Council Update – February 27, 2018

Last night at Council, members discussed my motion to have the Petch house be used for marriage services. As I said at the table, the Petch House has sat empty since it was moved and refurbished. And that is a shame. Many ideas for use of the Petch House have been put forward over the years. The biggest stumbling block to realizing those ideas has been that they require occupancy of the building and in order for the building to be occupied it needs plumbing. The costs of putting in plumbing are pretty high and thus Councils have shied away from making a decision to install it.
What’s different about this idea is that it doesn’t require occupancy and therefore there are limited to no additional costs required. As background, in 2015, Staff put forward the idea of holding marriage services at Town hall and began providing those services in May of 2015. As the Petch House is a lovely space that is currently underused I thought, well, why not offer the marriage services there? This could be done with minimal costs. Some raised concerns about access to washrooms; however, the Town will set when they will provide marriage services and thus can ensure services are only conducted during periods when the Senior Centre – which it is immediately adjacent to – is open. Anyone using the Petch House can then use the washrooms at the Senior Centre if needed. Hence the minimal to no costs in using the facility for marriage ceremonies. Not only will this see the Petch House used regularly, it will also generate revenue. Staff are already out at the bridal shows promoting the Town marriage services.. This will provide staff with an upgrade to offer. When you see the Petch house you would see how beautiful it is to have a weeding there. Another point of consideration is that while the Petch House is used for weddings, it can still be used for other purposes. The motion passed 9-0. I am looking forward to receiving the Staff report on this and moving forward with this initiative. #GettingThingsDone

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
WhatsApp
Email

One Response

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

If you’d like to keep in touch with the Mayor and receive updates, please add your e-mail.

Recent Posts

Aurora’s 2022 Employment Survey

I am so encouraged by seeing the numbers from York Region’s (Aurora’s) 2022 Employment Survey Results.  Our Town’s economy continues to show strong signs of post-pandemic recovery, with 3,037 jobs added to the town’s employment base since 2019 along with 72 new businesses. The overall job growth

Read More »

Former Canadian Tire Building

I regret to inform all residents that Smart Centres has appealed the development application for the old Canadian Tire site to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT). This is unfortunate, but not unexpected. During the Public Planning meeting, I had stated

Read More »

Fleury St – Part 2

With regards to an Aurora family’s application to rebuild their home on Fleury street, as there has been some confusion regarding the obligations and legislated requirements when it comes to the Heritage Advisory Committee and the role of Council, I

Read More »