fairly continuous problem for the
fire department because of grass fires.
The cost of fighting these fires is also
one which the Town would like to eliminate.
There are also a few cases where dumping of
garbage, etc., on vacant land has been a
problem.
iv) Junk in Yards
Here again this is an infrequently occurring
problem which has been experienced from time
to time. Some commercial and industrial pro-
perties have been offenders here, although,
normally the owners have acted on the requ-
ests of the enforcement officers and/or
Council to rectify the situation. Improper-
ly contained garbage, particularly where
food is sold or prepared has caused occas-
sional difficulties.
This aspect is particularly important since
such refuse attracts vermin of various types.
Pet droppings have also been the source of
complaint from time to time due to odour,
unsightliness, etc.
C. Occupancy Standards
Statistics from Census Canada, 1971, indicate
that high housing standards exist through the
Town. About 77% of the dwelling units are owner
occupied. The average number of rooms per dwel-
ling unit was 6.1 with owner occupied homes hav-
ing an average of 6.4-. The average number of
persons per household was 3.7, although there
appears to be a trend to considerably smaller
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household sizes, perhaps low as 3.2. The average
number of persons per room is .6 overall and .6
for owner occupied dwellings. This is very com-
parable to the York Region and Ontario averages.
According to the 1971 statistics a total of 15
dwelling units did not have .flush toilets. It
is likely that this figure is lower now.
Based on these indicator statistics, it would
appear that standards of occupancy (based on 1971)
are quite high within the Town.
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AMENDMENT NO. t.j
TO THE OFFICIAL PLAN
OF THE AURORA PLANNING AREA
PART III: THE AMENDMENT
STATEMENTS OF PRINCIPLES AND
POLICIES GOVERNING AMENDMENT NO. !j
PURPOSE
It is the policy of the Town of Aurora to encourage
the development and maintenance of an efficient and
pleasant environment for living, working and shopping
and recreation. The quality of property within the
community is generally high at present, and it is
Council's intention to encourage the maintenance of
this high standard.
The Town of Aurora will endeavour to further support
property maintenance and safe occupancy by:
A. Utilizing available government programs where
applicable to provide financial and administra-
tive support such as The Neighbourhood Improve-
ment Program and The Residential Rehabilitation
Assistance Program.
B. Undertaking an education and public relations
program as needed to demonstrate the benefits of
property maintenance.
C. Maintaining municipally owned buildings, proper-
ties and community facilities to a high standard
and providing or maintaining in good repair such
municipal services as roads, sidewalks, water and
sewage facilities, etc.
ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
The policies outlined in Part III will be administered
and implemented in the following ways.
A Property Standards By-law will be enacted pursuant
to Section 36(3) of The Planning Act setting forth
minimum standards of maintenance and occupancy of all
properties within the Town.
A Property Standards Committee shall be appointed and
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a Property Standards Officer shall be named. The lat-
ter shall be assigned the responsibility of administ-
ering a standards of maintenance and occupancy by-law
passed pursuant to Section 36 of The Planning Act.
Information concerning substandard housing conditions,
overuse of existing buildings, neglected yards, courts
and vacant lands will be collected by inspectors and
other personnel of the Municipal Departments, includ-
ing the Fire Department, Building Department and other
agencies.
It is intended that a close liaison will be maintained
between the Property Standards Committee and Property
Standards Officer and the aforementioned Departments
to ensure that the administration of the By-law is
accomplished effectively.
Existing Zoning By-laws and Health Standards and the
Building Code will be consistently enforced to ensure
that new development meets existing standards.
Without limiting the applicability of the By-law, it
will have regard for, and will prescribe appropriate
standards for the following matters and any others
that may be considered necessary:
A. Maintenance of yards, vacant lands, parks and
accessory buildings including sewage and drainage,
safe passage and garbage disposal .
B. Maintenance of all buildings and structures, in-
cluding walls, floors and ceilings; doors, win-
dows and roofs; foundations and insulation
access; heating, lighting, plumbing and electri-
cal systems; general sanitation including pest
prevention.
C. Establishment of occupancy standards including
kitchen and bathroom facilities; heat, light,
ventilation; maximum number per dwelling unit;
size, dimensions of floor space of habitable
rooms; fire protection standards.