HERITAGE REPORT GOES BACK TO PLANNING AND GROWTH COMMITTEE - STILL LOOKING GOOD!

The “Official Plan Five Year Review: Official Plan Amendment to Adopt New Heritage and Public Realm Policies” report went to the City’s Planning and Growth Management Committee last Friday (October 12^th, 2012) Item PG.18.2. 

 

This follows the September 10^th Public Consultation/Open House and the pursuant consideration of the report by the Toronto Preservation Board on October 1^st when some minor changes were made to the original.

The changes that are important to us relate to the preservation of Views of Important Natural Heritage Features – Lake Ontario.  There are three changes (page 32 of the report):

• The word “View” has replaced “Vista”.
• Tenth Street has been dropped from the list and Fifth, Sixth and Twelfth have been added.
• The view descriptions now include where the view originates i.e. the Fourth Street view of lake Ontario is from “just north of Lake Shore Drive”.

A supplementary report to the main report included this submission with regard to “specific views” ...

“Requests for several additional views to be included in the Official Plan have been made”

The Heritage Staff response to that is ….

“Given the current time line for the adoption of the OP policies, these views cannot be reviewed and verified at this time.  Staff will consider all requested views of the lake as part of a future study already requested by Council.  Opportunities for the consideration of other views may be sought through various planning studies”.

This refers to Councillor Milczyn’s motion and other concerns the community has with regard to the “windows on the lake” west of Sam Smith Park not being included on the list.  There is clearly need for more work and follow-up here.

On Friday, the Planning and Growth Management Committee deferred consideration of this report until January 28^th, 2013 (Item PG.18.2).  They did this because some lawyers representing development interests wanted some tweaking of definitions and view corridor descriptions of a few historic buildings only (Queen’s Park, Casa Loma, Old and New City Halls).  No issue was expressed by any deputant with regard to views of natural features.

The meeting concluded with the Chair (Milczyn) and other members confirming that the PGM Committee must pass it in January so that it can be sent on to Council for adoption without delay.  The province has changed some heritage regulations and the OP is required to reflect those changes as soon as possible.