Poetry isn't usually much in evidence at meetings of the Toronto Preservation Board, but last Friday the meeting ended with Councillor Adam Vaughan reading a poem about Wychwood Park written by a former Wychwood Park resident - and one of Councillor Vaughan's childhood neighbours in the Park.

The reading was a celebration of the fact that the dispute over the proposed new houses in Wychwood Park appears to have been resolved to the satisfaction of all sides.

Since the February TPB meeting, when the Board had recommended against an application to demolish a house in the Wychwood Park Heritage Conservation District and replace it with two new houses, the proponent has reconsidered and met with the local residents' association to get their support of a new proposal, which involves the alteration and expansion of the existing house. The recommendation to approve the proposal will now go directly to City Council next week.

The item was walked into the TPB meeting, with the approval of members, despite staff not having had time to review the proposal, in order that the agreement could be tabled at the OMB next month - where a date had been set as a result of the original application a year ago.

Two other items of significance were also dealt with on Friday. After hearing deputations from a number of local residents, the Board recommended refusal of an application to demolish all but the front façade of the former St Basil's Separate School at 34-38 Hazelton Avenue in the Yorkville Hazelton Heritage Conservation District. This issue will now go to Community Council, and it will be important to see how it is dealt with through the process.

The lawyer for the proponent made the argument - not accepted by the members of the TPB who spoke - that the building shouldn't be considered as part of the HCD because it isn't mentioned in the HCD documentation, and also that the height should not be an issue for the TPB to discuss. These arguments were rejected, and Board members pointed out that height is indeed an issue in a conservation district made up of 2- and 3-storey buildings.

The other issue of import on Friday was the Canada Malting silos. Heritage Preservation Services is moving to designate the silos based on their associative, contextual and design value. This comes as the City's Facilities & Real Estate Division is seeking to demolish all but a representational stub of the footprint of a few of the silos. The Board agreed with the HPS staff recommendation that the silos are worthy of designation, and also added an amendment to recommend that the $8 million set aside by the City for this site, and which Facilities & Real Estate is suggesting be used for demolition, instead be used to stabilize and restore the silos, while demolishing the buildings to the west, which pose a public danger.

The site is apparently no longer being considered as the future home of the Museum of Toronto, and work is now underway to consider the feasibility of Old City Hall for that purpose.