{"id":25530,"date":"2020-01-02T17:56:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T22:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25530"},"modified":"2020-01-10T17:29:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T22:29:48","slug":"library-square-takes-another-step-forward-with-budget-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/library-square-takes-another-step-forward-with-budget-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Square takes another step forward with budget approval"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The development of Library Square took a significant\nstep forward at the last Council meeting of 2019, with local lawmakers signing\noff on the budget to make it a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council gave the green light to an\nincreased budget of nearly $52 million, with a few conditions attached to their\napproval: tendering on the project can only go forward if the final costs of\nthe tender remains within a maximum of 5 per cent of the figures approved on\nDecember 17, and that staff report back on the status of grant applications\nbefore the final tender is awarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approval followed a lively debate over\nfinancing and the timing of the project, as well as a presentation from Robin\nMcDougall, Aurora\u2019s Director of Community Services, on some of the aesthetic\nand technical changes made to designs since they were last before Council to\ncontain the budget figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the approval, proceedings received some pointed criticism from Councillor John Gallo on the timing of the project. Over the course of the debate, Councillor Gallo sought assurances that Council\u2019s pre-Christmas approval of going out to tender would not impact any grants, which could fund more than $30 million of the Library Square development, going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor those who know me, and while it may\nnot sound this way, I am a huge proponent of the humanities and the arts and\neverything that this project stands for,\u201d said Councillor Gallo. \u201cI have been\nsince the Cultural Centre, the new things the Library is doing, they are really\nphenomenal and it is a huge part of my life. I want to get it right and I want\nto do everything I possibly can to get it right and do right by the Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to the comments, Mayor Tom\nMrakas said debate around the table is what is \u201cneeded\u201d and \u201cexpected of each\nand every one of us sitting at this table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is what this project needs: for each\nof us to challenge every step of the way to make sure what we\u2019re doing is right\nand I think what we\u2019re doing is right,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas. \u201cTo me, this is an\nexciting time, this is another step, and it has been a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to cite more than 20 years of\nconsultations and public input sessions logged to get to this point, while also\nmentioning the work of the last Council, which approved the motion he put\nforward with Councillor Michael Thompson, to increase focus on redeveloping an\narea of downtown called Aurora\u2019s \u201ccultural precinct\u201d with an aim towards\nrevitalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am proud\u2026we\u2019re taking this next step,\u201d\nhe continued. \u201cIt is going to be that much more exciting when we award the\ntender. As I said before, my promise is I can\u2019t guarantee that the Province is\ngoing to give us that funding, but what I can guarantee to the residents of\nthis community and this Council is I am going to worked my damned hardest to\nensure the Province understands the importance of this project to this\nmunicipality, to this Region, and I can tell you they\u2019re excited about it. The\nMinister is excited about it, the Premier is excited about it\u2026 this is an\nexciting project moving forward. Everything points to this going to happen.\nWe\u2019re all excited about it and I am proud of each and every one of us for\ntaking this step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar enthusiasm was offered by the\nbalance of Council, including Councillor Thompson who said revitalization of\nthe Downtown Core has been a \u201ckey objective\u201d for every term of Council in\nrecent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have all had different thoughts and\nideas of how to go about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that the majority, if not all\nmembers of Council, feel that this could very well be a significant catalyst to\nhelping the revitalization of downtown, but it is not just the only step, we\ncontinue to look and explore other avenues and opportunities in which to\ncontinue to build up our downtown and create a gathering place, as we have\ntalked about for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Harold Kim said he has watched\n\u201cthis four-year journey\u201d carefully and expressed his appreciation for his\nfellow Council members who have \u201ccontributed\u201d to the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the end, I believe iron sharpens iron\nand\u2026regardless of some of the comments made around the table\u2026you help to\nsharpen our own opinions and, in fact, change our opinions, whether they be\nright there on the spot or in between meetings,\u201d he said. \u201cI just want to thank\neveryone. Even though we have disagreements, we have a common goal [to] do this\nright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Sandra Humfryes: \u201cWe have\ntalked about revitalizing the Downtown for so long and\u2026we\u2019re finally doing it.\nThis is the part where it is actually going to get done. It\u2019s tough, it\u2019s a lot\nof money, but we have the funds there for something spectacular and special. I\nreally believe that if you have the vision, this is more than worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Councillor Rachel Gilliland\nsaid she\u2019s encouraged by the interest the Province has shown in the Library\nSquare project, as well as the \u201cexcitement\u201d she has heard from residents of the\ncommunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis project alone just shows that we are\nwilling to invest in our Town and we are proud of our Town,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is\na step in the right direction and we are investing in the people today. I think\nit is important that all the residents have something we can all enjoy through\narts and culture and revitalization. This project really does put Aurora on the\nmap and put this in a positive direction of revitalizing our downtown core,\nwhich is really what I think this term and this Council really wants to focus\non. This is a historic moment and I think we should all be really proud of the\noutcome and where we started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner was absent from the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The development of Library Square took a significant step forward at the last Council meeting of 2019, with local lawmakers signing off on the budget to make it a reality. Council gave the green light to an increased budget of nearly $52 million, with a few conditions attached to their approval: tendering on the project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25524,"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-25530","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\/2020\/01\/2020-01-02-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6DM","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 01:50:49","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\/25530","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=25530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}