You are needed! Please come out to the town council meeting on Tuesday, September 29th at 7:30pm. Your presence matters!   At the September 14th meeting, Council was ready to quickly pass a designation by-law that many felt did not have the teeth needed to ensure the DDO is properly protected.   The Richmond Hill Naturalists and DDO Defenders produced a revised Dunlap Heritage Designation By-law that is broader in scope and more specific in the language used to describe the heritage attributes of the Dunlap lands.   As a result of this work and the voices of 16 concerned residents, Richmond Hill Council referred the Dunlap by-law back to Town staff so that public concerns could be reviewed.

The by-law will be tabled again before Council at the September 29th meeting.  Please come to this meeting and support local residents who are fighting for the best possible protection of Richmond Hill’s largest remaining green space.  All residents are welcome to speak for up to five minutes at the meeting. If you wish to address Council, please email the Town Clerk  ([email protected]) to have your name placed on the speakers list by noon today:

Your Subject Line should read:

Request to be placed on Speakers List, Monday, Sept. 14^th, Council Meeting, 7:30pm.

Include in the body of your request the following:

*You wish to speak to the matter of Agenda Item 1.12 – Designating By-law for the David Dunlap Observatory Lands-File no. D12-07228-123 Hillsview Drive- (SRPD. 09.092)-(Item no. 12)-(Proposed By-law No.100-09) and be placed on the Speakers List.

*Your name, address, phone number.

Your request will be confirmed by the Town Clerk early Monday afternoon via return email.

Contact Council Directly

If you can’t attend the Sept 29th meeting, you can send your comments directly to local and regional politicians. Please write:

Mayor

• David Barrow  -  [email protected]

Regional Councillors

• Brenda Hogg  –   [email protected]
• Vito Spatafora  –   [email protected]

Ward Councillors

• Ward 1        Greg Beros  -   [email protected]
• Ward 2        Arnie Warner  –   [email protected]
• Ward 3        David Cohen  -   [email protected]
• Ward 4        Lynn Foster  -   [email protected]
• Ward 5         Nick Papa  -    [email protected]
• Ward 6        Godwin Chan  -   [email protected]

Signing Up to save the DDO

Dozens of Richmond Hill residents are adding a little more green to their front yards by displaying a Development Free Zone sign.  If you want to help preserve our town’s last remaining green space and would like a sign of your own (for a small donation), please email [email protected] and one of our volunteers will be happy to deliver one to your door.

You are needed! Please come out to the town council meeting TONIGHT, Monday September 14 at 7:30pm. Your presence matters!

Tonight Council intends to pass the by-law designating the Dunlap Observatory property as a cultural heritage landscape.

We have concerns that there are too many loopholes and errors in this bylaw and that it will not be able to do the job it appears designed to do. Keep in mind that the by-law was released to the public on the Thursday night before the long weekend, with the Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss it on the day AFTER Labour Day, giving our community very little time to digest and analyze the contents of the by-law before Council’s only debate on it.   Concerned citizens have proposed a revised bylaw which would better protect the Dunlap property.  The revised version can be downloaded here:  Dunlap Revised Heritage Designation By-law.

Please come out to make sure Council does it right and gives this property the level of protection it deserves. You do not have to speak, but it’s important to come out so that our councillors know that you care about this issue.

You are welcome to speak for up to five minutes at the meeting. If you wish to speak, please email the Town Clerk  ([email protected]) to have your name placed on the speakers list by noon today:

Your Subject Line should read:

Request to be placed on Speakers List, Monday, Sept. 14^th, Council Meeting, 7:30pm.

Include in the body of your request the following:

*You wish to speak to the matter of Agenda Item 1.12 – Designating By-law for the David Dunlap Observatory Lands-File no. D12-07228-123 Hillsview Drive- (SRPD. 09.092)-(Item no. 12)-(Proposed By-law No.100-09) and be placed on the Speakers List.

*Your name, address, phone number.

Your request will be confirmed by the Town Clerk early Monday afternoon via return email.

You can access the Dunlap draft by-law here: http://tinyurl.com/lxgxjv

The Richmond Hill Naturalists and community groups such as the DDO Defenders  continue to advocate for the complete protection of the David Dunlap Observatory and Park.  If you support this community action, please call your local councillor (905-771-8800), write a letter and/or buy a lawn sign.  Tell Town Council you want LEADERSHIP & ALL Dunlap Parklands protected!

Please attend the Town of Richmond Hill Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday September 8th, 4:30pm, when Council will first consider the staff report for the draft Dunlap Designating By-Law.  We have been fighting for the Dunlap site’s preservation and protection for almost 2 years now – is OUR time to bear witness, be heard and be there for the Dunlap site.

SIGN UP to protect our heritage resources from more needless urban development ! Keep our  parks FREE of development !

SIGN UP to give Town Council the message saving ALL the David Dunlap Observatory Parklands is NOT COMPLICATED !

SIGN UP to tell Town Council to follow the Conservation Review Board decision calling for a MINIMUM of 80% of this property to be SAVED !

SIGN UP to tell Town Council to PICK-UP THE PHONE – call for help making the Dunlap Parklands the BEST CHOICE economic engine that a fully protected national park or heritage site can provide.

According to Canada Heritage Foundation, the David Dunlap Observatory & Parklands is among the country’s Top 10 Most Endanged Heritage Sites. This fall, Town Council says it will table a by-law providing protections to our greatest hertiage landmark. But Council says it can’t protect ALL 189- acres of the Dunlap Parklands from development, because it needs “someone riding in on a white horse,” to buy the property from the developers. The rider is here and waiting. Council just needs to PICK-UP THE PHONE.

Town Council needs to LISTEN to the consistent wishes of its residents. It needs to stop wringing its hands and PICK-UP THE PHONE. It needs to save and conserve ALL the Dunlap and the investment this community has made in its scientic, cultural and natural resources. For more than 73 years, the Richmond Hill and York Region community paid taxes to underwrite the good works of the Observatory. The developers DIDN’T.

Call, write and/or buy a sign. Tell Town Council you want LEADERSHIP & ALL Dunlap Parklands protected ! The public has the FIRST and ONLY right to this heritage, it is not this Council’s to give or deal these resources away. It is urgent you tell Town Council NOW to THINK and ACT in the best interests of our community, and not JUST in the short term interests of developers.
For current and future generations, we need to protect ALL the Dunlap Parklands and leverage our natural and cultural resources into the BEST CHOICE ECONOMIC ENGINE that a national park or historic monument site provides.

Please call the Mayor or your Ward Councillor at (905) 771-8800. Or email offiicemayor@richmond hill.ca or the entire Councill at Council_Members. [email protected].  Or use this time-saving sample letters.  Make the difference.  SIGN UP Richmond Hill !

Richmond Hill, Ontario – July 8, 2009. — Canada’s Top Endangered Cultural Place is The David Dunlap Observatory & Park in Richmond Hill. This new title was given to the 189-acre site by Heritage Canada Foundation (HCF), as selected from 10 of the nation’s other significantly threatened cultural landmarks.

(Visit: http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/news/new.html#July7_09)

“This national recognition acknowledges the Dunlap Observatory site’s importance on the Canadian landscape. It validates our position it must be protected from development, not only as a statement of this country’s values, but because of its contribution to the world’s evolution of science and astronomy in the 20^th century,” said Marianne Yake, President of the Richmond Hill Naturalists.

Heritage Canada Foundation, also known as Heritage Canada, is a registered charity and a trustee of the Crown. Through its membership, it represents almost 100,000 culturally concerned citizens and organizations working in heritage industries. Their mandate is to foster and encourage the understanding, protection and sustainable evolution of Canada’s Cultural Landscape, in particular the architectural heritage of that landscape.  HCF also has strong links to Parks Canada Agency and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, both of which report to Jim Prentice, Federal Minister of the Environment.

In early May, a delegation of York Region residents travelled to Ottawa and met with Minister Prentice; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas) Peter Kent; and Mr. Alan Latourelle, CEO of Parks Canada, regarding the plight of the Dunlap Observatory and Park.

Said Minister Kent: “The Foundation’s identification of the Dunlap Observatory and Parklands as top of the list of endangered national heritage sites is wonderful news and a wakeup call that should reverberate in the hallowed corridors of one of Canada’s best-endowed Universities, in the executive offices of one of Canada’s most respected development companies, and the council chambers of a wonderful community that professes great affection for historic places and the environment.”

He continued: “This is great news and will be noted by policy-makers of our federal government. I hope that it finally catches the attention of the Ontario government ministers responsible for Heritage and the Environment.”

This award is the pinnacle certifying the many steps local citizens have taken during a 20-month battle to preserve their 1935 landmark for all Canadians to enjoy. Led by the Richmond Hill Naturalists, local citizens and the community have made $250,000 in direct contributions and dedicated some $2.25 million in volunteer hours to underwrite sweeping protections for the Dunlap Observatory site.

“The Dunlap is a sacred place, it is one of the last undisturbed tracts of open green space in the Region. It contains the full imprint of mankind from the Ice Age to the Atomic Age. This property is of incalculable heritage value and should be kept intact – free from the fate of becoming just another patch of urban sprawl,” Ms. Yake said.

The Dunlap Observatory was selected by Heritage Canada Foundation not only because of development threats – the unnecessary removal of its contents by the University of Toronto, the number of insensitive physical changes inflicted on the Dunlap site by the new landowner, and the lack of provincial and municipal response to curb these unfortunate changes, were also contributing factors.

Minister Kent reflected, “I hope that the HCF’s proclamation will move the U of T to return priceless scientific fittings and instruments stripped from the Dunlap Observatory when it was sold.”

Last July, the Dunlap site was purchased by Corsica Development Inc., a joint venture company shared in part by Metrus Development Inc.  The U of T holds a $35 million, two year interest-free mortgage on its previous holding.  Following the sale, a treasure trove of scientific artifacts were removed from the Dunlap buildings by the U of T.  These buildings are now bare of their intrinsic heritage assets – astronomical instruments, documentation, books, photographic records, furniture, portraiture and machine shop equipment – a time capsule now lost.

“This is remarkable recognition for a remarkable place,” said Karen Cilevitz, Chair of the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders, another local community group also working to protect the Dunlap site.

“For 20 months we have been dedicated to securing the protection and conservation of this National site.  Our hope now, with the Dunlap Observatory and Park being credited as the most endangered heritage site in Canada, the Town of Richmond Hill and the province will work hand in glove to secure their landmark for Canadian history – this site must be protected and conserved as an integral whole with no development allowed”.

To assist in achieving these protections for the site, the Richmond Hill Naturalists took the property owner and the town of Richmond Hill to heritage court in January winning significant protections for the site.  The Board recommended to the town of Richmond Hill most of the land and 5 of 8 structures should be a protected as a Cultural Heritage Landscape.

(Visit: http://www.crb.gov.on.ca/english/Reports/2009_reports.html )

The Town can honour the Board’s recommendations, alter them, or dismiss them entirely.  The balance of the property will have significant restrictions placed on it to protect it from inappropriate development.

Ms. Yake said, “While we recognize our Town Councillors are under tremendous pressure in this case, we expect them to do the right thing – protect the entire site, period.  We have had to bear financial burdens beyond that which a non-profit group should have to shoulder to speak for a public place.”

“We believe we have reached a tipping point because of Heritage Canada Foundation’s decision of the Dunlap site as Canada’s most endangered heritage place.  This notable recognition instills in us the hope that the Town and the Province will now consider this treasured place as specific and as important as does a Federal agency and members of the Federal Government,” Ms. Cilevitz said.

For further information, please contact:

Marianne Yake
President
Richmond Hill Naturalists
(647) 241-7472
[email protected]

Karen Cilevitz
Chair
DDO Defenders
(416) 990-9964
[email protected]

David Belous
Special Assistant (Community Affairs) for
The Honourable Peter Kent, MP Thornhill,
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas)
(905) 886-9911
[email protected]

YORK REGION DELEGATION TO OTTAWA – May 7^th, 2009

(left to right) Joseph Shaykewich – Meteorologist; Chungsen Leung – Entrepreneur;

Valerie Burke – Markham Councillor; Marianne Yake – President, Richmond Hill Naturalists; Karen Cilevitz – Chair, DDO Defenders; Dr. Ian Shelton – Astronomer.

David Dunlap Observatory & Park
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Dated May 19, 2009; released June 4^th, 2009

A tribunal of the Ontario government, the Conservation Review Board (CRB), has delivered its final decision regarding the cultural heritage value of the David Dunlap Observatory & Park in Richmond Hill.   The document, consisting of 61 pages and dated May 19^th, 2009, is signed by the Chair of the CRB who presided at the Dunlap hearing, Mr. Peter Zakarow, and its co-Chair, Ms. Karen Haslam.

The Conservation Review Board decides issues of heritage value for the people of Ontario, it then advises local governments how buildings and the cultural heritage landscapes (CHLs) surrounding them should best be preserved for future generations.

The work of the CRB is not legally binding upon the Town of Richmond Hill or any municipality – it serves as nothing more than a recommendation.

Amongst the CRB hearing’s four participant parties, there was little disagreement regarding the merits of the Observatory’s three main buildings. Expert witnesses testified the Great Telescope Dome, the Administration Building and the Director’s residence known as Elms Lea is of local, provincial, national and international heritage significance.

Questions before the heritage tribunal largely involved considerations of the site’s five additional buildings; the relationship held by a “complimentary” 12.1-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Observatory; recognition of views to and from its main buildings (viewscapes); the extent of the cultural heritage landscapes surrounding these buildings; the intent and values of its tree arboretums; the removal of its contents and fixtures; and the boundaries of the site, which should be conserved as an integral whole.

This is a summary of the 61-page CRB Final Report, outlining the tribunal’s final Recommendations and Findings of Fact made to the Town of Richmond Hill.

Recommendations of the CRB:

Based on the evidence heard, the CRB recommended the Town of Richmond Hill

expand its position of approximately 52% coverage on the Observatory’s cultural heritage landscape and add to it a minimum buffer of 150 metres (492 feet), which would provide protection to a minimum of approximately three-quarters of the site. There is no regulation or law stopping the Town extending this boundary to encompass 100% of the property.

The Board also recommended the Town re-examine the evident heritage value of the 12.1-acre ‘panhandle’ found to be associated with astronomer Dr. Clarence Augustus Chant, the prominent scientific and historic figure directly related to the Observatory site.

Further, the Board recommended the Town should also protect and conserve the driveway leading into the Astronomy Campus, known as “Donalda Drive”, and the trees on either side; both the interiors and exteriors of five of the eight structures on the site – the Great Telescope Dome; the Administration Building; the Radio Astronomy Equipment ‘Shack’; the 19^th century farmhouse and garage known both as ‘Elms Lea’ and ‘Observatory House’, and the viewscapes from the south and west to the knoll on which the main astronomy campus sits.

The Board also recommended the Town use great specificity in language to craft its by-law protecting the Observatory’s landscapes, its viewscapes, interior roads, the exterior and interiors of its buildings, and its arboretums planted in service of the Observatory’s scientific operation. And, in the production of this by-law, that it relies upon the greater of resources provided by the research records and photographic exhibits of the Richmond Hill Naturalists.

Hearing Backdrop:

Dedicated in 1935, the Dunlap Observatory became Canada’s greatest scientific astronomical research facility for the better part of 73 years.  The 74-inch telescope is the Dunlap site’s greatest heritage asset and is the only one of six such Empire class instruments, made in the 20^th century, which is still functioning as an astrophysical research tool.

CRB Findings of Fact:

Built-Heritage Structures

• The Great Telescope Dome, its telescope, the Administration Building, the Director’s  Residence – ‘Elms Lea’, its garage and the Radio Astronomy Equipment ‘Shack’, including their interiors and exteriors, were all found to have heritage value and should be protected and conserved.
• The CRB did not find sufficient heritage value in: the utilitarian Caretaker’s Residence and Carport, the Pump House and its water line.

Viewscapes

• The Board found heritage value in the physical topography of the site, the selection of the knoll for the construction of the Great Telescope Dome and the Administration Building and that this setting should not be altered.
• Viewscapes to, from and between the three main buildings were of heritage value, and those from the south and southwest of the property (near the CN rail tracks) up towards the residence Elms Lea, were of particular value and should be conserved.
• Viewscapes to and from the knoll on which the Great Dome and Administration Building sit need to be protected from any development and encroachment.

Cultural Heritage Landscapes (CHL)

• The 10-acre cultural heritage landscape (6%) promoted for conservation by the developer was considered insufficient as it did not encompass the majority of the sites heritage elements or attributes, and was rejected by the Board.
• Community groups, the Richmond Hill Naturalists and Observatory Hill Homeowners Association’s request that 100% of the site be conserved, was rejected by the CRB as being too simplistic, despite it also being the testified position of the Ontario Heritage Trust, an agency of the Ministry of Culture.
• The upgrading of the total cultural heritage landscape from 48% to 52% by the Town, was not seen as sufficient by the Board.
• The Board found the heritage Marsh woodlot (sugarbush), the nursery arboretum of 1939 and open space heritage field farmed since the early 1800s, lying along and to the west of Bayview Avenue, to not have merit in the recommended cultural heritage landscape.

Boundary for the Cultural Heritage Landscape

• The Board found the current legal lot lines of the property (north and south) and its west (CNR tracks) boundary, were sufficient to encompass the heritage attributes contained therein.
• The Board found the eastern boundary promoted by the Town insufficient and its movement further east towards Bayview Avenue better encompasses recognized heritage elements.

In addition, to protect these elements, particularly the arboretum deliberately planted on the same axial line as that of the buildings, a minimum buffer zone of 150 meters (492 feet) is also needed to be instituted to protect the trees and landscape.

Interior Roads

• The Observatory’s entrance road, called Donalda Drive after its donor Jessie Donalda Dunlap, is recognized as being of heritage value, and its curved passage through the arboretum, subsequent route thorough the site and the heritage trees lining its path, have heritage value.

The axial design element

• The Board recognizes the north-south axial line of the north star Polaris on which the telescope and its buildings, the Great Telescope Dome and the Administration Building lie, to be planned by design and intrinsic to the astronomical site.

Heritage Tree Plantings & Arboretums

• The Board finds the site’s north-south axial line is of intrinsic value.  It also applies to the planting of the Observatory’s northern and southern arboretums and, because of this associative cultural aspect, these trees are of value and should be protected.

The Adjacent ‘Panhandle’ of Land

• The CRB also recognizes the importance of the 12.1-acre panhandle of land adjacent to the main trapezoidal parcel on which the Observatory sits, and requests the Town re-visit the history of its purchase, its form and evolution, to ensure protection when possible requests for development are made.
• The Board also finds the history of this ‘panhandle of lands’ association with the main Observatory parcel to be of such substantive cultural value that it needs to be included in the Town’s by-law deliberations.

Chattels & Moveable Property

• Although local community groups asked for the CRB’s consideration of the Observatory’s removed contents, the Board stated it was beyond the scope of its mandate.
• Despite this, the Board did recommend that specific chattels associated with the Observatory should be considered “real property,” and therefore included in the Town’s protective by-law.

Role of the Provincial Minister of Culture

• As a matter of public interest, the CRB commented on the role of Ontario’s Minister of Culture (page 44-5) in this case. It found while the Minister does have the power to act, this is only used in unorganized territories where there is no municipal authority, or where a municipality fails to act.
• To emphasize its overall findings, the Board reminded the Town the David Dunlap Observatory site is of such heritage merit it is eligible for “double designation,” (page 57) under Ontario Regulation 10/06 of the Ontario Heritage Act. It further implies this option could be exercised by the right of Crown, on the same areas and attributes recognized by the Town, or on more extensive ones.

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See the full CRB Report on the David Dunlap Observatory for more details.