WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?: Aurora’s Canadian Tire land awaiting next steps

The fate of former store on Yonge Street is still unknown

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 20, 2020
Kim Zarzour

Canadian Tire operated on Yonge Street south of Murray Drive until it relocated to Bayview Avenue in 2016. Since then, area residents have been wondering what is going to happen on the site.

Just the facts:

• The 84,000 square-foot building, on Yonge Street just south of Murray Drive, was formerly home to pharmaceutical manufacturer Sterling Drug. Sterling opened the plant in 1958, followed by the first homes in Aurora Heights subdivision and a growth boom for the town.

• Residents in the homes backing onto the west side of the property worried about further development on the property, and expressed concerns about noise, light and traffic.

• The property owner asked the town to expand the range of uses permitted to make it more marketable and the town adopted a new bylaw for the site in April 2019.

• Previous zoning was very specific, permitting a retail store selling home and leisure products and automobile support.

• The new zoning bylaws now allow for a drive-through restaurant in a free-standing pad plus increased loading docks. A plan calls for three commercial units with a small addition to the south where the new drive-through could be built.
• The next step will be the site plan process. Since the new zoning bylaw was adopted, the owners have not yet filed an application.