{"id":13493,"date":"2016-02-24T21:37:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T02:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13493"},"modified":"2016-02-24T21:37:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T02:37:27","slug":"mavrinac-residents-speak-out-against-potential-parkland-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mavrinac-residents-speak-out-against-potential-parkland-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavrinac residents speak out against potential \u201cparkland\u201d sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/p>\n

Residents in the Mavrinac Boulevard neighbourhood actively \u2013 and successfully \u2013 lobbied Council to fight developers for a six acre parcel of land in their neighbourhood to keep it open space.<\/p>\n

But, faced with a recommendation from consultants leading the creation of a new Parks and Recreation Master Plan calling for the sale of the land in question to finance the purchase of parkland in other areas of Aurora, the neighbours filled Council chambers last week to fire the opening salvo.<\/p>\n

Represented at the podium by area resident Nahla Khouri, she said she and her fellow neighbours believed the consultants took the easy way out and provided Council with the easy answers.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The have said] there is a skateboard park relatively close by; you already knew that,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are homes nearby; you already knew that. You could sell the land for profit; you already knew that. We expected practical, creative options from these consultants, some fact-finding, some investigation, some research, interviews perhaps with the people affected. They did not do any of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, the consultants directly ignored the motion from this Council in September 2015; the operative part which was to investigate and find green space or recreational options for the Mavrinac land. That was four and a half months ago. To my knowledge, nothing has happened. From the residents\u2019 perspective, it seems as if the consultants started out with a conclusion, to sell the land for profit and use the lands elsewhere, and then they selectively presented information to support that conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Draft Parks and Recreation Plan \u201cignores\u201d the \u201chistory and uniqueness\u201d of the land, she concluded, outlining its journey from a parcel originally earmarked for the use of the York Catholic District School Board, only to be at the centre of a legal dispute between the Town and the Developer, Minto Communities, when the Board released its right to the land and Aurora moved to secure its right of first refusal to buy the land, as set out in the original subdivision agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a long road for many residents,\u201d Ms. Khouri continued. \u201cThe Mavrinac land stays unused, untouched, and closed off to residents, as it has for the better part of a decade. As you all now know, many residents paid premiums to back onto that land. Our Town has been slowly, methodically moving in a certain direction regarding this land \u2013 starting with the enquiries every resident made when they moved in. What we view as a special piece of land that our Town fought for, what we view as a gem that should be treasured, this report treats as an afterthought or an avenue for money. The recommendation completely disregards our interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Khouri concluded her delegation to Council noting the \u201cmajority\u201d of Council has communicated with neighbours that they would vote to \u201censure all six acres\u201d would be used for green space, recreational space, parkland, sports fields, or other open uses and there is \u201cno reason to change course\u201d at this time.<\/p>\n

Indeed, when responding to Ms. Khouri\u2019s comments, some said their course remained steady.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t agree with you more in everything that you said,\u201d said Councillor Tom Mrakas to applause from the healthy crowd filling Council Chambers. \u201cI know we have had some talks of what could be creatively put together for the lands. I think, at the end of the day, [the report] doesn\u2019t change my mind. I think some form of green space is what we need for those lands and that is how I will be looking moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner echoed these comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this should be kept as parkland to service your community,\u201d she agreed. <\/p>\n

While Mayor Geoff Dawe asked Ms. Khouri whether the neighbourhood would be receptive to the tennis bubble recently approved for construction behind the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex going onto the Mavrinac lands \u2013 an option Ms. Khouri did not rule out, although she questioned whether this would fit the needs of the tennis community \u2013 few Council members offered a contrary opinion, with the exception of Councillor Paul Pirri.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things you said tonight that I don\u2019t necessarily agree with,\u201d he said. \u201cWith that said, I truly appreciate you coming out and voicing your opinion and speaking for the community. I really appreciate it, even though I tend to disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, Councillor Michael Thompson, who chaired last week\u2019s General Committee meeting said the efforts of the community were appreciated and would be taken into account when Council tackles the Draft Master Plan in detail this March. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe uniting force for all of us is we want the land to be publically-owned, recreational land with open space for use for everyone, all of Aurora,\u201d said Ms. Khouri. \u201cThe specifics as to what goes there, none of us are experts. We don\u2019t know what will fit. We believed it was in the hands of experts. We believed that\u2019s what was put in motion starting in September of 2015 and when the Town bought the land last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because people have differing views on what should go there\u2026I don\u2019t want there to be any suggestion that our community is divided in any way, shape or form. Those are superficial differences. We are all united in that we don\u2019t want any more development there.\u201d <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents in the Mavrinac Boulevard neighbourhood actively \u2013 and successfully \u2013 lobbied Council to fight developers for a six acre parcel of land in their neighbourhood to keep it open space.<\/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-13493","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\/p3D2k4-3vD","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 09:12:12","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\/13493","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=13493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}