{"id":31984,"date":"2022-09-30T14:36:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31984"},"modified":"2022-09-30T14:36:49","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:36:49","slug":"aurora-votes-2022-ward-2-candidate-rachel-gilliland-says-theres-still-more-work-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-votes-2022-ward-2-candidate-rachel-gilliland-says-theres-still-more-work-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Votes 2022: Ward 2 candidate Rachel Gilliland says there\u2019s still more work to do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First elected to Council in 2018, Rachel Gilliland says the community has made some \u201cgreat strides forward\u201d over the last four years, but there is still more work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilliland is seeking a second term as Councillor this fall, this time as a candidate for Ward 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going door-to-door to meet with voters, she says there is a \u201cmisconception\u201d that there are not a lot of places to live in Aurora and while that is true in some respects, there are infill opportunities that need to be capitalized on in a way that\u2019s respective of existing neighbourhoods, sustainable, environmentally-sensitive, and within current zoning bylaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m trying to push with developers to ensure if they\u2019re actually going to redevelop and maybe ask for more attainable housing, which are things we know we need to have within our community, what is that give-back you\u2019re going to have with that regard? Green development standards is one of those avenues I want to try and ensure they\u2019re being respectful of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updating and modernizing the Town\u2019s Property Standards Bylaw is another priority for Gilliland, should she be re-elected. Existing standards haven\u2019t been updated since 1999, she says, and now is the time to \u201cmake sure we\u2019re aligning with things that are more modernized like lighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have an intention to bring a new motion forward if I am elected on addressing the feasibility of licensing rental units for property standards, safety and inspections because [while] we have a policy in place for illegal and legal rental units, by having a registry of sorts this will ensure that we have a more proactive approach in doing these inspections to ensure that property standards are up to snuff and also up to code for safety,\u201d she says, expanding on the Property Standards Bylaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something I certainly would try to address because it is becoming a concern in the community, especially as people can\u2019t afford to buy a home [and] you\u2019re seeing a lot more homes with secondary suites, so there has been a lot of issues\u2026with respect to property standards and also in parking and garbage as well. There\u2019s a way we can regulate those things, modernize our bylaws, and also make them a little bit more proactive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since being first elected in the outgoing term of Council, Gilliland says there are several pieces of legislation of which she\u2019s particularly proud. These include spurring the Town\u2019s declaration of a Climate Emergency and Climate Action Plan, items which have prompted Council and municipal staff alike the means to look at decisions through a climate lens. The protection of natural capital assets, and bringing forward stewardship plans, is another area in which there is pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The global pandemic, she says, caused a shift in some of the issues that were brought to the forefront, and in this regard the emphasis on mental health resources in the community was top of mind for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMental health has been a big thing for the residents of Aurora, especially going through these tough times,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to make sure we had resources that were up front and centre, right on our landing page to make it easier and accessible. I know we have done some stuff in the past to have some resources but I wanted to make it easy because people felt just the idea of looking things up, that wall was there and it was very complicated when you\u2019re in that stressful situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, there\u2019s still more work to do, she says, including projects embarked on by this Council that are yet to be finalized, including revised master plans on Active Transportation, Climate Adaptation, Parks & Recreation, and Active Transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConnecting east to west I think is extremely important, so from Wellington to Bathurst there really isn\u2019t a safe mode of transportation and I understand it is not in their 10-year capital plan but that doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t have re-evaluations on a yearly basis,\u201d she says. \u201cI already had some estimates done by the Region on what that project would cost if we move it up and if there are any partnership or granting opportunities, which there might be, with some of the cycling partnership programs and that is something I would really like to focus on. With respect to Parks and Recreation, one of the great ones I brought forward was with respect to the outdoor fitness parks. Some people in the community really enjoy the fitness park mentality where they can go and do a workout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these cost money, of course, and \u201cfiscal responsibility\u201d is an area she says is high on her priority list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a rather large Town Square project, which is a rather large investment, and my role as Councillor is I want to see that succeed since that is the will of Council to move forward,\u201d she says, of the project to which she was a dissenting vote. \u201cI want to make sure we do have a great space to gather, but at the same time, we have to be cognizant of our operating budget and make sure that what we are going to service the community with within that Centre brings in revenue to help pay for that. I want to make sure we\u2019re on top of that to make sure it does succeed so there\u2019s not a deficit line item on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilliland was also a dissenting vote on Aurora adopting a Ward System but now that it is going to be in place with the incoming Council, she says it will result in Council members being \u201cmore accountable\u201d to their specific areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I voted, I think the biggest thing\u2026for me is we didn\u2019t have that referendum. We had one before and I looked at it in the sense of, I\u2019m supportive of the wards and looking into what it might look like\u2026 I feel like at that time some of the push-back was people wanted the opportunity to see what it looked like. All they knew was at large. I think some people really wanted the opportunity to make that choice once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day what\u2019s been done now doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be undone if it doesn\u2019t work. Let\u2019s see how it turns out. I\u2019m up for the challenge and I want to be accountable to Ward 2. At the same time, representing all of Aurora, because we\u2019re all two degrees of separation here. We\u2019re still a small community, in my mind, so let\u2019s continue on with that nice sense of community we all love here and why we moved to Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

First elected to Council in 2018, Rachel Gilliland says the community has made some \u201cgreat strides forward\u201d over the last four years, but there is still more work to do. Gilliland is seeking a second term as Councillor this fall, this time as a candidate for Ward 2. Going door-to-door to meet with voters, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31985,"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-31984","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\/2022\/09\/2022-09-29-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8jS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 06:29:58","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\/31984","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=31984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}