Consultants carrying out Aurora's Electoral System Review recommend the Town ditch its current at-large Council system in favour of dividing Aurora up into six wards in time for the 2022 municipal election.

Local lawmakers will consider recommendations stemming from the Electoral System Review (ESR) at the Committee level this week and, if a recommendation is made to Council, a final decision could be made as early as June 23.

Should Council adopt the consultant's recommendations, the current system where eligible voters select a Mayor and up to six Council candidates to represent the community as a whole will be consigned to history in favour of voting for a Mayor to represent the interests of the entire community and a candidate to represent the interests of each of six electoral districts.

Ward 1, if adopted as proposed, would be bordered by the railroad tracks in the east, Orchard Heights Boulevard in the south, Bathurst Street in the west, and the Town's boundary with Newmarket in the north.

Orchard Heights would be the northern boundary of Ward 2, with Yonge Street at the easternmost edge, Kennedy Street West in the south, and Bathurst in the west.

Bathurst, Kennedy Street West, and Yonge would form the west, north and east edge of Ward 3, with the railway line as the southern marker.

The largest proposed ward by area is Ward 4, which is bounded at the south by Bloomington Road, to the west by the railway tracks, Wellington Street East in the north and Highway 404 in the east.

Aurora's fastest growing communities in the northeast would be divided in two by Mavrinac Boulevard.

On the west side of Mavrinac is the proposed Ward 5, which is bordered by St. John's Sideroad in the north, the rail line in the west, and Wellington in the south.

Ward Six would include the entire northeast quadrant of Mavrinac and Wellington Street West up to the boundary with Newmarket in the north and Highway 404 in the east.

“The recommendation is based on projected populations for the Town, an objective analysis of the ward boundary options for Aurora and two rounds of public engagement,” said consultants in their final report to Council. “Along with the expertise of the Consultant Team, Round 1 informed the development of four options for a new ward system and Round 2 informed the selection of the preferred option and its ward boundaries.

“Given the projected populations, the recommended ward alignment should serve Aurora for three and possibly four municipal elections – 2022, 2026, 2030, and perhaps 2034. The recommended ward configuration achieves effective representation and is based on principles established by the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT) and the Courts.”

In all, the consultant team says nearly 600 individuals participated through the various rounds of the ESR, a figure they deemed “very respectable.”

“This high rate of public involvement is undoubtedly due to some of the innovative ways the project was promoted, such as through mobile signs, the rotating display panels at Town Hall and community centres and paid social media advertisements,” they said. “By comparison, ward boundary reviews in Vaughan (population 300,000) involved 235 individuals; Hamilton (population 540,000) 447 individuals; and Ajax (population 120,000) 180 individuals.”

By the time of the second round, consultants pitched four options to the public – ward configurations of three, four, five and six districts respectively.

Four and six ward configurations eventually rose to the top, and consultants were tasked with making a final recommendation from these two options.

“The four-ward configuration would most likely lead to a Council size of five – four ward councillors and a mayor,” they found. “During the public process, there was some discussion of having an elected Deputy Mayor, but opinions on this issue were divided. There was some concern that Council would then have an even number of members, which was seen as undesirable.

“The six-ward configuration results in a Council of seven members, six ward councillors and a mayor. This is the same size as the current Council. Aurora Town Council has recently reduced its size from nine to seven and, at this juncture, a further reduction does not seem appropriate.”

By Brock Weir