{"id":4448,"date":"2013-10-30T17:37:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4448"},"modified":"2013-10-30T17:37:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:37:34","slug":"its-not-too-late-to-avoid-mistake-says-engineer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/its-not-too-late-to-avoid-mistake-says-engineer\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not too late to avoid mistake, says engineer"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Re: \u201cComplex users angry at upcoming closure\u201d, October 26, 2013, \u201cYouth Centre renos to start Nov. 13, pending approval\u201d, October 23, 2013, & \u201cCouncil should change course on Complex renos\u201d, October 23, 2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you for publishing the letter by Ralph Jessup last week as well as your article on the Aurora Family Leisure Complex (AFLC) and its pending year-long closure.
\nI am a structural engineer and I have some experience with this type of project and the procedures involved.
\nI have reviewed the drawings and the documents deemed relevant by Aurora\u2019s Parks and Recreation Director. The history of this project is about providing programme space targeting youth. Over a period of years the town has worked with consultants, including MJM Architects last year, to decide on one of two final options.
\nI agree with the direction Council took last November approving \u201cOption Two\u201d which would minimize impact to the people and facility revenues and have less capital cost by $0.5 million.
\nHowever, either of the two options discussed last year would be less costly and disruptive than the current plan. (The current plan is estimated at $7.4 million, options one and two were $4.769 and $4.223 million respectively.)
\nRenovations, or the need to renovate the AFLC, are not mentioned in the documents I reviewed and yet the current plan is one of renovations.
\nIn the spring, CS&P Architects were hired to follow the town\u2019s \u201cOption Two\u201d plan providing detailed design and drawings for tendering and construction. Instead, the architect working with some P&R staff, proposed the $7.4 million renovation of the entire AFLC.
\nThere is no Youth Centre\/Wing, as in the original design for Option Two. That is to say there is no new gym, having a climbing wall or programme rooms for youth in the addition.
\nIn July, with a long agenda and a late night, Council accepted the recommendations of P&R to approve the new and different work and increased budget. The P&R Report told Council that if they did not accept the new work and budget, the space for youth would suffer.
\n(See P&R Report for July 16th 2013 Council Meeting, section \u201cAlternatives to the Recommendations\u201d.)
\nTenders have not been awarded and Council approval of contracts is not until November 5.
\nIt is never too late to stop making a mistake. It is never too late to do the right thing. In the future, any necessary work to keep the AFLC usable can be done at a much lower cost and with minimal disruption. Perhaps use money saved to hire youth counsellors or youth workers.
\nCouncil needs to instruct the architect to provide the detailed construction drawings that they initially requested based on the town\u2019s existing plan, Option Two, \u201cbuilding an addition\u201d and not allow the architect to totally change the nature of the work.
\nThe impact to close the facility for a year on the people who rely on it, is alone too great. Also the cost, and the manner in which this renovation occurred at such a late date indicates that it was not well considered.
\nBy reversing their decision to accept the architect\u2019s plan, Council can put their plan and budget back on track and get it done.
\n
\nAnn Raney, PEng
\nAurora<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Re: \u201cComplex users angry at upcoming closure\u201d, October 26, 2013, \u201cYouth Centre renos to start Nov. 13, pending approval\u201d, October 23, 2013, & \u201cCouncil should change course on Complex renos\u201d, October 23, 2013) Thank you for publishing the letter by Ralph Jessup last week as well as your article on the Aurora Family Leisure Complex […]<\/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_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":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-19K","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 05:52:00","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\/4448","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=4448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}