{"id":32010,"date":"2022-10-08T10:36:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-08T14:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32010"},"modified":"2022-10-13T23:41:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T03:41:02","slug":"aurora-votes-2022-delivering-a-new-high-school-while-tempering-traffic-top-of-mind-for-ward-5-candidate-lounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-votes-2022-delivering-a-new-high-school-while-tempering-traffic-top-of-mind-for-ward-5-candidate-lounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Votes 2022: Delivering a new high school while tempering traffic top of mind for Ward 5 candidate Lounds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

His experience as a member of the Town\u2019s Heritage Advisory Committee has opened Robert Lounds\u2019 eyes to how to stick within parameters and maintain the historic character of a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he\u2019s looking to find a place at Aurora\u2019s top table as a candidate for Ward 5 in this month\u2019s Municipal Election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A resident of Ward 5 for more than 18 years, it\u2019s an area of Aurora close to his heart. As he goes door-to-door, he is mindful of present issues, as well as issues that might arise in the future as the York Region District School Board moves to relocate Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School to Bayview Avenue at Spring Farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am interested in seeing the new high school get built and I feel that\u2019s important not only for Ward 5 but for the Town of Aurora to have this built sooner rather than later,\u201d he says. \u201cI know it has been pushed out numerous years and it looks like it\u2019s being locked down for 2025, but as a candidate one of my priorities is making sure this is built by 2025 on time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as he says this will be a benefit of the community, he says he\u2019s also keeping an eye on the impact the school might have on local traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want Spring Farm being gridlock from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and between 3 and 4 p.m., and part of that is making sure the Official Plan is followed and making sure that we take all considerations into play as we make the best decisions as to how traffic should flow to avoid gridlock and the annoyance of neighbours living across the street,\u201d he says. \u201cThe feedback I\u2019ve received mostly from Ward 5 is they\u2019re excited about it.  You can see new fields being built that the community will be able to participate in and it\u2019s exciting to finally get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living within the Ward with his wife and their two sons, Lounds says he has experience as a coach and a convenor in the community and has always looked at ways to become more involved. This led to his appointment to the Heritage Advisory Committee, something he says served as an \u201ceye-opener\u201d to \u201chow much goes on in this Town and how much you can actually be involved with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That triggered his excitement to throw his hat in the municipal ring, he says, but he was also galvanized by development both within and outside the ward. These development areas include Mavrinac Boulevard at Wellington and the northeast quadrant of Wellington and John West Way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to make sure the Official Plan is followed once it has been determined and they\u2019re taking into consideration all the environmental policies that might land within that area,\u201d he says. \u201cWellington and Industrial is also a development area that could cause concern with traffic and everything like that. It is just making sure that the proper actions are taken to make sure there\u2019s a steady flow of traffic and minimal disturbance to the communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a candidate, he says he\u2019s dedicated to measures that will keep the ward clean and businesses stay open. This includes working closely with business owners as well as laying the groundwork for events within the ward to \u201cstimulate growth and participation, which will always lead to foot traffic and participation within this community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wants to be \u201ca part of the solution\u201d to residents\u2019 concerns over train whistles, for instance, and setting parameters on the size and massing of buildings that are proposed for Aurora \u2013 residential and otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a big supporter of what the Town is doing with Town Square. I think it is critical to continue to create those opportunities for foot traffic, for participation. I can just imagine what can come out of this where it is going to be art shows, music shows, food events. What they do today is so beneficial for the community. I love the fact I am able to go to Ribfest and just see a massive group from the Town supporting an event, raising money for great causes. Hoedown\u2026is always a great fundraiser and just the whole Town coming together. It\u2019s exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been in the supply chain world for the past 20+ years and what are some of the most important things? Delivering a product to a customer on time, every time. That\u2019s the motto, doing everything possible to make those scenarios come to life and happen. It is budget-management, delivering a product on time, it\u2019s communicating the right information. It is just communicating information, really, to the residents of Aurora that would be key. That\u2019s something I can do: open door policy, listening to everyone, and being a voice for others to get facts on the table and just keeping this Town as it is beautiful today.”<\/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":"

His experience as a member of the Town\u2019s Heritage Advisory Committee has opened Robert Lounds\u2019 eyes to how to stick within parameters and maintain the historic character of a community. Now, he\u2019s looking to find a place at Aurora\u2019s top table as a candidate for Ward 5 in this month\u2019s Municipal Election. A resident of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32011,"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-32010","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\/10\/2022-10-06-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8ki","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 15:53:55","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\/32010","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=32010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}