Summary of Ontario Conservation Review Board Final Report
David Dunlap Observatory & Park
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Dated May 19, 2009; released June 4th, 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 19th, 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 19th 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 20th 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.
See the full CRB Report on the David Dunlap Observatory for more details.