{"id":33277,"date":"2023-07-13T18:52:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T22:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33277"},"modified":"2023-07-20T17:44:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:44:09","slug":"partnership-between-town-rugby-club-could-bring-more-sport-opportunities-to-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/partnership-between-town-rugby-club-could-bring-more-sport-opportunities-to-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"Partnership between Town, rugby club could bring more sport opportunities to Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A potential partnership between the Town of Aurora and the Aurora Barbarians Rugby Club could bring more sport opportunities to residents as early as late fall of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting at the Committee level last week, Council tentatively approved looking deeper into an agreement between the municipality and the Barbarians on a new artificial turf field at Sheppard\u2019s Bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Barbarians initially approached the Town with a proposal in January, one that would keep the rugby club\u2019s home base in Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting recommendation before lawmakers last week calls for the construction of a second artificial turf field at Sheppard\u2019s Bush, along the north side of one already on site, and a clubhouse to replace the current washroom building just off the Industrial Parkway South parking lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the deal is inked and the project approved at budget time this fall, the Barbarians are prepared to contribute $1 million to the construction of the field and shoulder the full cost of the clubhouse, which is estimated to clock in around $750,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to John Firman, Aurora\u2019s Manager of Business Support, \u201ccosts associated with a similarly-sized artificial turf, including consulting, bleachers, lighting, fencing, etc., are estimated at approximately $2.5 \u2013 $2.8 million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the potential new field would eliminate four soccer fields, staff said the pitches in question are \u201cnot utilized as often as the other fields at this site, and are more readily replaceable through new turf field design, replacing existing facilities, and relocation of permits\u201d to other locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe club truly appreciates the consideration given to our proposal,\u201d said John Reich of the Aurora Barbarians in a delegation to Committee last week, supporting the above recommendation. \u201cThe report reflects an understanding of the needs of the club as we look for a new home within the confines of Aurora and a willingness to work with the Town to add inventory to the multi-use fields available to the community\u2026. We appreciate the diligence of [the Town\u2019s Community Services team] to investigate the needs of all the sport organizations that use the facility, in particular the youth soccer community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe club was pleased to see reference to the offer we have made to the Town and the latest iteration of the Town\u2019s Parks & Recreation Master Plan as an opportunity to co-fund upgrades to the inventory of multi-use fields for community use. We believe the Town, the rugby club, and other users will benefit from two turf fields with lights in one location and served by men\u2019s and women\u2019s changerooms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two fields side-by-side, he added, would be a \u201cboon to the Town\u2019s sport tourism initiatives\u201d and the clubhouse\u2019s washrooms and changerooms would be available to \u201call field permit users.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Reich\u2019s delegation, Firman said next steps in making this partnership a reality would be coming to an agreement with the Ontario Heritage Trust (OHT), which owns the Sheppard\u2019s Bush property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While discussions need to continue, and a further look into costs need to be considered before any field is approved in the 2024 budget, Firman said talks between the Town and the OHT have been positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir initial reaction seems open,\u201d he said. \u201cReaction to their feedback is cautiously optimistic, they were receptive to the idea. They did raise some initial concerns as to the impact of the heritage value of the land because we would be putting an artificial surface on. [Parks Manager Sara Tienkamp] proposed some remedial actions that they received very well, such as invasive species remediation, additional tree planting, bird boxes, and some other natural habitat restorative services. All of that will be minimal cost in the grand scope of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another bonus that was greeted warmly by the OHT was the Barbarians\u2019 intention to build any future clubhouse to LEED Gold environmental certification, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matter is expected to come before Council this week for further discussion, but on July 4, Councillors said further information was needed ahead of 2024 budget deliberations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really want this to happen because I think it is a fantastic deal for everyone \u2013 you guys and us,\u201d said Ward 5 Councillor John Gallo, addressing both staff and Barbarians representatives. \u201cI am being cautious from where I sit because I don\u2019t want to be in a position where we approve a budget, start going forward, start spending money and things break down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 4 Councillor Michael Thompson said while he was supportive of exploring the partnership, he was cautious as the field hinges on a third party \u2013 the OHT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would hate to see this bogged down by, for lack of a better term, bureaucracy and the momentum kind of stalls,\u201d said Councillor Thompson. \u201cWhat can we do to ensure it is moving along at a reasonable pace so come our budget discussions in the fall we would be prepared to make this decision and ultimately, if Council approves, get shovels in the ground as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas billed the proposal as a \u201cgreat opportunity as presented\u201d and, if it moves forward as presented, \u201ca win for the community and the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar view was offered by Ward 6 Councillor Harold Kim who said the Barbarians have been a \u201cgreat partner\u201d in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noting that the Barbarians are prepared to contribute $1 million to field construction, he questioned how the cost of maintenance would be covered going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the stage where the next steps involve entering into agreements,\u201d said Firman. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to take that next step without getting Council\u2019s direction to do so. As far as operating costs [the Barbarian\u2019s contribution] is for the initial construction of the field. Our experience has been [a] standard life expectancy is about 10- years for a turf field [and] our experience has been more around 12 \u2013 13 years. After the initial costs of construction, the Barbarians would still pay facility rental fees\u2026 and that would be just like any other group using the field. That would be their contribution to future repairs. The Town would then assume all maintenance responsibilities and capital costs for field replacement down the road beyond initial construction from the Barbarians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding the discussion, Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese, who chaired last week\u2019s meeting, said it was a \u201cgreat example\u201d of a partnership between the Town and a non-profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt shows a lot of cooperation and I am particularly happy with the work you have done to juggle all of the pieces here to get cooperation with the Aurora Youth Soccer Club\u2026 who may be losing\u2026 some fields. It\u2019s a good model of cooperating in terms of trying to build a quality sport community.\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":"

A potential partnership between the Town of Aurora and the Aurora Barbarians Rugby Club could bring more sport opportunities to residents as early as late fall of 2024. Sitting at the Committee level last week, Council tentatively approved looking deeper into an agreement between the municipality and the Barbarians on a new artificial turf field […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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":[4,5,24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8EJ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 01:32:33","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\/33277","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=33277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}