{"id":23415,"date":"2019-04-04T19:20:05","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23415"},"modified":"2019-04-04T19:20:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:20:14","slug":"library-square-decision-pivotal-in-auroras-history-say-cultural-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/library-square-decision-pivotal-in-auroras-history-say-cultural-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Square decision \u201cpivotal\u201d in Aurora\u2019s history, say cultural groups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The Library Square is\na \u201cgolden opportunity\u201d that shouldn\u2019t get bogged down in the \u201cminutia\u201d,\naccording to Bruce Gorman, CEO of the Aurora Public Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gorman, who took\nthe helm of the Aurora Public Library (APL) last summer, was one of five\ndelegates to appear at last Thursday\u2019s Special Council Meeting where local\nlawmakers signed off on the redevelopment of Library Square, including the\nthree-storey addition to Church Street School, and the year-round outdoor\ngathering place between the school building and APL itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was almost nine\nyears ago that I stood in front of Council in Halifax and asked them to approve\nthe Halifax Central Library project,\u201d he told Aurora Council. \u201cFortunately, on\nthat day, they did. That was the day that changed the City of Halifax forever.\nLooking back now, my hopes and dreams were realised like I couldn\u2019t have\nimagined \u2013 an architectural gem for the city, a beacon on the landscape,\niconic, but, most importantly, it was what went on inside the facility: the\nrelationships, the art, the culture, the education, the events, the endless\nactivities that informed people\u2019s lives in Halifax for years and generations to\ncome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, here\ntonight, the same opportunity is here in Aurora. I never thought I would have\nthis opportunity to be a part of something again, but I do. Will it be easy?\nNo, it won\u2019t. This is from a lot of experience. Will you have questions\nanswered to everything right now, tomorrow or the next day? You will not, but\nyou have time. We have to move forward now and answer some of those important\nquestions. It is important you realise how important tonight is here in Aurora.\nI come from experience, this is a golden opportunity for everybody here in\nAurora to step up and make today, this day, the day we say \u2018Aurora changed\nforever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said, Mr.\nGorman said he had questions of his own, chief among them were parking issues\non site. Parking, he said, was always going to be an important issue but he\nsaid he was somewhat heartened by a parking plan that went along with the\nLibrary Square approval. It provided some short-term and long-term strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also added he\nwould like Council to consider a bridge between the new Church Street School\naddition and APL down the line to increase the interconnectedness of the\nsquare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the APL at\nthe podium were representatives from the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown\nAurora Business Improvement Area (BIA), the Aurora Cultural Centre, and the\npublic at large. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra Ferri,\nExecutive Director of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber was\n\u201cexcited\u201d about the Library Square initiative, but said Chamber members still\nhave many questions, primarily about the amount of traffic that will come into\nthe Downtown Core as a result and the impact this might have on vacant\nbusinesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVacancies in\nbusiness environments are never a good thing,\u201d said Ms. Ferri. \u201cRevitalization\nand improvements to the Downtown Core of Aurora to increase and draw more\npeople to the downtown core and to Aurora in general is beneficial to all\nbusinesses in Aurora. The Aurora Chamber of Commerce is excited about this\ninitiative as improvements to the Downtown Core are sure to increase traffic to\nthe businesses and improve economic development in Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we are excited\nabout this initiative, we are also cautious of the increased expenses\nassociated with this initiative and request that the Town continue to provide\nupdates on taxation, operational implications that the Chamber can share with\nits members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanne Russo,\nrepresenting the Downtown BIA, said they too were \u201cexcited\u201d about the plan and\noffered nothing put positives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe, as a Board, feel\nthe development of Library Square will build and revitalize the Downtown Core\nand bring a stronger community,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are excited to be part of the\nnew transformation to our Town as we feel it will bring residents, visitors and\nbusinesses together, not only today but for generations to come. Together with\nthe development of Library Square and the BIA, the Downtown Core will become\nthe jewel of Aurora once again, while embracing our heritage and celebrating\nthe future ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her time at\nthe podium, Suzanne Haines, Executive Director of the Aurora Cultural Centre,\nsaid that during the planning process for Library Square, the Cultural Centre\nsubmitted a letter outlining in broad strokes where the organization currently\nstands and where it intends to be in the future, including the \u201ccultural\ninfrastructure\u201d needed to realise those goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purpose-built\ncultural space, she said, was important, along with studies to ensure that such\nspace is viable. Much of the work in this regard was in the report before\nCouncil, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although their letter\ndid not indicate the importance of food service, Ms. Haines told Council that\nshe was pleased to see culinary services are still in consideration as part of\nthe Church Street addition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA glass of wine, a\ngood dinner and desserts after are part of a fulsome experience as consuming\nart is a social activity where discussion is often sought after,\u201d she said.\n\u201cAlso, other users will want to be able to get a quick lunch or snack as they\nuse the facility for classes or wait for kids in the sunshine of the piazza.\nIdeally this space could be leased to a commercial food entity and provide a\nsupportive revenue source that compliments the overall plan for public-private\nactivation in the whole of downtown and throughout the BIA district. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hope is to help\nmake this project something the community can be proud of and make excellent\nuse of. As we have seen in many other communities where there is an investment\nin cultural infrastructure, it has a positive ripple effect on the quality of\nlife in a community. We look forward to seeing this project move forward and\nwill continue to work with our cultural partners, community stakeholders,\nproject consultants and Town Council and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last up to speak was\nlocal heritage advocate David Heard, who said the residents and business owners\nin Aurora\u2019s Downtown Core still had lingering concerns over the Library Square\nplans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is no slam\ndunk, I can tell you that right now,\u201d said Mr. Heard. \u201cThe concerns were, of\ncourse, parking. The concerns were the costs running forward, what is it going\nto cost to run, will it run at a deficit? The cost was shocking to a lot of\npeople in these economic times. The other thing was I heard the other day there\nwere two committee members who spoke about this build and one of them, I\u2019ll\ncall him an expert who did a historic building on Mosley, he spoke of concerns\nabout the water in the area. We know there is Niagara Falls going under that\narea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2011, I spoke about a possible godsend to\nthis area for parking was an adjacent property, approximately 80 steps. It\ntakes less than a minute to walk to this property. The shocking thing that\nhappened today was I got a phone call from the owner of that property and there\nis an interest to make the property available. So, if the public has any\nconcerns about parking, I think the problems may have just gotten completely\nwiped out.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Library Square is a \u201cgolden opportunity\u201d that shouldn\u2019t get bogged down in the \u201cminutia\u201d, according to Bruce Gorman, CEO of the Aurora Public Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23358,"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-23415","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\/2019\/03\/2019-03-25-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-65F","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 21:02:37","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\/23415","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=23415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}