{"id":26896,"date":"2020-07-02T19:26:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T23:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26896"},"modified":"2020-07-02T19:26:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T23:26:16","slug":"reopening-of-recreation-centres-library-begin-to-take-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/reopening-of-recreation-centres-library-begin-to-take-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Reopening of recreation centres, Library begin to take shape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday, kids took another step towards a return to\nnormalcy, once again being allowed to beat the heat at splash pads in parks\nacross Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it will be a number of weeks before other\nrecreational and public facilities are open to the public, it was decided last\nweek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Splash pads and public washrooms in parks are the latest\namenities to be re-opened under Stage 2 of the Province\u2019s plan to gear up\nfollowing mass closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the announcement of Aurora moving to Stage 2 of the\nProvince\u2019s reopening plan, Town facilities, amenities and local businesses can\nbegin to move forward and start to open with a phased-in approach,\u201d said Mayor\nTom Mrakas last week. \u201cOur main focus is the safety of the public and staff.\nThe Town will ensure it takes every precaution and considers all health\nconsiderations when making the necessary arrangements to open other facilities\nand resume services in the weeks ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pandemic is not over and we must all still continue\nto follow the health guidelines and advice from officials to ensure our\namenities continue to stay open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports fields will be the next slate of amenities to\nre-open for use on July 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come Monday, permits will again be issued based on\nseasonal requests from sports groups but the fields will be permitted for\ntraining only. No games will be allowed. There will be no line painting for sports\nsuch as soccer, nor will turf mowing be determined on height. Instead, mowing,\ngrooming and field inspections will take place on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing the Aurora Public Library to move from its\ncurrent curbside pickup model to opening its doors to pick-up and drop-off of\nmaterials while allowing residents to access services like computers and\nphotocopiers is slated for \u201cearly July\u201d although no specific date has been\nassigned just yet. Once opened, however, patrons will not be permitted to\nhandle books or materials on shelves, nor will they be allowed onto the second\nfloor. Hours will be limited and computer access will be by reservation.\nCurbside service will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The re-opening of public pools will be staggered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pool at the Aurora Family Leisure Complex is\ncurrently slated to re-open for private lessons, lane swims, aquatic sports,\nand aquafit classes \u2013 with limits on the number of participants \u2013 on July 20,\nwith the pool at the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex set for a September\nre-opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to achieve this, change rooms will be \u201cclosely\nmonitored, cleaned and disinfected to maintain standards\u201d while no spectators\nwill be allowed poolside. Hot tubs and spas will remain closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ice pad play is currently scheduled to resume with the\nissuing of permits in August. Up to three ice pads will be opened in this first\nstage for training only. No games will be allowed, and there will be no access\nto dressing rooms or for spectators. There will be a limit of 10 people per ice\npad with the remaining pads set to re-open in the late summer or early fall\n\u201cpending Stage 3 reopening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remaining closed for the foreseeable future will be\nplaygrounds, indoor walking tracks, the Club Aurora fitness centre, squash\ncourts, the rock-climbing wall at the Aurora Family Leisure Complex and meeting\nrooms within each of the recreation facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also remaining closed to the public for the foreseeable\nfuture are the Joint Operations Centre on Industrial Parkway North and Town\nHall itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Town Hall, a minimal number of staff will work on site\nuntil September, but business continues: all planning and building permit\napplications will still be accepted and processed while marriage licenses,\nlottery licenses and other applications will be processed by appointment only.\nResidents remain encouraged to continue to make payments to the Town online or\nby dropping a cheque into the mail slot at the entrance of Town Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ability to start up any facility, program or amenity\nrequires evaluation of the Provincial orders, guidelines, and the ability to\nimplement with current resources (personnel or equipment needs), development of\nnew policies\/procedures, communication to the public and user groups, and\nevaluating the feasibility of starting up (cost and resource implications),\u201d\nsaid Robin McDougall, Aurora\u2019s Director of Community Services, in a report to\nCouncil last week. \u201cAll this takes time to ensure we cover everything and meet\npublic health\u2019s approval. Staff recognize the public\u2019s interest in getting back\nto normal as soon as possible; therefore, we\u2019re working diligently to meet\nexpectations while maintaining safety as our top priority. Regardless of when\nthe facility, program or amenity is opened, the public will need to be diligent\nabout personal hygiene and sanitation as it is not practical or possible for\nthe Town to ensure that all sites are sanitized at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHERE THINGS STAND ON COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora-wide, the rate of new cases of COVID-19 remains\nencouraging, with the number of active cases entering single digits at the\nstart of the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At press time, there were a total of 8 active cases\nwithin Aurora and 92 cases deemed resolved and recovered for a total of 115\nconfirmed cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 Aurora residents have lost the battle against the\nvirus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 115 total cases, 55 are attributed to\ninstitutional outbreak, 27 to close contact, 20 to local transmission, 11 to\ntravel, and two related to a workplace cluster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Region-wide, as of Tuesday evening, there are 322 active\ncases, 246 deaths, and 2,421 recoveries, for a total of 2,989.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, kids took another step towards a return to normalcy, once again being allowed to beat the heat at splash pads in parks across Aurora. But it will be a number of weeks before other recreational and public facilities are open to the public, it was decided last week. Splash pads and public washrooms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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-26896","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\/p3D2k4-6ZO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-26 09:58:51","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\/26896","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=26896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}