{"id":16673,"date":"2017-03-01T17:53:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T22:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16673"},"modified":"2017-03-01T17:53:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T22:53:08","slug":"sports-field-switch-offers-solution-to-long-time-aysc-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/sports-field-switch-offers-solution-to-long-time-aysc-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports field switch offers solution to long-time AYSC issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Aurora Youth Soccer Club (AYSC) could be on the move to Stewart Burnett Park next year after the Club and the Town brainstormed a solution to a growing problem in the soccer community.
\nThe move is set to come with the Town changing course on new and replacement artificial turf fields.
\nCouncil earlier approved a new multipurpose field for Stewart Burnett Park, just behind the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex on Wellington Street East, which was set to be constructed this year. As part of this year\u2019s Budget, they also approved new artificial turf for the heavily-used soccer field at Sheppard\u2019s Bush, the current home of the AYSC.
\nBut, it has been suggested, switching the fields and moving soccer to Stewart Burnett could be the easiest solution for a problem long-identified by the Town\u2019s largest sports club.
\nThe AYSC approached Council last year for new facilities at Sheppard\u2019s Bush to allow for showers and some locker facilities, amenities they say have been sorely lacking.
\n\u201cThat didn\u2019t come to fruition so we started to thinking of other ways we can possibly work with the Town [on] what would make it better for the soccer community,\u201d said AYSC president Jimmy Brennan making his pitch to Councillors last week. \u201cThere was a proposal for a multiuse field to go at Stewart Burnett and once that field was built, over at Sheppard\u2019s Bush, because of wear and tear, that was going to be revamped.
\n\u201cNow we looked at it and thought we have a world-class facility here in Aurora that hosts right now a beautiful baseball diamond, tennis courts that are in there now, a swimming pool, hockey rinks, and we thought everything we\u2019re looking for is right here. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could move the soccer field from Sheppard\u2019s Bush to Stewart Burnett and take the multiuse field and move that over to Sheppard\u2019s Bush?
\n\u201cWe\u2019re requesting you guys get on board with us and help us out a little bit to facilitate our needs in the soccer community for a soccer-specific field over at Stewart Burnett. This would be great for teams that are coming in from Ottawa, Windsor, London and especially our semi-pro team that we have in Town. This would be an ideal situation for us and the soccer community.\u201d
\nCouncillors, sitting at the Committee level, agreed. Mayor Dawe said Aurora doesn\u2019t have a lot of single use facilities \u2013 with baseball diamonds being one notable exception, and asked for assurances that a new soccer field in northeast Aurora could be used by more groups than just the AYSC.
\nMr. Brennan said a field such as this would not have the American Football lines to accommodate the York Region Bucs, but lacrosse and rugby could be accommodated.
\n\u201cThere are 12 dressing rooms [in the area], showers and everything you need for outdoor sports,\u201d said Mr. Brennan. \u201cI think we have 52 fields in Town and not one dressing room. This would actually accommodate those in need.
\n\u201cI think it is a great idea to move things over and I hope we can make this happen at Council and ratify it,\u201d said Councillor Tom Mrakas looking ahead to this week\u2019s Council meeting. \u201cI think it is a great addition to the SARC considering we have the Sports Hall of Fame there. I think it is a unique place to have so many people coming in and visiting this Town and seeing what this Town can have for them.\u201d
\nBuilding change rooms specifically at Sheppard\u2019s Bush would otherwise cost the Town upwards of $1 million, Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Parks and Recreation, said.
\nWith that in mind, Council said this option makes financial sense.
\n\u201cIt also allows the Aurora Youth Soccer to keep their semi-pro team because we understand without those change rooms the league would not allow them to keep the team,\u201d concluded Councillor Mrakas.
\nAdded Councillor Michael Thompson: \u201cThis is a great example of working with our community partners to find solutions that not only meet their needs, but ours as well.\u201d
\nWhile Council was in favour of the plan, the switch raised questions on what is happening as far as sports fields are concerned in other corners of Town. Councillor John Abel, for instance, cited the 11 acre parcel of land behind the former home of Hallmark Cards near Industrial Parkway and Vandorf for recreational purposes.
\nHe said he wanted to make sure all options were considered.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be putting money into Sheppard\u2019s Bush when we have another plan for the 11 acres of Hallmark and realise we should have considered putting the investment in there for the multipurpose and just done the turf at Sheppard\u2019s Bush,\u201d he said. \u201cI am pleased to see something of this magnitude being put into the SARC facility and Stewart Burnett, so I am in support of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aurora Youth Soccer Club (AYSC) could be on the move to Stewart Burnett Park next year after the Club and the Town brainstormed a solution to a growing problem in the soccer community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16673","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\/p3D2k4-4kV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 05:36:17","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\/16673","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=16673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}