The March Toronto Preservation Board agenda is now available online, and there are two items of particular interest to Heritage Toronto. The meeting is on Friday, March 27, at 2:00 p.m. in Committee Room 4 at City Hall.

The City Planning Division (Heritage Preservation Services) is recommending that 5 Eireann Quay (the Canada Malting silos) be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. This is in response to an application made by the City's Facilities and Real Estate Division to demolish the entire complex with the exception of a small portion of the site. The staff report is found in the following link.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-19569.pdf

Heritage Toronto's Conservation Committee strongly supports the recommendations in this report. Along this stretch of waterfront, these silos act as a powerful reminder of its industrial heritage.

Also on the agenda, is an application to alter a property within the Yorkville Hazelton Heritage Conservation District. The Planning staff report recommends rejection of this proposal which would see the former St Basil's Separate School (built in 1928) redeveloped into an 8 storey condominium, retaining only the front façade of the original school building.

The link to this report is:

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-19571.pdf

This proposal is particularly concerning given that the property, in addition to being within a Heritage Conservation District, was recognized with an individual listing, and protected prior to the HCD being put into place.

The proposed development would see much of the building demolished in addition to it far exceeding the massing and scale appropriate for the area. Heritage Toronto's Conservation Committee is also strongly in support of the staff recommendation to refuse the application.

Photo of St. Basil's Separate School