Aurora lands residential planning must come with protection: Nose Creek Preservation Society

A popular environmental hot spot for residents in the city's northeast is at the centre of a major overhaul.

The Aurora Lands Area Structure Plan, initially developed in 2008, was to pave the way for industrial and maintenance businesses eventually but the city's priorities have changed.

Now, officials want to designate the area for residential development.

"There was a lot of thought that went into the drainage planning and recycling of water and green roofs on these industrial buildings," said Andrew Yule, Nose Creek Preservation Society president.

"How do we translate that into the residential plans?"

Yule says the group wants protections for environmental species, especially along the creek.

"The city knows that this area would like to have more green space that surrounds the creek – have some balance between development and green space for our community," Yule said.

"We are not an anti-development group. We just want to collaborate with that development."

In 2021, the province helped the city have the opportunity to amend the area structure plan by tweaking regulations for noise contours in the vicinity of the airport.

"It allowed residential development much closer to the airport than it was previously," said Jennifer Laforest, senior planner with the city's local area planning team.

That is what helped shape the city's future planning with this particular location.

"We have identified three transit zones on the planned area," Laforest said.

"You have the Green Line North that would run along Harvest Hills, the airport connector that would run along 96 Avenue N.E., and then the regional hub is another part of this planned development and that's at the eastern end of the plan area."

As for concerns around green space, the city says it is listening to residents and taking that feedback before a plan is officially revealed.

"A third of that land we would call an environmental reserve area or the existing municipal park, West Nose Creek," Laforest said.

The city is holding an open house at the Vivo Centre on Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Officials planned to respond to questions and concerns and provide residents a first draft of the concept plan.