This week, Council met in General Committee (GC) and had before it a number of items that generated quite a bit of discussion. One item drew a large crowd of residents in attendance – the disposition of the HallMark Lands. Council had before it a report on what to do with the lands – specifically, whether there should be 2 softball diamonds built or one baseball with one soccer pitch.
For those not familiar with the property, the HallMark lands are located on industrial parkway south, by Vandoorf sideroad.
Our Town parks and rec master plan has indicated that the Town is in a deficit with respect to number of baseball diamonds and soccer pitches. Both organizations Baseball and Soccer came forward and spoke to the needs that they have and how best the lands could be utilized to address those needs. While most were looking for a decision to be made, a motion to refer the item back to staff for further information (enrolment numbers) was tabled almost immediately. Now while I am usually not in favour of referrals, in this instance I felt it would help make a better decision. A staff report with the additional information could be sent to the Parks and Rec committee for a recommendation before coming back to Council. This would give the Committee an opportunity to discuss what should ultimately be built on the lands and would also give Sport Aurora as a whole a chance to be part of the discussion (It should be noted that Sport Aurora does have membership on the Parks and Rec Committee. They are represented by two members).
I also believe that we need to know what is happening with respect to soccer pitches given the future loss of the soccer pitches at the Magna lands (will they be replaced?) and what will be the outcome of the Town possibly purchasing the lands at Bloomington (Behind Cardinal Carter). All of these factors would affect what should be developed on the HallMark lands.
We cannot look at this as a one off, but rather we need to look at this from the viewpoint of an overall plan for our sports fields. So I am looking forward to having the discussions at the committee level and hearing from Sport Aurora before making that final decision at Council. And as staff mentioned – referring this will not impede the timelines.
The one thing that is known is that our Town will be well serviced by new, added sports fields. That’s great for all our sports organizations and the Town as a whole as we continue to have more Auroran children become active.
