{"id":13438,"date":"2016-02-17T18:22:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T23:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13438"},"modified":"2016-02-17T18:22:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T23:22:15","slug":"regions-orchard-heights-fencing-project-on-hold-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/regions-orchard-heights-fencing-project-on-hold-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Region’s Orchard Heights fencing project on hold: Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

The land around a Regional reservoir near Orchard Heights has been enjoyed by residents for its greenspace and trails for years, but the Region\u2019s plans to fence the area citing liability concerns has been put on hold following opposition from neighbours.<\/p>\n

While Mayor Geoff Dawe, Aurora\u2019s representative at the Region, said the Region remains committed to the fencing plan, he told concerned residents over social media that following a meeting on Thursday, plans are temporarily on hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Region has a number of these properties and I have been informed that this is the only one not fenced,\u201d said Mayor Dawe. \u201cRegional staff are committed to moving forward with a fencing project to protect the integrity of the reservoir. However, after coordinating a meeting with representatives from the Town of Aurora and the Region, there is a better understanding of the proposal and its impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worries from residents were brought to the podium at last week\u2019s Council meeting by David Fielding who said the public has been able to \u201cenjoy\u201d these lands since the pumping station was built over 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe park is used by the public for numerous leisure activities, including hiking, physical fitness training, [and]stargazing as it is an excellent vista point over the Town of Aurora,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the Aurora Trails Master Plan, the hill has been identified as one of the few lookout points in Aurora.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur trail system is important for Aurora residents. The Region\u2019s project manager tells me the Region is installing the fence for liability reasons, the feeling is the Region can fence off liability if something happens on the hill or surrounding area. I don\u2019t think this is a valid reason for installing a fence. This liability fits on all public lands and nothing has changed there recently to make this an issue that would require such a drastic measure as installing a fence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the Mayor\u2019s meeting, however, he assured those concerned the fencing project would not have an impact on the area\u2019s east\/west trail connection, but it could be a different story for the north\/south connection near Orchard Heights. <\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the Town and Regional Staff will be working together to maintain some kind of north\/south access,\u201d said Mayor Dawe. \u201cI expect to hear back from them by the end of February and will keep you informed as this project develops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Mr. Fielding\u2019s delegation to Council, a number of Councillors expressed similar concerns, including trying to get input from the Town\u2019s Trails and Active Transportation Committee. As the area has been in use by the public for decades, Councillor Michael Thompson said \u201cclarity\u201d was needed over the issue as the property also boasts signage from the Town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to the residents to make sure we\u2019re clear and they have been consulted before we fence off a right of way that has been in use for over 30 years,\u201d said Councillor Thompson. \u201cIt is just common courtesy. I think we should be looking at why these things aren\u2019t being discussed back and forth.\u201d
\nAdded Councillor John Abel: \u201cThere are concrete pads all over Town for [York Region Transit] that doesn\u2019t go on half the routes, so I don\u2019t think they consult with us on all matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The land around a Regional reservoir near Orchard Heights has been enjoyed by residents for its greenspace and trails for years, but the Region\u2019s plans to fence the area citing liability concerns has been put on hold following opposition from neighbours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3uK","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 12:30:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}