Aurora
September 25, 2008 11:23 PM
Town not willing to waive parkland fee
Sean Pearce
Aurora council was crystal clear Tuesday night the York Catholic District School Board must show it the money.
Councillors denied a written request from Catholic board chairperson Elizabeth Crowe asking the town to waive a $414,000 cash-in-lieu-of-parkland fee.
Ms Crowe argued the new St. Maximillian Kolbe Catholic High School, to be built near John West Way and Wellington Street East, would be an asset rather than a liability to the town and said in an interview Tuesday the board will soldier on despite the ruling.
“I’m disappointed, but we’re forging ahead with construction,” Ms Crowe said. “When a developer comes in and builds houses, that puts a demand on the town’s services. But our development of a school will not put any additional demands on the town because there are no houses involved; we are actually providing facilities.”
Councillor Evelyn Buck spoke in favour of Ms Crowe’s request and said asking for the money was simply asking too much.
“Their willingness to work with us really stands out,” Ms Buck said.
“This new school will provide classrooms, fields and facilities never enjoyed in a separate school here and they will be available to us, too.”
But town finance director John Gutteridge pointed out there were no provisions in the Municipal Act to pursue such an exception.
“It would be precedent-setting,” he added.
Leisure services director Allan Downey explained Aurora could get a lot of bang out of those bucks, especially when considering the land the board had offered as a possible compromise instead of the cash wasn’t particularly useful as parkland as it included a creek and other undesirable natural features.
“With $413,000 or so, we could get baseball diamonds or other things (and) put them anywhere in town, Mr. Downey said.”
In the recorded vote that followed, the request was denied eight to one.
Ms Crowe also asked that a committee be formed to formalize the shared use arrangement between the board and the town. Council agreed to this request.