While the long cream-coloured stucco building at 34 Berczy St. appears unassuming, underneath lies a storied piece of Aurora’s past.
The former Sisman Shoe Factory building is slated for demolition to make way for a nine-storey, 545-unit residential building, which is nearing approval.
The proposal for 26, 30, 32, 34-38 Berczy St. was the subject of an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing, with the tribunal approving the official plan and zoning bylaw amendments that will allow the development to go ahead.
The Town of Aurora is waiting for the OLT to issue the final order, according to Marco Ramunno, the town's planning director.
Aurora moved to grant heritage designation to 34 Berczy St. in 2022, pointing to its significance as the former site of the factory, one of Aurora’s early major employers, which produced boots for the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War.
“However, as part of the future re-development, the new building will incorporate a commemoration of the former Sisman Shoe Factory,” Ramunno added in an email. “The new building will include a plaque and (heritage) brickwork at the front entrance location as a tribute to the former factory.”
Aurora resident Dave Heard has family ties dating back three generations to Sisman, as his grandfather and father worked at the factory, and he himself worked for Sisman at another location, and then for a different company that had moved into 34 Berczy St.
“It’s like we’re standing in a vortex of history here,” said Heard, standing outside the old factory.
“To me, plaques are something people walk past; buildings and stories are what people see and listen to,” said Heard, a member of the town’s heritage advisory committee. “If we’ve failed that and failed this building, we need to do a better job.”
“I want the developer to include our past in their future build,” he added. “Do the right thing.”
There are other developments also being planned in the Berczy Street area.
Another project, proposed for 101 to 103 Mosley Street and 120 Metcalfe Street, is a nine-storey, mixed-use building, which is set to have 600 residential units.
That project also went to OLT, which issued a final order Aug. 8 for official plan and zoning bylaw amendments to go ahead.
Ramunno said town staff are currently reviewing the site plan application for the proposed development.
Building in the MTSA
Opposite Berczy Street, work continues on expanding service at the Aurora GO station. Berczy Street and the area is part of the town’s major transit station area (MTSA), with a focus on denser developments.
Steve Fleck, who lives on the opposite side of Wellington Street on Mugford Road, said he’s in favour of building up the MTSA, pointing to issues like parking troubles at Aurora GO, and traffic in town as reasons Aurora needs to “change the conversation,” around development and car-centric infrastructure.
“If you’ve grown up in suburbia and you’ve driven everywhere your whole life, and it’s just a default, I get it,” said Fleck, who sits on the town’s active transportation committee.
There are a number of other residential proposals at various stages of approval, along Berczy Street, and on Centre Street, with more than 1,800 units of housing proposed.
Earlier in October, Aurora council took a look at plans for 948 units of apartment housing on a 2.68-acre plot at 180 Wellington St. E, just down the street from the Aurora GO Station.
There is also another proposal 36 Industry St. in Aurora, is a zoning amendment application to permit a seven-storey, 97 unit building, in accordance with the official plan MTSA designation.
A public planning meeting for the proposal is scheduled for Nov. 12.
