{"id":20486,"date":"2018-04-27T09:45:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T13:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20486"},"modified":"2018-04-27T09:45:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T13:45:58","slug":"council-questions-petch-houses-future-after-splitting-with-wedding-chapel-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/council-questions-petch-houses-future-after-splitting-with-wedding-chapel-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Council questions Petch House\u2019s future after splitting with wedding chapel option"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Could it be splitsville for Petch House and the Town of Aurora?
\nThe relationship between one of Aurora\u2019s oldest buildings and the municipality hit a rough patch this week after Councillor Tom Mrakas\u2019 attempts to convert the historic building into a venue for civil marriages brought up more questions than answers.
\nThis past February, Council approved a motion from Councillor Mrakas asking for a report on the feasibility of making Petch House, which currently stands behind the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre, into a possible venue for civil marriage ceremonies, which are currently being held in Council chambers.
\nAccording to the resulting report, which was presented at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting, it could cost in the neighbourhood of $35,000 to bring the restored and reconstructed log cabin up to code with electrical facilities and an HVAC system for year-round use.
\nA full upgrade to allow further uses \u2013 including a new wood floor system, connection to municipal water and sewer systems, and the construction of two washrooms, among other items \u2013 could cost up to $97,500.
\nWith these numbers, however, Council members started a whole new discussion, a discussion which could lead to the building itself being moved from its current location, where it has stood since 2014.
\nCouncillor John Abel, for instance, who sits on the Board of the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Association, said the Board has its reservations on converting Petch House into a wedding venue. Civil weddings are traditionally carried out by the Town on Fridays, one of the busiest days at the Seniors\u2019 Centre.
\nThat being said, however, he said spending $35,000 to bring the building up to code was \u201cprobably not a bad investment.\u201d
\nCouncillor Mrakas had a similar view, stating that whatever the future use of Petch House, it is going to need electricity and an HVAC system.
\n\u201cThe longer we wait, the more it is going to cost, so we might as well put it in now and we can use it for something,\u201d he said. \u201c[A wedding chapel] is not the only purpose it can be used for. Having the HVAC system and the electricity in there would allow staff to possibly have other types of events as well. This would be just the beginning of being able to use that space instead of [it] sitting there empty and useless.\u201d
\nBut its future use might not be on that site at all.
\nCouncillor Wendy Gaertner said she simply couldn\u2019t see Petch House being used as a wedding venue without a washroom.
\n\u201cWe have been trying to figure out the Petch House for years and nobody wanted it,\u201d she said. \u201cNow the Seniors don\u2019t want it either. The thing this would be perfect for is additional use for the Seniors\u2019 Centre because it is just busting at the seams and we\u2019re not going to [build] another Seniors\u2019 Centre. Is it out of the question that we figure out how to connect the Seniors\u2019 Centre with the Petch House?\u201d
\nCouncillor Abel offered that the Seniors\u2019 Centre is in \u201cdire need\u201d of storage space and Petch House might be a solution.
\n\u201cThe idea was to abut it to the [Seniors\u2019 Centre] and create a door,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not practical to go up and down the ramp [leading to the Petch House at the entrance to the Aurora Arboretum] if we are moving tables and chairs. We could just roll that up to part of the building. That is not a bad idea.\u201d
\nAnother potential use, he said, was something previously suggested by local landscape architect David Tomlinson, namely to have it in the Aurora Wildlife Park as a blind.
\n\u201cLooking back at some of the old reports, I know we had an open call to the public and there was a long list of ideas and suggestions about Petch House, but for the Wildlife Park, the Eco Park, and those were ideas that were talked about at the time but those facilities just weren\u2019t ready,\u201d added Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cWe chose adjacent to the Seniors\u2019 Centre and maybe Library Square is an option. I would like to get that information before making a final determination next week.\u201d
\nA final determination on Petch House\u2019s fate \u2013 wedding chapel or otherwise \u2013 is not likely to come this week.
\nThere is group therapy in the offing before the idea finally makes it to the altar, with the matter heading to the Heritage Advisory Committee for their review.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could it be splitsville for Petch House and the Town of Aurora?
\nThe relationship between one of Aurora\u2019s oldest buildings and the municipality hit a rough patch this week after Councillor Tom Mrakas\u2019 attempts to convert the historic building into a venue for civil marriages brought up more questions than answers. <\/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-20486","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\/p3D2k4-5kq","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 13:22:27","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\/20486","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=20486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}