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To: Councilor Paula Fletcher,
Toronto-Danforth
From: Peter Carruthers, Chair
CC: Attendees at Bridgepoint Hospital Roundtable Meeting January 13, 2006
Date: 18 January, 2006
Re: Toronto Staff Report, Toronto and East York Community Council - Bridgepoint Health Facility Site
Councillor Fletcher,
On behalf of my colleagues on the volunteer board of Heritage Toronto, thank you for your efforts and time to attend the meeting on January 13, 2006 to discuss the current status of the proposed Bridgepoint Health Care facility and the recommended amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law.
At the outset, let me indicate Heritage Toronto's strong support for the site to be continued to be used for public benefit, in particular, for the delivery of modern, effective health care to our community.
With that in mind, we do have some very serious concerns about some of the matters raised in the Staff Report as well as some of the suggested amendments. Our comments are based on sound Heritage Conservation Principles approved by the Heritage Toronto Board. I understand that you received a copy of these Principles from Ernie Buchner after the meeting on Friday.
In December of 2005 the Ontario Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Renewal announced that the Ontario Government would be supporting the construction of a replacement facility for Bridgepoint Health with construction expected to begin in 2008/2009.
As was pointed out during the meeting on January 13, 2006, this is a very complicated site with an extremely complicated proposed development.
One area of great concern for Heritage Toronto is the proposed management of the existing heritage easement agreements on this site. Currently there are two easements held on the site, one by the City of Toronto and one by the Ontario Heritage Trust on behalf of the Province of Ontario. The Staff report authorizes amendments to the easements as may be deemed necessary by the City Solicitor. This proposal reverses normal process with regard to easements. This could only refer to the City easement and in that instance, City Council must see and approve specific amendments. And furthermore, to our knowledge there has been no discussion with the Ontario Heritage Trust to date. We suspect that one potential amendment could be to address the fact that the proposal for Block E, in the current staff report would violate the easement with the Ontario Heritage Trust.
It is also recommended in the report that there be amendment to the Zoning By-law to allow for mixed use for the site. Heritage Toronto is opposed to the site being anything other zoned for public use (health facilities, public in need housing or open space). It is our belief that the entire site should continue to be available for potential expansion of the health care facility in future years. As noted by Mr. McClelland during the 13 January meeting, this site was identified by Simcoe as being for public use early in the 19th century. Further, the current Official Plan identifies it as "public open space" and the new Official Plan identifies it for public use.
At its meeting on December 14, 2005, Toronto City Council asked that certain issues be reported on to the Toronto and East York
Community Council. Among them was "why the Toronto Preservation Board and City staff have recommended the demolition of the half-round
building and include financial, technical, functional and urban design arguments.'
As was identified at the January 13 meeting, this question remains unanswered. The normal process for determining the heritage significance of a site or structure would automatically involve a study or review of the identified matter and a written report presented to the Toronto Preservation Board. This has not been done and should be completed at the next meeting of the Toronto Preservation Board so that the consultation process can be truly seen as being complete and transparent.
It is quite unclear what the proposed staff report means by "declined to designate", since as noted above, no report has been delivered.
As indicated above, this is an extremely complex proposal with many phases and approval stages by numerous departments and ministries at the municipal and provincial level. This also means that the process must and does allow for flexibility for approvals at various phases.
Currently we are at the stage where the application by Bridgepoint Health for a replacement facility has been approved by the Ontario Ministry of Health through the Ontario Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Renewal. A Master Plan now must be submitted and will be followed by Site Plans and others. We should not be under an assumption that once certain decisions are made at this stage those decisions are carved in stone. They are not.
Should the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, or the Ministry of Infrastructure and Renewal decide in consultation with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Culture that they want to follow the intent and spirit of the new Provincial Policy Statement and the new Ontario Heritage Act with regard to this site, they may want to review possible alternatives prior to the approval of the proposed Master Plan or at the site plan phase that would not have a dramatic impact on total project financing or the delivery of high quality health care.
It was our impression from the meeting on Friday that the members of the "expert panel" were unanimous in their wish to achieve a "win-win" that could include the adaptive reuse of the former Riverdale Hospital.
Should you wish to discuss any of the above issues further, please contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Peter J. Carruthers
Chair, Heritage Toronto
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