Detached ADU in Aurora - Design, Permits, Construction

Old Aurora lots routinely run 200 ft deep - the longest average rear-yard depth of any town in York Region. That depth is why Aurora is one of the few GTA municipalities where a two-storey garden suite with its own private yard still clears the angular plane without a minor variance. Aurora permits additional dwelling units with the Aurora Village and Northeast Old Aurora heritage districts adding design review in the core.

Large mature lots in Old Aurora with 200 ft depths, and Oak Ridges Moraine constraints on the western edge. North-GTA snowfall of 148 cm and -5.1°C winters give Aurora a May-October working season - foundations for detached adu go in before the ground closes, with interior finishing carried through the cold months.

A detached unit stands clear of the main house, so it carries its own foundation, its own service laterals and its own exit - the three cost centres that separate it from an interior conversion on the same Aurora lot. We trench services across the yard and pour to 1.2 m before the ground closes; framing, envelope and interior finishing then run through the cold months without holding up occupancy. Detached is the highest per-square-foot form of the four, and also the only one that leaves the existing house untouched - no shared walls, no disruption to the occupants during construction.