{"id":23870,"date":"2019-05-30T17:07:46","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T21:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23870"},"modified":"2019-06-05T20:14:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T00:14:10","slug":"bridge-could-provide-important-link-at-library-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/bridge-could-provide-important-link-at-library-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridge could provide important link at Library Square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

A $3.5 million bridge connecting the Aurora Public\nLibrary to the planned addition to the Church Street School could be one of the\nfinishing touches on the Town\u2019s vision for Library Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set to be ratified this week, Council met at the\ncommittee level last Tuesday night where they approved in principle a link\nbetween the two buildings, raising the total cost of the Library Square project\nby $3.544 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tentative addition to the Library Square vision came\nalong with a further $398,900 for a new entrance vestibule for the Library\n(APL) and a further $157,000 for a caf\u00e9 space to serve the Library Square area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Library Square link, which, if completed, will\nconnect both buildings at their second floors, received an enthusiastic\nendorsement before the discussion began by APL CEO Bruce Gorman, who said a\nbridge would bring many benefits to the overall plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis completes Library Square, from my perspective,\u201d\nsaid Mr. Gorman. \u201cIt makes it full, it makes it wholesome, it makes this a\nplace where people can meander back and have a whole lot of experiences within\nthe same structure. To me, this is what we need to do to complete Library\nSquare, to maximize what it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gorman, who came to APL after long tenures in Halifax\nand Woodstock, said he has been involved in several construction projects over\nthe years and one of his biggest regrets is not \u201cseizing the moment\u201d and\ngetting it right the first time, rather than making changes to construction\nafter the fact at greater cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think now is an opportunity to seize this moment and\nmove forward with this link,\u201d he said, before outlining a laundry list of\nbenefits he saw the bridge bringing to Library Square. \u201cFor [APL], obviously\nincreased traffic flow with more people coming into that general area is good\n<\/p>\n\n\n

[because]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

having more people in the Library is great for us and the community\nas well. It is more of a \u2018unified\u2019 destination, a place where the community can\ncome together to do a lot of things and maybe there are multiple things; maybe\nthey are taking in a movie at the Library and taking in a great event somewhere\nelse in the Square. I think that is powerful.\u201d\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the bridge could offer an increase in\nprogrammable spaces and improve the Library\u2019s current parking situation by\nproviding library patrons parking in the new parking lot at Library Square\u2019s\nnorthwest corner with a sheltered, all-weather connection to the building\nacross the plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To sweeten the deal, Mr. Gorman told Council that the APL\nboard has approved a $1.971 million contribution to the project through their\nDevelopment Charges Reserved Fund, such is the importance in which they hold\nthe bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of reason why it is important for Library\nSquare to be successful,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a legacy; one of the legacies this\nCouncil will be able to leave behind and we want to make sure you know the\nAurora Public Library is invested in this in many ways, including financially,\ntoo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three options for the Library Square connection were\npresented to Council by architects Thomas Nemeskeri and Aaron Hendershott of\nRAW Design. The first option was an underground tunnel, the second was a\nstraight connection bridge, with the third being very similar to Option 2, but\nwith stairs connecting the bridge directly to the Library Square plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the tunnel was the cheapest option, clocking in at\n$2.83 million, there were several drawbacks including it being in a more\nsecluded area and that it presented a few infrastructure issues from soil\ndisplacement to rejigging the foundation plans for the Church Street School\nextension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third option ultimately won the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re imagining the bridge really frames the square by\nworking with some of the existing topography and landscape design by creating a\nsort of boomerang shape that actually frames the square but also provides a bit\nof an entry at the north as well,\u201d said Mr. Hendershott. \u201cWhat we want to do\nhere is maintain a really open ground plan so that people can go to and from\nthe plaza as well as provide something of a covered passageway at the plaza\nlevel and links down to the caf\u00e9 and the upper level of the Library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Council members showed support of the overall\nvision \u2013 with Councillor Sandra Humfryes calling it a key in building a \u201cvery\ncohesive\u201d Library Square \u2013 some questioned the growing price tag attached to\nLibrary Square and how it will be ultimately paid for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor John Gallo, for instance, called for a public\nmemo explaining in greater detail how the project will be funded. Previous\nfunding models have outlined a financing plan over $14 million coming in\nFederal grants, along with a draw from reserves and a contribution from the\nTown\u2019s Hydro funds, a reserve account created from profits garnered from the\nsale of Aurora Hydro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that grant application is unsuccessful, said\nCouncillor Gallo, it could result in a $22 million hit on the Hydro pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want this nailed down and I want to feel confident we\nknow where the money is coming from to pay for this project,\u201d said Councillor\nGallo. \u201cI sit here pretty deep into this and I don\u2019t have a high level of\nconfidence of where and how we\u2019re going to pay for this project and I need to\nbe convinced if I am going to be supporting it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner echoed this view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As discussion continued, Councillor Michael Thompson that\nstaff have presented a funding strategy that draws from reserves, but Council\ncan choose an \u201calternative\u201d strategy at any time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not enough for Councillor John Gallo who said,\n\u201cthis is taxpayer money and we should figure out what the solid plan on how to\npay for it [is], not just when we know what the final cost is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas, however, said it was time to make a\ndecision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not comfortable, if you don\u2019t believe this is\nthe right project to spend the Hydro Reserve funds on, well, vote against it,\u201d\nsaid Mayor Mrakas. \u201cIf you believe it is the right project, at the end of the\nday, we will use those Hydro reserves. We were told there was enough in there\nto move forward with this project. If you think this is the right project for\nthe Town at the right time, then it should be a \u2018yes\u2019 because we have the\nfunds. The Hydro Funds were to provide for a community asset; we sold a\ncommunity asset and we should be providing for a community asset back. That\u2019s\nwhat we\u2019re doing here with this project.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A $3.5 million bridge connecting the Aurora Public Library to the planned addition to the Church Street School could be one of the finishing touches on the Town\u2019s vision for Library Square.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23863,"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-23870","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\/05\/2019-05-30-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6d0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 06:03:19","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\/23870","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=23870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}