Ontario Heritage Has Title Free and Clear

KA-NON has left a new comment on your post "More Of The Story Unfolds":

Is the town or anyone else in possession of any actual correspondence from Ms. Bartley Smith herself on the subject of the future use of the lands?

Your poster wants us to believe that the pristine preservation of these lands was the benfactor's last earthly wish. Following the money, or the tax receipts as it were, might suggest otherwise.

Perhaps there is a paper trail that might shed some light on this. That sure is an obvious piece of land for development and a substantial increase of the tax base.
**************************

I have been provided with documents. They are not useful for the purpose of this discussion. 
The fact is Ontario Heritage has title to the lands, free and clear.
They decide  what can be done with them which is currently nothing. 
If my recollection,although  scant, I was not a Councillor at the time, Ontario Heritage did not come out of the battle between the opposition and the town unscathed. 
If they are gun-shy about dealing with this community again,it should surprise no-one.
The town has been dealing with Ontario Realty...who are in charge of what's left of the farm on the former Ontario Hospital  property.  Ontario Provincial Police and Provincial Drive Test operation occupies the buildings right now.
We are about to announce successful negotiations with them but that hasn't been an easy row to hoe either.
It's hard for most of us to imagine having so much wealth that it pays to hand property over  to the government.
The Federal government has a warehouse for art treasures obtained by the process. 
I knew someone once who was negotiating to hand over dinner service for a hundred, complete with crystal  settings and flatware.
When Sheppard made his deal, he was still alive. He live in the house  five years after. It was part of the deal. He did indicate he wanted the community to have use. 
That's why we are able to use it.It's a bit of a pain in the ass to get permission for every little thing from a Conservation minion but on the whole the arrangement works well. 
It would  make a lot more sense for Ontario Heritage to have a maintenance  contract  directly with the  town. We do all the work.
They would have a hard time selling that property as long as there are people alive who remember  the wishes expressed at the time of the transfer.
Mr.Sheppard was feted at the time as a public benefactor.
He liked that.
It did no harm.
People have enjoyed  the property for  more than forty years.

It Takes A Village

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Herein Lies A True Tale Of Irony":
Anon 9:26 AMYou just proved my point of what a waste a "Youth Centre" would be.
Thanks
***********
The point above has been made twice in two days.
The town paid for a consultant study which determined from input received ,the community feels a youth centre is needed.
Did my commenters respond to the request  for input?
Did they say no?
Despite all the expense and endeavour, consultant studies never get great  input from the community.
In a town of twenty five thousand adults, input of between ninety and a hundred respondents is considered excellent and far more than the norm.
I  anticipate, people in favour of a youth centre would be the ones providing input.
If those not in support do not respond, the favorables would be skewed as well as being hardly representative.
We have all been teen-agers. Nobody gets to be an adult without  having been a teen-ager.We know many are at risk.
I am not personally convinced a youth centre  monitored by adults, would draw in the ones the community thinks  needs to be watched by adults. 
I think we need to make a place where a kid in need of care and support would know to go. A coffee shop.With caring volunteers.
Not another recreation centre. 
I think, if only to protect public property, we should seriously consider a skate board park. That is not an inexpensive project.
Youth needs are included in  calculations for development charges.
There 's the source of funding. 
It's not unlimited. My concern is, we choose our priorities wisely and make best use of the funds .
Let's not talk about what we don't want. The funds are or should  be available and must be used.
Let's hear  about what's most needed and would serve the greater purpose.
It takes a village to raise a child.    
 

More Of The Story Unfolds

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Filling In Some Blanks":

Anne Bartley Smith, wife of the late Matthew Smith, a well known developer in the area, refused all attempts to have her property developed.

Further to this point, the Town's outside lawyer, Ms. Kimberly Morris, advised that development of the property would have been problematic for the Town, given that it was held in trust for the benefit of the people of Ontario by the OHF.

The OHF's mandate was to acquire properties of significance for protection. They acquired the whole of HighTor and gave the estate a charitable donation receipt in the amount of approximately $10 million dollars.
Everything indicated that this property was best left undeveloped. The fact that Mayor Jones, Councilor West, Bill Hogg and others decided to advance the development of HighTor with the knowledge of the history of this property is beyond comprehension.

You see, it wasn't about the traffic at all. It was about respecting the will of a generous woman and her final wishes.

***********************
The comment  above produces answers and arguments. Thank You.
My  understanding of the situation is  different.
Since property development applications are made by property owners.It's not clear what attempts might have been refused by the late owner of High Tor Farm. 
The late Ann  Bartley Smith supported  several different charities.
Transferring title to Ontario Heritage for $10 million allowed her to allocate the  proceeds between  them.
I asked Ontario Heritage about the figure. She wouldn't tell .
A tax benefit of $10 million illustrates better than anything I can say and have said in the past, that title transfer to the Heritage Foundation is not " a  generous donation" to the community.
It is a business transaction to the benefit of both parties. 
The municipality cannot  provide income tax receipts We do not collect a tax on income. . 
If the  land could have been transferred to Aurora through  the same arrangement, it would have. It is now in the ownership of a provincial agency who have shown no willingness to allow community use or any other use of the property.
Note that the beautiful home on the property has had to be demolished because of abandonment.  
Ontario Heritage has the right to sell the  land. They are the legal owners. 
There is no moral stricture. The  land is not donated in trust.
The argument offered in the comment  has a false premise. The argument is contrived. 
Capital Gains tax would also  have been avoided as well as income tax.   
In the circumstances it is unlikely a  competent town solicitor gave the advice referred to about development being "problematic". 
Ontario Heritage needed the resources from the sale of  land for development.
They would have benefited. As would the town ,in receiving ownership of the remainder of the property and increased assessment from new homes.
Sheppard's Bush was transferred to Ontario Heritage years earlier  in a similar arrangement. 
The owner approached the town first and learned we could not  exchange market value of the land in tax relief.
The town advised  how to go about obtaining the tax advantage.
Ontario Heritage had no resources then either to take care of the property.
They put it in the hands of Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority. They didn't have staff resources either.
So guess who takes care of Sheppard's Bush.
We do. 
But at least, in return, we have use of the fields and  trails through the property.
It's good to know  the farm  is enjoyed by Aurora families.
It is  clear now why the last Council, including former Councillor Mac Eachern, sought a one-sided agreement  for the Town to take responsibility for maintenance of the property with nothing in return.
Development apparently is not all that's unwelcome. Residents  who have discovered the amenity are threatened with having their cars "keyed"

Filling In Some Blanks

Don't forget some of the other "players" in the neighbourhood at the time. A certain Mr Granger lives in the 'hood as well as the former CAO (now since moved away) Mr M N

The issue was not the access to the land but the enevitable increase of traffic as the two major north/south streets in the area became conduits to Bloomington or Bathurst.

The house was quite a structure. It included an indoor swimming pool and was situated in a stand of trees.
**********************
I didn't forget the other players. I never knew them.
I was fairly certain though Council wasn't guilty of what they were  accused.
It was then the enmity began between the old and the new and just grew and grew from thereon in.
I don't see how  traffic could  have increased to such an extent as to be a serious problem.
Thank you for filling in some of the blanks.

Herein Lies A True Tale Of Irony

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Master Plans Are Wish Lists":

"This has been a closely guarded secret. It is beautiful up there. No road access. You park in any of several subdivisions and hoof it in. Never know who or what you will meet. And, yes. I think Aurora holds some land. Check with Ron Wallace. He has watched the place for years. If we own a wee smidgen and can use it without spoiling the place, this could be something COUNCIL could motivate. GO!"

Spoil it?!?!?! Too late for that.
I wish people would stop parking in my neighbourhood to "hoof it in" - I'll key your cars. They had to rip down the house because of vandals. There are firepits everywhere from the "kiddies" and their booze parties.
*************
In  the nineties,High Tor Farm was transferred to Ontario Heritage in return for  market value in tax rebate.
Part of the property had development approval. Municipal roads and services had proceeded to a certain point and were intended to continue. 
This is the story, I have been able to glean from various parties  involved  at the time. 
Ontario Heritage is an agency set up to make deals with people of means. Sufficient means  they can benefit financially by giving  property away.
The agency at the time was short and in need of financial resources. An offer was made to the town. If they could sell the portion intended for development, the rest of the farm would be deeded to the town for community use.
I was  aware of uproar and accusations being thrown about willy-nilly that Council was in cahoots with skullduggery. Not being a Councillor I knew none of the details.
S.W.A.T. was formed. Susan Walmer, Evalina MacEachern and Walter Mestrinaro were in large part,  the movers and shakers.. 
They vowed  the scheme was  a betrayal of trust.    
I learned later ,Evalina MacEachern's home is on a street dead- ended when planned development was brought to  rude and abrupt termination.
High Tor Farm  is now literally an abandoned property.
We learn the house had to be demolished due to vandalism. 
The last  Council had talks with the Heritage about signing  a contract for maintenance in return for nothing at all. 
We were to take responsibility for property we had neither use nor  responsibility,while its closest neighbors would have it all  to themselves to enjoy.
Fire pits, booze parties and strange cars parked in the neighbourhood was not referenced at the time.  
Now,  Shangrila it appears, it is not.
Therein lies the supreme irony. 
My neighborhood had the S bends,fire pits and cars in our streets, where MacEachern's house was eventually built.
I doubt  S.W.A.T. would have listened to what the villainous veterans of  Aurora Council might have had to tell  at the time they were  raising hell fire and brimstone about the possibility of development and  community access to  land in their neighborhood they claimed for their exclusive  use. 
Spoiled is it? Well tough.

There's Gotta Be A Better Way

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "There Is A Puzzlement":

"If we respect the right to choose we must respect the choice."

I completely disagree with you.

The person chosen must respect the office to which elected and must act with the responsibility and the dignity that the office demands.
**********************

There has to be a better way of  saying it.
I am continually accused of  being disrespectful. 
They say; "She always thinks she's right and  that means  everybody else must be  wrong"
If that's right, does it mean I should not say what I think
I should wait to hear so that I can agree, in case they might  think I think they are wrong and showing disrespect
By telling people what I think,I am showing respect.
People need  me to  listen and respect their opinion.
I do. 
I expect  the same respect.
We  can do that and be civil to each other
I don't run for office so that I can be told what to think.
I do it so that I can say what I think.
Then people will  know and I can speak freely for them.
As has been pointed out,everyone doesn't vote for me.
Either they don't agree that I insist on saying what I think because they think it disrespects them if it's not what they think.
Either that or they just don't like me. It's not beyond the realm of possibility.
Or they think I'm  old. 
I am old.
I still think and say what I think.
Nineteen  times out of twenty, there is no other candidate in an election that thinks like I think or says it out loud.
In case voters might think they are disrespected  if the candidate  doesn't think what they think
The twentieth candidate who thinks like I think is me. 
Seems there are always people who think like I think or like it that I tell them what I think.
I like it.
.

 

Cloned Ontario tree gives hope for Canada’s decimated elms

Vidya Kauri May 29, 2012 – 8:15 PM ET

Cloned Ontario tree gives hope for Canada’s decimated elms

Vidya Kauri May 29, 2012 – 8:15 PM ET

Courtesy of University of Guelph

This tree on the campus of the University of Guelph has survived, despite its neighbours succumbing to disease.

• C

Courtesy of University of Guelph

This tree on the campus of the University of Guelph has survived, despite its neighbours succumbing to disease.

• Comments

resistant to DED.”

When Dutch elm disease decimated tree canopies from the 1940s into the 1980s, the Canadian urban landscape was transformed.

Among the victims were three large trees outside the Guelph, Ont., home of bird enthusiast Philip Gosling, 84. Every May, they had been home to orioles; when the trees were cut, the birds never returned.

They have been part of our family for dozens of years. Then suddenly, year after year, they weren’t coming back anymore and the trees were dead,” said Mr. Gosling, a retired commercial property developer. “We were very sad and distraught by this. But then, so many other people were. You could see it coming. It was happening throughout the area and there was a sense of hopelessness. What was there for us to do? Everyone was losing their trees. Everyone was losing their orioles.”They have been part of our family for dozens of years. Then suddenly, year after year, they weren’t coming back anymore and the trees were dead,” said Mr. Gosling, a retired commercial property developer. “We were very sad and distraught by this. But then, so many other people were. You could see it coming. It was happening throughout the area and there was a sense of hopelessness. What was there for us to do? Everyone was losing their trees. Everyone was losing their orioles.”So, when he and his wife, Susan, a plant researcher, went looking for a cause to donate to in 2009, they wondered if scientists might be able to create a disease-resistant elm. Armed with their gift of $500,000, Prof. Praveen Saxena at the University of Guelph embarked on a mission to make genetically identical copies of a potentially disease-resistant elm tree on Guelph’s campus. It had survived, even as neighbouring trees did not.

After 18 months of failed attempts, Prof. Saxena and his team – Prof. Alan Sullivan and post-doctoral fellows Mukund Shukla and Maxwell Jones — succeeded in cloning the 100-year-old tree that had survived repeated onslaughts of Dutch elm.

“My first thought was that we are on to something very big, and this will lead to something that we all will be proud of,” said Prof. Saxena.

The American Elm, sometimes known as “the lady of the forest,” was a muse to Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost. Alfred Tennyson called elms “full-foliaged” and “immemorial.” Ancient Germanic tribes believed women descended from elms. The Mistress of Fire in the Mongol Wedding Prayer is also said to have come from elm trees on mountaintops.

Courtesy of Don Cameron

n Nova Scotia, the tree was so beloved that the wood from felled trees was used to make sculptures of local heroes.

“We have been hesitant to re-establish elm because when we did try it in the early days, they eventually succumbed to Dutch elm disease,” said Don Cameron, regional forester with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. “So, this gives us great encouragement to think that we can again re-establish this beautiful elm urban forest.”

Alberta and B.C. managed to largely stave off the disease by preventing infected firewood from entering their borders — but even in the west, Prof. Saxena’s work is being watched.

“Albertans are really excited about this sort of research,” said Janet Feddes-Calpas, executive director of the Society to Prevent Dutch Elm Disease in Alberta. “Since the American elm is one of the few species that can survive the extreme Alberta climactic conditions, we welcome any research that can give us hope to be able to plant an elm tree that is

An elm tree sculpture in Nova Scotia

It’s not the first time a potentially Dutch elm-resistant tree has been cloned. Since the disease first came to Canada, many tolerant varieties, grown from cuttings of surviving trees, emerged over the years. However, many of these were only tested in their juvenile years. So, it is not known if they will survive into old age. Some of them still “harbour the fungus and display some reduced symptoms,” said Prof. Saxena.

As well, creating these disease-tolerant varieties is difficult because the cuttings don’t always grow well and the number of cuttings one can get from a surviving tree is limited. Prof. Saxena’s work also eliminates the need for a field in which to grow new varieties. His clones can be taken from the test tube to a pot in about 12 weeks, and then, to a greenhouse or nursery for sale.

Prof. Saxena has now created about 3,000 clones in his lab. They are currently being exposed to various strains of Dutch elm to test their resistance. The new technology is significant because it could also be used to propogate endangered trees. Moreover, other popular species like the maple and ash trees have also suffered from the fatal effects of invasive pests.

“I hope, at some point, we’ll be able to go to a nursery and pick up an American Elm variety of some kind with ease and confidence knowing that we can put it in the ground and that it’s going to be there for generations to come,” said Andrew Williams, urban forestry coordinator for the Town of Truro.

National Post
vkauri@nationalpost.com