{"id":4340,"date":"2013-10-23T12:38:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T16:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4340"},"modified":"2013-10-30T17:01:17","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:01:17","slug":"aurora-should-set-an-example-on-accessible-buildings-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-should-set-an-example-on-accessible-buildings-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora should set an \u201cexample\u201d on accessible buildings: Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Should all public buildings and spaces meet the requirements of accessibility legislation in Ontario, or should Aurora go the extra mile?<\/p>\n

That was the question considered by Councillors at the Committee level last week over the planned new Joint Operations Centre on Industrial Parkway North, with Aurora\u2019s Accessibility Advisory Committee suggesting this should be an \u201cexample\u201d for the entire community on new builds.<\/p>\n

Some Councillors, however, had pause on the \u201cvagueness\u201d of the word and potential costs that could come with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we going to make sure all buildings exceed that which is the norm, and be innovative and a leader in terms of all other municipalities?\u201d asked Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cBeing an example means everyone looks to us and we are an example of best practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am inferring from this is, regardless of costs, we should be at an elevated level [of accessibility] more so than everyone else and be that example. I\u2019m not sure what the committee means. Is there some prudence along the way as well? Every space needs to be accessible and barrier free, but there needs to be some costs associated with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner, vice chair of the Accessibility committee, said it is their hope \u201cthe Town of Aurora will be a best practice community that other communities can look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen these spaces are configured, we want them to be barrier free. I don\u2019t think it is an extra cost, I think it is an extra attention to detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others, however, echoed Councillor Thompson\u2019s concerns, including Mayor Geoffrey Dawe who said the recommendation implies \u201cwe\u2019re setting the bar pretty high\u201d and this leaves the door propped for \u201copen-ended spending.\u201d Councillor Gaertner rejected that idea, but said if things are done at the beginning of the project, any costs would be negligible to the overall scope of the project. <\/p>\n

Techa van Leeuwen, Aurora\u2019s Director of Building, agreed planning for accessible space at the outset certainly reduces costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of the building permit process, we do a review for barrier free design to ensure it meets all the requirements of the building code,\u201d said Ms. van Leeuwen. \u201cThose include entrances, hallway widths, accessible washrooms, ensuring there is accommodations for people who might be disabled, including workspaces. It is things like the height of your light switches, counters, accommodating swinging doors, so someone in a wheelchair can wheel up to a door and have some clearances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, part of the problem is there are some exemptions to accessibility requirements within the building code, she added, noting a new building code coming forward this January would include additional accessibility requirements. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is simply good planning and it behoves the municipality to set a good example for builders and other businesses in Town,\u201d said Councillor Chris Ballard. \u201cIf we\u2019re not doing it right, we can\u2019t expect anyone else to be held accountable and to do it right. I see no ambiguity in the recommendation whatsoever. It just sets out what is common sense and what the building calls for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discussions, however, did not dissuade Councillor Thompson from his original concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hate to bring this back, but let\u2019s look at Council chambers and our discussions for accessibility in this chamber,\u201d he said. \u201c[We had] a number of different options. All have different costs, if we\u2019re going to set an example to make this chamber accessible, it is a significant renovation, it is a significant cost. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should be cautious [with] that term. It doesn\u2019t mean meet the standards, as outlined by the building code. It means to exceed it and it is open to interpretation. There is a cost associated with it and we only have to look back to the discussion around the Council chambers.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should all public buildings and spaces meet the requirements of accessibility legislation in Ontario, or should Aurora go the extra mile?<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-180","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-21 05:28:43","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\/4340","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=4340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}