{"id":21158,"date":"2018-07-18T12:15:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T16:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21158"},"modified":"2018-07-26T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T18:38:33","slug":"accessibility-issues-plague-library-square-design-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/accessibility-issues-plague-library-square-design-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessibility issues plague Library Square design: advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Tyler Barker is hoping local lawmakers can see things from his perspective.
\nMr. Barker, a long-time advocate for a fully accessible community and chair of Aurora\u2019s Accessibility Advisory Committee, wants Council to take a second look at plans for Library Square before they are set in stone to make sure access to the new community space, and indeed the associated buildings that bookend the plans \u2013 the Aurora Public Library and the expanded Church Street School \u2013 are as accessible as possible for Aurorans of all abilities.
\nPlans for Library Square were approved in principle by Council last month.
\nIn addition to a three-storey expansion to the Church Street School, plans for Library Square itself include an open piazza between the two landmark buildings, which will provide a community gathering space adaptable for many purposes.
\nParking currently situated between the two buildings will be moved to the east of the site, roughly to the footprint of the former Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre\/Fire Hall building, which was recently demolished, along with the old Aurora Public Library building, to make way for the redevelopment.
\nAccessible parking for the Library, which is currently just outside the rear entrance to the current library facility, is slated to be moved to the north of the building, off a laneway that will be constructed as part of the Library Square development.
\nThis plan to relocate the two fully accessible parking spots to a potentially busy laneway further away from the building, however, falls well short of the mark in Mr. Barker\u2019s view, and in the views of his committee members.
\n\u201cLibrary Square itself I don\u2019t have an issue with, the concept, but [I have an issue] with the fact they are putting the spots further away, the drop-offs further away,\u201d Mr. Barker told The Auroran on Thursday before giving Councillor Harold Kim an on-site idea of his concerns. \u201cIt is a matter of at least maintaining accessibility or trying to enhance it, never making it harder. Even for somebody that can drive, the drop off is further away and they might not be able to walk.\u201d
\nThe Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), he says, calls for making accessible parking as close to overhang protection as possible to protect individuals using mobility devices \u2013 in Mr. Barker\u2019s case, an electric wheelchair. This is another area he says the Library Square plan falls short.
\n\u201cJust last June, I was coming out of my grandmother\u2019s retirement home and [the accessible parking] was really close to my van, but I was only out there for a minute in a torrential downpour and my wheelchair fried, the mechanism didn\u2019t work, so we had to literally tow me up my ramp because the power was fried,\u201d he says. \u201cThar would be a big challenge for me and others in my situation if the weather is bad, or if the weather just turns.
\n\u201cYou should always enhance accessibility and never take it away. I notice the Library has roughly 300,000 users a year coming in and out of this place, but it only has two spots and they are moving them further away. Yet, the seniors\u2019 centre has nine spots by the door, the Leisure Complex has eleven by the door, why are we doing this to the Library?\u201d
\nThe issue of accessible parking in Library Square has been a hallmark of recent debates over the issue, including the meeting leading to its approval, and Councillors John Abel and Wendy Gaertner being among those raising the loudest alarm bells.
\nFrom the perspective of fellow Accessibility Advisory Committee member James Hoyes, the Committee never had a chance to provide formal comment on either of the two original Library Square concepts, prompting Mr. Barker to take his issues directly to a Council meeting.
\n\u201cI want [Council] to understand the challenges that I and many others face, maybe seeing it from my point of view, actually seeing what the challenges will be,\u201d said Mr. Barker. \u201cI know they mean well, but they don\u2019t have the accessible eye and just showing them gives them a better understanding. We\u2019re not a special interest group. I and my mom, and my family, have dealt with challenges. I am 32 next week, so when we see things that can be easily fixed or consulted on, that\u2019s what makes me a little bit upset because the committee has value and we\u2019re not demanding. We\u2019re just trying to be as practical as possible.\u201d
\nMeeting with Councillor Kim, Mr. Barker and Mr. Hoyes suggested a few modifications they believed could be made to address the issue, including bringing the accessible parking spaces in just a few metres out of the laneway closer to the Library.
\n\u201cIt just hit home in terms of there other possibilities,\u201d said Councillor Kim, noting he would be bringing his to Council\u2019s attention by their July 24 meeting. \u201cI can\u2019t disagree with the recommendations and I think if other Councillors and other stakeholders were here and had one on ones, I don\u2019t think they would have any issues either. Now it is just a matter of taking it to the planners to say, what are the challenges, if any, with this option? We\u2019re not that far off from what Tyler and James and the Committee desires and what was currently drafted. Let\u2019s close that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir Tyler Barker is hoping local lawmakers can see things from his perspective. Mr. Barker, a long-time advocate for a fully accessible community and chair of Aurora\u2019s Accessibility Advisory Committee, wants Council to take a second look at plans for Library Square before they are set in stone to make sure access to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21151,"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-21158","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\/07\/2018-07-19-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5vg","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 06:56:04","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\/21158","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=21158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}