Join us to celebrate the history and discoveries of
the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill.
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
2 – 4 pm
16th Avenue Public School
400 – 16th Avenue, Richmond Hill
(between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue)
Come celebrate the history, listen to the present, and focus
on the future of Canada’s largest telescope and most famous Observatory.
Official ceremony, refreshments, solar telescope viewing
Earth Hour in Richmond HillSaturday March 27th from 8pm onwards
Turn out your lights and come join us for
Astronomy Night – Navigating the Night Sky
You will find us located on the hill just outside the Richmond Hill Central Library – North side of Hopkins, West of Yonge, South of Major Mackenzie Drive.
Spread the word: please download and forward our 2010 Earth Hour Flyer
The Town of Richmond Hill has postponed a December 1st public meeting to discuss draft planning options and conservation management principles for the DDO lands until January, 2010. A statement sent out by Donna L. McLarty, Town Clerk reads:
In order to provide residents additional time to review the draft options and provide feedback to staff, the concepts will be released on the Town’s web site on Friday December 4th. Hard copy printouts will also be available from Access Richmond Hill (ground floor 225 East Beaver Creek Road). Written or e-mailed comments on the concepts may be provided to Town staff up to and including December 20th (e-mail your comments to [email protected]).
Based on input received, the concepts will be refined and presented to a Committee of the Whole meeting early in the new year (more details to follow). Residents will have an opportunity at this meeting to offer their comments directly to Committee members.
Many RHN members have participated in the Town’s planning process as it relates to the Dunlap lands. All members of the public are encouraged to take the time to comment on the draft options that are to be released on December 4th. For more information, please see the Town of Richmond Hill’s DDO information.
In other DDO news, on November 23rd, Richmond Hill Town Council voted to “pursue fines and penalties to the fullest extent possible in response to Metrus’ actions during its archaeological assessment of the observatory’s southwest field”. Mayor David Barrow told a packed council chamber the town is preparing legal documents for a January 15th, 2010 court date and that a fine against the developer would be decided in court. Some controversy remains over the actual number of trees that were illegally removed, since Town bylaw officers have not yet been able to access the site to untangle and measure a large pile of cut trees. For more details, please see the Richmond Hill Liberal.
Trees being removed on the Dunlap property.
All members of the public are invited to a Public Design Charette on Saturday, November 7th, being held as part of the David Dunlap Observatory Lands Planning and Conservation Management Study:
The DDO Study intends first, to establish a Conservation Management Plan that assists in managing and protecting the property’s heritage attributes; and second, to develop a land use vision and strategic direction for the future of the site that will celebrate its uniqueness and special value. This workshop is the second consultation event for the Study following the Open House held on October 20, 2009. The purpose of the workshop is for the community to help develop conservation management principles and planning options for the site through a number of visioning and design exercises.
Staff from the Town and Planning Alliance (the consulting firm retained to lead the David Dunlap Observatory Lands Planning and Conservation Management Study), will be on hand to facilitate the workshop.
For further information, contact Joanne Leung in the Planning & Development Department at (905) 771-5498 or by e-mail [email protected].
Saturday November 7th, 2009 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Langstaff Community Centre,
(Tollgate Room)
155 Red Maple Road
Richmond Hill
It is important for everyone who cares about the fate of the David Dunlap Observatory and its lands, who wishes to protect its heritage and the greenspace to come this Saturday to the design charette with a vision that sends a clear message:
NO RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE DDO LANDS – on any part.
Whether you are a resident of Richmond Hill or York Region or not, show elected officials that this is an important issue for you. Make your voice heard at meetings and by written word. Attend Saturday’s design charette visionning the future use and protection of the DDO lands. Let Richmond Hill Council know that the zoning must remain institutional and that the site be used for research, educational, cultural, and re-creational, not for residential and commercial development– and that the Official Plan must reflect these uses.
The City of Toronto would not allow the sale of High Park or Edwards Gardens. It is developing the Toronto Brickworks. Why has Richmond Hill and York Region not made strides for the acquisition of the David Dunlap Observatory and lands? This could be Richmond Hill’s Central Park or Mont Royal, a tranquil oasis in an a busy urban setting. A sanctuary for wildlife. Continued use as a way station for migrating birds.
Currently, it appears that the only piece of property that the Town will protect is the swath of land that is the continuation of the lands north of the panhandle. This area contains the Observatory, Admin building, and the Marshes’ homestead, Elms Lea.
We want the Town to be responsive to the Community,the expressed wishes of its residents, and all those who value the David Dunlap Observatory and its lands. Only then will it have credibility when approaching other levels of government. The further along the process of planning and official plan amendments is, the higher the cost to bring back the lands into the public domain. Only continued pressure from the public can reverse the process.
This comment from the online petition gives us in a nutshell why it is so important to save this special place.
https://www.rhnaturalists.ca/save-the-observatory/petition.php :I worked at the DDO as an undergraduate researcher from 1999 to 2003, and I have a lot of great memories there. My decision to make Astronomy my career was crystalized during my time at the DDO, and I would be deeply saddened if we lost a source of inspiration for young, inquiring minds.
Furthermore, the DDO land is extremely beautiful and wonderfully tranquil, providing a haven for those seeking a brief respite from their hectic lives. More importantly, it provides a space to make Astronomy accessible to the public. I think we would be losing an important part of our history, and we should work hard to preserve and cherish the DDO.
- This is the second of 3 mandated public meetings regarding the Town’s “Planning and Conservation Management Study” for the DDO Lands.
[Planning and Conservation Management Study it's] more to do with “planning” than it is with “heritage”. The landowner and developer is working on their own “concept plan” which is called a “Master Environmental Servicing Plan” (MESP), which will lay out their “vision” for development on the Dunlap Lands, a sub-division which they are calling “Observatory Hill”. This also has to be publicly vetted, and will be “peer-reviewed” by the Town.
- “No development on the Dunlap Lands, not now, not ever”.
We speak for the Dunlap Site as an integral whole. That is the position we adopted right from the get-go beginning, nothing has changed. The Dunlap Site houses Canada ’s largest optical telescope, where many important and groundbreaking astrophysical discoveries and confirmations took place over its 73 year storied history. The Dunlap Telescope is still a viable and valuable astrophysical research instrument which should be in the hands of astrophysicists so they may manage and direct the research and public outreach programs this facility should be, and could be, undertaking.
The Dunlap site encompasses 189 acres of pristine open greenspace – arboretums, forests, meadows, wetlands, marshes, springs, heritage woodlots, heritage hedgerows – which is home to a multitude of flora and fauna which must be protected – a resident deer herd, coyote, foxes, many species of forest wildlife, insects, butterflies, pollinators, owls, hawks, birds of differing species and an invaluable safe harbour for migratory birds.
The Dunlap lands straddle the southernmost edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine, The massive below ground Oak Ridges Moraine Aquifer Complex runs beneath it, feeding the headwaters of German Mills Creek. The ecological necessity of these undisturbed lands cannot be overly stated in the role they play in the health of all who/which inhabit its space, the surrounding areas, and, very importantly, in controlling the flood plain and storm water runoff.
This remarkable oasis in the middle of urban sprawl must be protected against the ravages of development of any kind.
We have consistently stated and maintained for 2 years now that the Dunlap Observatory and Park should remain as is and as it was intended – a professional research Observatory and public education outreach facility, a Park and Arboretum, home to the Marsh heritage farmstead and surrounded by protecting acres of green space and mature trees, enabling the Observatory’s scientific function.
That is our message, plain and simple, we, the public, want and insist the Dunlap site is saved an protected for all for posterity. We do NOT support ANY vision for development of any kind. We ask and insist that OUR voice is heard, respected and listened to.
We hope to see you all at the meeting on [Saturday morning], and that many of you will step forward and let the Town and Planning Alliance, and developer, know just how much we intend to ensure the Dunlap Lands are not disturbed.
We have been given information that some RH residents have received flyers telling them not to attend the meeting tomorrow as the Dunlap is a “done deal”. We are investigating this claim thoroughly and attempting to receive confirmation. If anyone on this list has received such notification or you know of anyone who has, please contact me ASAP – 416-990-6694. Please inform anyone who may contact you about this, that it is unequivocally erroneous disinformation and their attendance is, now more than ever, required at tomorrow’s meeting.
Thank you all again for your continued support…
Karen Cilivitz,
Chair, DDO Defenders
The public is invited to an Open House being held as part of the David Dunlap Observatory Lands Planning and Conservation Management Study for the Town of Richmond Hill (see study area map in PDF link below). The Open House will be held at the Yorkshire Room, Langstaff Community Centre, located at 155 Red Maple Road, Richmond Hill Ontario. Please join us on:
October 20th, 2009 7pm to 9.30 pm
Power Point Presentation 7.15 pm.
The intent of the David Dunlap Observatory Lands Planning and Conservation Management Study is twofold: first, to establish a Conservation Management Plan that assists in managing and protecting the property’s heritage attributes; and second, to develop a land use vision and strategic direction for the future of the site that will celebrate its uniqueness and special value. Staff from the Town and Planning Alliance (the consulting firm retained to lead the David Dunlap Observatory Lands Planning and Conservation Management Study), will describe the study process, what a conservation management strategy is, and how it will guide the future vision of the David Dunlap Observatory Lands.
Details: http://www.richmondhill.ca/documents/ddo_pcmstudy_open_house.pdf
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. 14th, 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
Regional Councillors
Ward Councillors
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. 14th, 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 scienti c, 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 o ffiicemayor@richmond hill.ca or the entire Councill at Council_Members. [email protected]. Or use this time-saving sample letters. Make the di fference. 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 20th 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 7th, 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.
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.
Built-Heritage Structures
Viewscapes
Cultural Heritage Landscapes (CHL)
Boundary for the Cultural Heritage Landscape
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 axial design element
Heritage Tree Plantings & Arboretums
The Adjacent ‘Panhandle’ of Land
Chattels & Moveable Property
June 12, 2009, Richmond Hill, Ontario — Just days after receiving a decision of the Conservation Review Board of Ontario, which called upon the Town of Richmond Hill to consider preserving the majority of the 189-acre David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) & Park, a local member of parliament is commending the local community’s vision to protect and preserve the entire site.
Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), said “The Dunlap Observatory and surrounding lands are priceless elements of Canadian history. I’m working with a number of cabinet colleagues on ways we might support the efforts of a passionate group of York Region citizens to protect and preserve the Dunlap Observatory site.”
Minister Kent’s statement is the result of top-level meetings held in Ottawa in early May between concerned York Region residents and government officials. The group met to discuss the possible future of the David Dunlap Observatory and Park, including use of its substantive cultural heritage resources as an economic engine for York Region.
York Region residents knew delivery of the Conservation Review Board report – June 4, 2009 – would create an opportunity for additional provincial and new federal protections to be exercised on the site, alongside those of the Town of Richmond Hill.
“The CRB did just that,” said Marianne Yake, President of the Richmond Hill Naturalists and Ottawa meeting attendee. “It recommended “double-designation” by the Town and Province to protect the Dunlap’s built-heritage, cultural associations, its viewscapes, landscapes, and its natural environment resources. This report opened the door to federal considerations and makes possible a ‘hat-trick’ of heritage protections – local, provincial and federal.”
“As well as the several powerful heritage and environmental arguments for preservation of the Dunlap Observatory park lands, we have to recognize the significant potential groundwater damage to Richmond Hill, and for that matter, Thornhill, if development disrupts the already precarious balance of nature,” said Minister Kent.
Believing passionately the Dunlap site was of national significance, and with little local government response to their concerns, community members contacted the Federal government. On May 7th, 2009, the members of this York Region Delegation, drawn from a cross-section of the community, traveled to Ottawa.
Members of this delegation included:
Ms. Carolyn Quinn, of the Ottawa-based Heritage Canada Foundation, also attended the meeting, in support of the York Region residents plan to revitalize the Dunlap site.
The last remaining open green space in south Richmond Hill, the Dunlap site sits at the headwaters of the Don River, and is part of the Oak Ridges Moraine Aquifer Complex. Evidence of pivotal historic events in Ontario are a part of the Dunlap lands – the 1795-6 blazing of Yonge Street from the forest, settlement by United Empire Loyalists, preparations for the War of 1812, the Rebellion of 1837, the establishment of the Presbyterian Church (1817), the country’s first astronomy campus and it’s largest telescope (1935) and the discovery and confirmation of black holes (1972).
An archaeological survey of the property also raises strong potential for aboriginal impact upon the Dunlap site, prior to its use by European settlers.
“It was an extraordinary meeting. Our presentation was very well received and we’re pleased with the immediate interest shown by our Federal representatives and officials. For the first time in over 19 months, we really feel the Dunlap site could be returned to public hands where it has always belonged,” said Karen Cilevitz, Chair of the DDO Defenders.
“The realization the Observatory site was an economic engine for York Region and Ontario was immediately apparent by all in attendance,” she said.
Astronomer Dr. Ian Shelton said, “This is where the first Canadian astronomers were trained, and many DDO staff members have played important roles in the history of modern astronomy. The discovery and confirmation of the first stellar mass black hole by Professor Tom Bolton is just one example. I had a real sense from our Ottawa meeting that the substantial list of Dunlap accomplishments won’t be just footnotes in an astronomy textbook.”
He continued, “I very much hope all of the heritage contents removed from the Observatory site are returned where they belong, and we can permanently establish the legacy of donor Jessie Donalda Dunlap and astronomer Dr. Clarence Chant. The interiors of these buildings were like walking back in time, filled with 70 years of instruments and literature that were used to keep pace with our rapidly evolving understanding about the true scale and complexity of the universe. This was, and is, a very special place.”
Minister Kent agreed, and called for all scientific and historic artifacts to be restored to the Dunlap site. “The heritage value of the contents are significantly lessened by these removals, context is everything,” he said.
The Great Telescope, Observatory buildings and its site was donated in trust to the University of Toronto in 1935 by Jessie Donalda Dunlap, in memory of her husband David. Last July, the University sold the property to Corsica Development Inc., a corporation owned in part by Metrus Development Inc.
The University of Toronto continues to have a relationship with its former astronomical campus, as it holds a $35 million dollar mortgage on the property, which it gave interest free to Corsica, for two years. The University subsequently removed the Observatory’s contents, some of them given to a museum in Ottawa.
Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the Dunlap Observatory site was an asset to a community of 900 farmers, which catapulted the little village of Richmond Hill to the absolute centre of the British Empire. Having one of the world’s largest telescope’s has brought millions of visitors into Richmond Hill and Markham Township, and this injection of economic stability was a financial engine in the local economy during the Depression of the 1930s.
Said Ms. Cilevitz: “The local communities have always known and appreciated the cultural heritage worth of the Dunlap Observatory and Park. We now feel more confident it will indeed receive the protection and recognition it so richly deserves – that of a National site of great scientific, ecological, and economic significance.”
For further information, contact:
Karen Cilevitz
DDO Defenders
(416) 990-6694
[email protected]
Marianne Yake
RHNaturalists
(905) 883-3047
[email protected]
Dr. Ian Shelton
Astronomer
(905) 762-0072
[email protected] (905) 886-9911
David Belous
Special Assistant (Community Affairs)
Hon. Peter Kent, MP Thornhill
[email protected]
Just a reminder to our members to attend the hearings on the David Dunlap Observatory. Please set aside time to attend for a hour, half or full day. The hearing for The David Dunlap Observatory is before the Conservation Review Board on:
When: January 15 & 16, and January 19 through 23rd, 2009.
10am – 4pm
Where: Town of Richmond Hill
Committee Room 2
225 East Beaver Creek,
Richmond Hill,
(North of Hwy #7, West of the 404 and East of Leslie Street)
Please also consider sending a letter to the Ontario and Federal governments calling for the full protection of the DDO.
The administration building, Observatory Dome, Pre-Confederation Homestead, and other buildings are set on a 189 acre farm property in Richmond Hill. This site has a rich history in aboriginal, early Upper Canada pioneer, and later in 1933 the establishment of the University of Toronto’s Astronomical Campus.
The administration building designed in 1933 by the Toronto architectural firm, Mathers and Haldenby, and the Observatory Dome by Grubb and Parson were built to the specifications of Dr. Clarence A. Chant (Father of Canadian Astronomy) and Jessie Donalda Dunlap as a memorial to her late husband David Alexander Dunlap (founder of Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines).
The surrounding community is supporting complete designation and re-use of this site as a working musuem allowing public outreach, astronomy research and education. From 1995 with Canada’s first light abatement bylaw (light pollution is not an issue) and a new heritage designation bylaw that needs to be strengthen, this Provincial and Nationally significant site can be protected. The Richmond Hill Naturalists, Observatory Hill Ratepayers, the Town of Richmond Hill and Corsica Development will be before the CRB for adjudication. Designation concerns related to this property, are the movable artefacts which are central to the heritage value of this site. Affixed assets have been removed from the site.
The Board chair will set aside some time for the the public opportunity to speak about the Observatory and/or history of the property. We will let you know when this date is set.
Thanks and hope to see you there!
Marianne Yake