{"id":21025,"date":"2018-06-28T10:17:21","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T14:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21025"},"modified":"2018-06-28T10:17:21","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T14:17:21","slug":"tough-questions-expected-this-week-before-library-square-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/tough-questions-expected-this-week-before-library-square-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough questions expected this week before Library Square decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Local lawmakers may have tentatively approved a three-story addition to the Church Street School as a centrepiece to Library Square last week, but planners and staff will face tough questions this week before \u2013 and if \u2013 this decision is ratified.
\nLast week, Council signed off on an extensive vision for Library Square, a new public space that is envisioned to become a significant community gathering space.
\nBordered in the west by the Aurora Public Library and the Church Street School in the east, Library Square will encompass significant public space between the two landmarks, a seasonal skating rink, a new parking configuration and, in a feature which courted the most discussion at the Committee level last week, a three-storey addition to the Church Street School, comprising of community and studio space, as well as a 250 seat theatre.
\nWhile many Council members said this project, which could cost upwards of $17 million once final designs are completed and approved, said this was the right investment at the right time, others said it completely missed the mark.
\n\u201cI think we can do far better,\u201d said Councillor John Abel on the designs presented last week, arguing that the designs proposed would hinder the operations of the Aurora Public Library. \u201cI am all in favour of a Library Square, don\u2019t get me wrong. I have been for both terms I have been here. My priority is the Library. It\u2019s an absolute necessity and community hub. Whatever we do, we should be able to compliment what they do and not hinder them.\u201d
\nMoving the parking lot from the back of the building to Victoria Street, as envisioned in the Library Square proposal, will do just that, he argued, reviving his position from last year that the Library Square open space would be a better fit for Victoria Street rather than in between the two buildings.
\nThe parking lot issue also presented accessibility issues, he said, adding he did not see the need for a theatre within the plan.
\n\u201cWe just had baseball come forward with all their metrics on how they need more diamonds, but I don\u2019t see a dance studio saying they need more dance space, I don\u2019t see Theatre Aurora coming to us and saying, \u2018we\u2019re operating at maximum capacity, we need another theatre.\u2019 Why do we need a theatre? Because we can build it, I guess.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t need to build this, quite frankly, and we don\u2019t need to disrupt the business of the Library. If we just took a step back and gave ourselves an option, heard from our Cultural Centre, their Strategic Plans, our Museum\u2019s plans, incorporate Victoria Hall, I am sure we would have something far less expensive.\u201d
\nWith the money they save, he contended, they could \u201cjust take the roof off\u201d Theatre Aurora on Henderson Drive and create an extension.
\n\u201cFiscal prudence is why I am not in favour of this,\u201d he concluded.
\nSome Council members, on the other hand, said they took \u201coffence\u201d at the suggestion that they would make a decision that would hinder the Library, including many incumbent members who have served on the Library Board this term or in previous sessions.
\n\u201cI was on the Library Board for seven years, chaired it for four years, so I think if anyone has a fairly good sense of how this Library operates and [its] value to the community, I think I can claim that,\u201d said Mayor Geoff Dawe. \u201cI can\u2019t see how, in any way, this would impede the Library. I can\u2019t make that connection.\u201d
\nMayor Dawe said the concept of including a theatre in the proposal came from both himself and Councillor Michael Thompson, adding the \u201cworld class\u201d programs currently fostered by the Aurora Cultural Centre deserve a world class facility for musicians to play.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we do these people justice by not providing a world class facility for them to play in,\u201d Mayor Dawe continued. \u201cThe crowds would love to have that facility, so I think it would be a fabulous and incredible draw. I think it would just be unbelievably good for the quality of people we have coming to our Town. This is, in my opinion, the right facility at the right time in the right place. We are bringing, I think, an incredible advantage to our Town and that is what we have to focus on: What is our differentiator? I think this is going to be one of the differentiators. My father always used to say, \u2018A cynic is a person who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.\u2019 This is the right place at the right time.\u201d
\nThis was a view somewhat shared by Councillor Paul Pirri.
\nWhile he took exception to the \u201cinference\u201d that moving forward would \u201cdamage\u201d the Library, he was less enthusiastic about the theatre proposal, contending that larger theatres in neighbouring municipalities were struggling.
\n\u201cI worry a bit about the saturation levels, [but] with that said, I am willing to consider what we have on the table,\u201d said Councillor Pirri. \u201cI think event space would be fantastic to have and I am sure that\u2019s why [a] theatre is being promoted and set up in the way that it is to allow for that space, so we don\u2019t have to travel outside of Aurora to hold big events anymore \u2013 and that is the important thing.\u201d
\nAs the longest currently serving Council member, Councillor Wendy Gaertner said she didn\u2019t think anyone at the table could say \u201cthey have worked as hard or as long\u201d to make Library Square a reality. While she said the proposal before them was \u201cgreat\u201d, it was not \u201cperfect\u201d and she questioned the financial wisdom of going forward at this time.
\n\u201cIn my opinion, we need to build a business case on this,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to have an operating model. We need to look for partners who can help us with the operating costs. This is going to be, long-term, a very expensive building to operate [and] I think we need to look at the operating costs. It needs to be a fulsome discussion and a fiscally responsible one. With the information that I have \u2013 and I love the design and think modern works well with the old \u2013 I am not going to approve a budget of more than $20 million when we don\u2019t have any detailed costing.
\n\u201cI think the Library would have liked it to be otherwise, but they are agreeing to do this because Council has voted to do this, and it is going to be wonderful for the downtown core, including the Library. We really need to know what\u2019s what before we make any financial decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local lawmakers may have tentatively approved a three-story addition to the Church Street School as a centrepiece to Library Square last week, but planners and staff will face tough questions this week before \u2013 and if \u2013 this decision is ratified.<\/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-21025","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\/p3D2k4-5t7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 20:18:09","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\/21025","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=21025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}