{"id":4426,"date":"2013-10-30T17:14:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4426"},"modified":"2013-10-30T17:14:37","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:14:37","slug":"further-changes-could-be-in-store-as-petch-house-seeks-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/further-changes-could-be-in-store-as-petch-house-seeks-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Further changes could be in store as Petch House seeks use"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The house has been refurbished, the historical plaque has been unveiled, and now it is time to find a use for the Petch Log House.<\/p>\n

Although the Petch House has been in place and technically \u201ccomplete\u201d since August, Councillors put the wheels in motion last week to find a good use for the historic house. Despite her initial reservations to put any money whatsoever into the restoration and reconstruction of the building, Councillor Evelyn Buck introduced a motion last week to find a use for Aurora\u2019s \u201cnewest asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her suggestion? \u201cA tourist information centre and retail facility for souvenirs unique to Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was mouldering and decaying and we were always hoping someone would come along with the idea to use it and the Town had no use for it,\u201d said Councillor Buck. \u201cNow, it is reconstructed, it is beautiful, and we still don\u2019t have a specific idea of how it might be used. I think we need to go to the community and ask for ideas on what function this building could be put to enrich\u2026the assets we already have. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the province started building community colleges, their whole program as arts, carving, metalworking, [and] leatherworking. I am fairly positive there are people in the community who would welcome the opportunity to develop a small industry that would manufacture souvenirs unique to the Town of Aurora, exhibiting various aspects of the Town\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are some problems and limitations, however, with possible uses. While the building is wired for electricity, there is no water and no plumbing \u2013 making the space particularly challenging for people who might need to use the bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some practical issues for staffing and occupancy of that building for any significant period of time,\u201d said Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cIf somebody is in there operating a tourist information centre or a retail facility, and they have to go to the washroom, what are they going to do, especially if it is on the weekend? You can\u2019t be expected to run down to Wendy\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you go to the community for ideas, I think the first step is [bringing] back a report on how this space can be occupied. Does it need any additional renovations to make it usable?\u201d<\/p>\n

These were concerns shared by Councillor Chris Ballard who questioned whether the reconstructed Petch House meets the Building Code and whether or not it is ready for occupancy. Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Parks and Recreation, said while the house meets the building code, it is not yet ready for occupancy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wired, however, it is not available for occupancy because it does not comply with all the conditions required for occupancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Techa van Leeuwen, Aurora\u2019s Director of Parks and Recreation: \u201cThe permit was issued based on the last occupancy as a residential occupancy for the restoration without a use going forward. It was always understood when there is a use determined for the building that we would perhaps require a change of use. If it is not going to be a residence, it would require a change of use permit issued under the building code and may require some upgrades to comply with the building code.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the building is in place, it would be a good idea to figure out what to do with it, said Councillor Gallo, before highlighting some of Councillor Buck\u2019s earlier comments about the Petch House, including a letter to The Auroran in which she said it was \u201cinsane to budget $100,000 to fix up a rotting, mouldering old shack that has no use to anyone, has no historical significance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI find the dichotomy between what you just said and what you wrote back then [to be] extreme,\u201d said Councillor Gallo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen discovered the resources that were available to do this and there was a place to do it, I changed my position,\u201d replied Councillor Buck. \u201c[At the time] Councillor Gallo\u2019s comment was \u2018You\u2019ve gotta love politics!\u2019 Don\u2019t tell me you don\u2019t appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If uses come forward that don\u2019t comply with the current occupancy, some challenges Ms. van Leeuwen identified included stronger floors for the upper level loft to meet the code for assembly or retail occupancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like the spending isn\u2019t done yet,\u201d concluded Councillor Ballard. \u201cMaybe Councillor Buck can find us more resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The house has been refurbished, the historical plaque has been unveiled, and now it is time to find a use for the Petch Log House.<\/p>\n

Although the Petch House has been in place and technically \u201ccomplete\u201d since August…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4224,"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_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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4426","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\/2013\/10\/2013-10-16-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-19o","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 06:54:24","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\/4426","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=4426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}