{"id":34775,"date":"2024-07-04T17:34:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T21:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34775"},"modified":"2024-07-11T16:47:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T20:47:25","slug":"george-street-school-demo-approved-but-public-consultation-will-determine-lands-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/george-street-school-demo-approved-but-public-consultation-will-determine-lands-future\/","title":{"rendered":"George Street School demo approved, but public consultation will determine land\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Council has given the green light to demolishing the former George Street School building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local lawmakers voted 6 \u2013 0 to begin the demolition process with the opposition vote coming from Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote came following a delegation from area resident Tom Hashem who suggested that the former school\u2019s gymnasium, which was a more recent addition to the venerable school building, be spared the wrecking ball for future public use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers were interested in tentatively exploring the idea, but, with the Town\u2019s stated intention of using the lion\u2019s share of the property for parkland while using the street-front site of the school to build homes in order to help the Town recoup the cost of the land purchase, Town Staff said the gym would take up a considerable footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I am interested in delaying this process because I would like it to move forward as quickly as it can. I\u2019m sympathetic to the idea, I feel it is a good idea, I just don\u2019t feel we have had enough time to explore it,\u201d said Ward 5 Councillor John Gallo. \u201cThe only way we can [explore the gym idea] is to not move forward with what is before us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time was also of the essence for Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner who said proceeding with demolition ahead of a Public Planning process on how the George Street site of the property should be redeveloped was \u201cputting the cart before the horse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything here is predicated on us changing the zoning and using this for development,\u201d she said, suggesting Council simply receive the report and pursue the consultation. \u201cI am very concerned with the way this is stated. I don\u2019t believe we have gone out to the public and gotten enough input from them because it is a very important decision for that neighbourhood and the Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delaying the demolition process failed to gain traction around the table, but Council members underscored the importance of the Public Planning process moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the demolition needs to happen sooner rather than later and ultimately just because we demolish it, doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to be building residential lots. We\u2019re still going to have to go through the public process,\u201d said Mayor Tom Mrakas. \u201cTo me, the building needs to be removed no matter what we do, whether we decide it to be extra parkland, whether we decide it to be residential, whether we decide to build another community centre there \u2013 the building needs to be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the formal public consultation hasn\u2019t yet begun, both Mayor Mrakas and Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland, in whose ward the property sits, said they have been engaging with residents on what they would like to see unfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know we had closed session about this and have to be mindful about the things we chat about,\u201d said Councillor Gilliland. \u201cHowever, for me, I was under the impression that what is being presented today is, we felt, in recommendation from staff, the best course of action going forward was to go through this demolition and to put a delay on this would be counterintuitive to the conversations I felt we had within that meeting to come to this conclusion. Having said that\u2026 the recommendation from staff and the state of the school facility and the opportunity we have before us\u2026 I have personally no interest in [delaying] this further and would like to move this forward. The residents I have spoken to within the immediate area and beyond want to see this move forward and not be delayed any further as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am very confident the decision we have before us today\u2026leaves us a good path for opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of those opportunities will be determined through the public planning process, particularly the size and type of housing, should that be the path that is ultimately taken by Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have talked to a few of the residents in the area about the value of keeping the form and function of the types of housing in the area and I agree with them completely,\u201d said Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese. \u201cI am looking forward to this rezoning and [whether it is five residential lots or seven] that will all be resolved to the satisfaction of residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town of Aurora purchased the former public school this past April for $10.72 million, funded from reserves, with the goal of building a neighbourhood park of between four and 10 acres, allowing for multi-use courts, playgrounds and other amenities, with the balance of the site to be sold to recoup some of the purchase price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Council has given the green light to demolishing the former George Street School building. Local lawmakers voted 6 \u2013 0 to begin the demolition process with the opposition vote coming from Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner. The vote came following a delegation from area resident Tom Hashem who suggested that the former school\u2019s gymnasium, which […]<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34775","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\/p3D2k4-92T","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 06:05:17","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\/34775","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=34775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}