{"id":14080,"date":"2016-04-27T11:56:23","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T15:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=14080"},"modified":"2016-04-27T11:56:23","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T15:56:23","slug":"think-big-and-think-local-say-councillors-on-precinct-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/think-big-and-think-local-say-councillors-on-precinct-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThink big and think local,\u201d say Councillors on Precinct plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Uncertainty has swirled around the revitalization of Downtown Aurora for over two decades but there is one thing Council now agrees on: it\u2019s time to think big and think local.<\/p>\n

This is one of the key goals contained in the first \u201cmilestone\u201d of the \u201crebooted\u201d Cultural Precinct planning process, which is set to be approved at Council this week.<\/p>\n

Local lawmakers approved the first milestone of the new process after, as The Auroran reported earlier this month, Aurora\u2019s new CAO, Doug Nadorozny, said it was important to call time on the project so far to get everybody \u2013 Council members, municipal staff, and residents at large \u2013 on the same page on where the plan has been and where it is going.<\/p>\n

The first milestone, which was tentatively approved by Council members at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting, reaffirms the vision to \u201cThink Big and Local\u201d while creating a \u201chub of artistic creation, innovation, production and presentation\u201d considering the context and scale of Downtown Aurora, enhancing pedestrian connections and rebranding the area as a \u201cdestination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approving the first milestone also includes a further look at a vision created by FOTENN Consulting, which has divided the community into three blocks. The first block houses the Aurora Cultural Centre, Aurora Public Library and Library Square. They call on demolishing the old Library and Seniors\u2019 Centre buildings for a number of redevelopment opportunities, including a proposal to extend the Church Street School\/Aurora Cultural Centre northward to include an underground theatre. <\/p>\n

The vision for the second block calls for the rejigging of parking at Trinity Anglican Church and the former Wells Street School while allowing for a pedestrian thoroughfare, while Block Three focuses on a number of overhauls to Town Park.<\/p>\n

For Councillors, approving the First Milestone was a good next step, as was putting the future in the hands of the Town\u2019s planning department rather than the Parks & Recreation exercise it has been until this point.<\/p>\n

That is where it should have been and I am optimistic that we can establish a Cultural Precinct and I am looking forward to that going as it should,\u201d said Councillor John Abel.<\/p>\n

Similar enthusiasm was offered by Councillor Jeff Thom who said he was \u201chappy\u201d about the reboot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are all interested in the revitalization of Downtown and even to move forward with the Cultural Precinct,\u201d he said. \u201cOn reflection on my role in this, I think this is the best way to move forward rather than the quick timeline we originally set ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he stressed the FOTENN study remains a guideline rather than a vision set in stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to a robust discussion with both Council and the public as to what we can really do to revitalize the Downtown and have a Cultural Precinct the whole Town can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Michael Thompson added he was \u201cfully supportive\u201d of the report before Council and was encouraged that this will help the Town get to a point of making a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we all know, this is something that has been on the Council agenda for many years and I think it is incumbent on this Council to make a decision on some of those long-standing issues,\u201d he said. \u201cI am certainly supportive of the first milestone, which is those guiding principles and I look forward to the next stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Councillor Sandra Humfryes: \u201cI am very happy to see this back and I think it is moving in the right direction. It is a plan to give the residents in our Town hope that we are actually going to be implementing some exciting changes downtown. It will be a win-win, so every step of the way will have public consultations and I believe great decisions will be made to make it a place where everyone will want to go, a destination point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Councillors, however, questioned the second milestone which, according to the report, is set to hit the Council table on May 3. Of particular focus is the request to Council to commit $5 million from Hydro Reserves as a \u201cnotional budget\u201d to implement the Cultural Precinct Plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to do a robust public consultation process and to look at the development community and other people that might have an interest in the plan without some notional agreement from Council that a large investment is prepared to be made by the community for the right project,\u201d said the CAO, adding staff felt strongly it was important to leave the impression Council is prepared to spend \u201cbig dollars\u201d to make it happen. \u201cIf the right project is never found, then the investment is zero. If a project we can\u2019t even envision is found and it is $10 million, and that is the best one, Council can consider it then.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, that could mean another round of public consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe before any money is taken from any of the Hydro monies it has to go out to the public for approval as well,\u201d said Councillor Wendy Gaertner.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uncertainty has swirled around the revitalization of Downtown Aurora for over two decades but there is one thing Council now agrees on: it\u2019s time to think big and think local.<\/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-14080","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\/p3D2k4-3F6","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 19:13:16","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\/14080","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=14080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}