{"id":30388,"date":"2021-12-02T16:29:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T21:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30388"},"modified":"2021-12-02T16:38:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T21:38:57","slug":"disc-golf-could-have-future-in-highland-gate-community-if-residents-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/disc-golf-could-have-future-in-highland-gate-community-if-residents-agree\/","title":{"rendered":"Disc Golf could have future in Highland Gate community \u2013 if residents agree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have good aim, want to get a bit of exercise, and want to maintain social distancing, disc golf might be the sport for you \u2013 and it might be coming to Aurora if residents give it the green light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting at the Committee level last week, Council considered a proposal for a nine-hole disc golf course, in a future park earmarked for the Highland Gate community, as part of the 2023 Capital Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A disc golf course for Aurora was first proposed last year at Council by proponents of the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a frisbee-like disc, the object of the game is to fire the disc into a \u201chole\u201d (more like a cone on a pedestal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was floated as a fun and safe recreational opportunity in light of the global pandemic and received the tentative support of Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has proved more divisive, however, is the suggested location, with ratepayers in the Highland Gate community expressing some concerns about the sport coming to their backyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe investment into a disc golf course goes beyond finding a piece of land and building the course as there are several other factors that will contribute to whether a course is used frequently by the community,\u201d said Erin Hamilton, Sport & Community Development Specialist for the Town of Aurora in her report to Council, which recommended the nine-hole course in the Highland Gate community be included in the 2023 Capital Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the considerations outlined by Ms. Hamilton were proper signage, marketing and ensuring there is a buy-in for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuilding community awareness and sufficient education about the sport and course can positively impact usage rates,\u201d she continued. \u201cSome communities engaged through research have not invested in any promotion of the disc golf course which has resulted in low usage rates. Knowledge of the disc golf course has been based on word-of-mouth. A well-planned and executed communications campaign through Town channels can increase awareness and interest to reach more of the community. Furthermore, opportunities to educate the community through try-it sessions where they are provided information about disc golf and taught some basic skills can encourage usage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But community buy-in could already be a stumbling block in seeing disc golf brought to fruition in Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff recommend future parklands in the Highland Gate community as the preferred location if a course is duly approved by Council. Other locations considered were the Aurora Community Arboretum and the associated Lambert Willson Park, but those were taken out of the running because making way for the park would displace naturalized areas in those green spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Ms. Hamilton noted adding a disc golf course as an amenity is an idea that would need to be presented to the Highland Gate Ratepayers, Councillors said last week that those residents are already making their positions clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome residents from Highland Gate have been in communication with Council [this week] and they have some concerns,\u201d said Councillor Rachel Gilliland. \u201cIn the resolution, it does say [staff] will be in discussion with them, so I would like to see that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So too would Councillor John Gallo who said he couldn\u2019t be supportive of moving forward without further input from the residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have already had some correspondence from that community saying they haven\u2019t been contacted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can move it forward, but not until we have significant communication with that community that would be most impacted by this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gallo put forward an amendment to the motion before them to ensure that Highland Gate only be selected as the preferred location \u201csubject to additional consultation with ratepayers,\u201d a move that was supported by Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of the location, how a potential disc golf course might be costed and operated was also subject to debate, as was determining a need for the sport outside of the pending update to Aurora\u2019s Master Recreation Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe majority of models that existed across the Province were municipally owned and operated,\u201d said Robin McDougall, Aurora\u2019s Director of Community Services. \u201cThere are some private facilities, but for the most part, when you go in the direction of a private facility, generally they charge a fee. If we\u2019re looking at opportunities and the recommendations put forward with regards to it being municipally-owned and operated, it would allow for us to move in a direction where it would be a playground-style\u2026and it would allow us to provide access to a recreational activity that would be no cost to residents versus a private facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Council pressed on to make sure there was a demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think since we\u2019re doing this Master Plan in 2022, it would make sense to wait until we do a review to see if that is something that is of demand in the community,\u201d said Councillor Gilliland. \u201cAs we all know, we do lack space for various fields and other things. Maybe through this we will discover that pickleball or cricket, or some other kind of sport, might be something engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Michael Thompson: \u201cI would be a little bit more comfortable understanding the operating model if I had a better understanding of what the operating costs would be. It says within the report that the municipality would take on the full responsibility of building and maintaining\u2026the course [but] there is reference to the capital cost of building it\u2026 and no implications with respect to what the ongoing costs would be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff responded that the ongoing costs \u2013 such as grass cutting \u2013 would be contingent on the site that is selected, along with the number of holes a course might have, but Council agreed more information was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom what I know of Aurora, we don\u2019t have many land areas that would accommodate disc golf, especially nine holes, and I think the Highland Gate property is the only place we can accommodate it,\u201d said Councillor Gaertner. \u201cThe Highland Gate residents have been through so much with the redevelopment of the property and it really would be respectful to discuss this with them first before we do anything further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

If you have good aim, want to get a bit of exercise, and want to maintain social distancing, disc golf might be the sport for you \u2013 and it might be coming to Aurora if residents give it the green light. Meeting at the Committee level last week, Council considered a proposal for a nine-hole […]<\/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_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-30388","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\/p3D2k4-7U8","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 16:06:37","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\/30388","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=30388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}