{"id":20209,"date":"2018-03-28T23:14:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T03:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20209"},"modified":"2018-04-04T20:31:52","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:31:52","slug":"williams-move-sparks-ideas-for-new-and-old-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/williams-move-sparks-ideas-for-new-and-old-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams move sparks ideas for new and old sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The York Region School Board\u2019s plan to move Dr. G. W. Williams Secondary School to a new building in Aurora\u2019s northeast might be at least five years away, but that hasn\u2019t stopped the Town from getting a bid in on what the new \u2013 and old \u2013 school sites might mean for the community.
\nThis week, Aurora will consider two motions from Mayor Geoff Dawe and Councillor Tom Mrakas respectively that will take a close look at what the new Williams site might look like, as well as how its current Dunning Avenue site might be transformed in the future.
\nShould Council pass Mayor Dawe\u2019s motion this week, municipal staff will begin discussions with the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) on visioning the new school site on Bayview at Borealis with an eye for \u201cshared spaces\u201d like a community gymnasium.
\n\u201cOne of the things that always comes up is the availability of various facilities in parts of the Town that are maybe not well-served,\u201d says Mayor Dawe. \u201c[This site] is not that far from the SARC and there are lots of parks there, but we\u2019re always looking at additional gym facilities or additional community space for meetings. This [motion] really formalizes working with the Board to see how we can work together.\u201d
\nAs an example of previous collaborations, Mayor Dawe cites the multiuse sports field at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School as a prime example. It\u2019s a partnership which saw the York Catholic District School Board share the costs of a new field with the Town and, in return, both parties get to use it.
\n\u201cThe [YRDSB] is looking at getting their public consultation (on the new school site) going very soon and I would think we should start looking at these discussions sooner rather than later,\u201d he says.
\nBut, once the Williams community ultimately heads east, what should be done with the venerable Dunning Avenue site? The YRDSB has previously said they intend to keep the building for \u201cadministrative purposes,\u201d but Councillor Mrakas has another idea.
\nLast year, Aurora put funding in place to begin the design process of a new multipurpose recreation facility in the south end of Town, in a location floated to be just west of Bloomington Road and Yonge on disused land owned by the Province of Ontario.
\nWith a Provincial election \u2013 and a possible change in government \u2013 in the offing, Councillor Mrakas suggests the Dunning Avenue site, along with some of the current historical amenities already on site, would make a good alternative location, something he describes as a \u201cCentre of Excellence.\u201d
\nCouncillor Mrakas, in his own motion, calls on the Town to begin talks with the Board to partner on just such a \u201cCentre of Excellence\u201d \u2013 a move, he says, would not only provide much-needed sports facilities, but serve as an anchor for Aurora\u2019s downtown core.
\n\u201cWe should look at this as a location to partner with the school board [as] it could become more efficient as far as costs, and the Board would be able to get use out of a facility we\u2019re looking at creating, one that could possibly have a 50m pool, a full indoor track, and a lot of things that could be beneficial to both parties,\u201d says Councillor Mrakas.
\n\u201cI think is our duty to explore all opportunities. We don\u2019t have any land for this multi-use facility. We could hear back from the Board and if they are not interested at all, end of story. If they are interested, we can keep having discussions with them and Sport Aurora while we look at what happens. If there is a change in Provincial government, they might decide to do something else with the [Bloomington] land.\u201d
\nWhile a 50m swimming pool and a full indoor track are among the needs Sport Aurora has identified for Aurora\u2019s future multi-purpose facility, reps from the umbrella organization which represents dozens of Aurora\u2019s sports teams are more keen on the concept than the title \u201cCentre of Excellence.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just build a Centre of Excellence,\u201d says Stephen Kimmerer, President of Sport Aurora. \u201cYou have to build great facilities with excellent programming and funding. Those are three things that need to happen. We think it is great that they are doing some research and a multipurpose facility that is going to help as many sports as possible would [be great and with adequate facilities] it becomes a de-facto Centre of Excellence because everybody \u2013 north, south, east and west \u2013 will come and it will become a sport tourist destination.\u201d
\nSport Aurora\u2019s Reg Chappell agrees.
\nIf the Town had one full-size 50 metre pool, it would be full within six months, such is the demand for local pool times, he says.
\n\u201cCompetitive swimming in Ontario has grown from about 6,600 back in 2005 to over 20,000 competitive swimmers, let alone those who are learning to swim,\u201d says Mr. Chappell. \u201cThis multipurpose facility is the starting point with huge needs, and trying to bring it all together to fit the fine points of individual needs.\u201d
\nThe amount of land available on the Williams site would be ideal, they agree, and with the school building already on site, Mr. Kimmerer says there are a number of opportunities for rooms for Aurora\u2019s various sports and community groups \u2013 such as the Aurora Bridge Club \u2013 who have been clamouring for space.
\n\u201cBoth [Mayor Dawe and Councillor Mrakas\u2019] proposals make great sense,\u201d says Mr. Kimmerer. \u201cWe are in absolute support of either one. What we\u2019re thrilled with is somebody is investigating the options because if we don\u2019t get Bloomington, you have to have a Plan B, C, and D. If Aurora is going to grow as has been predicted, we are sorely under-facilitated. We don\u2019t have the space for all those people and those programs. The sooner we make a decision and start putting shovels in the ground, the better off we\u2019ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora looks to partner with school board on facilities at site for new high school, while looking at current school building to target recreation shortfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20194,"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-20209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-29-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5fX","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 23:02:49","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\/20209","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=20209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}