CORRECTIONS TO
Planning, Building & Development Department
Inter-Department Memorandum RE: Former Battlefield School Property
dated February 4, 2013:
1) The statement “The Friends of the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield came forward to
object to the City’s proposal” is ERRONEOUS.
Citizens objected. The Friends of the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield was revived
AFTER the April 24, 2012 Council meeting.
2) The statement “The organization proposed to fundraise and purchase the
school property themselves and remove the existing school building in an effort
to preserve the battlefield site as a historic site” is ERRONEOUS.
The Friends of the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield made no such proposal.
foundation was still inactive as of the April 24, 2012 Council meeting.
The
City Council decided to challenge the citizens (primarily seniors on fixed
incomes) objecting to the City-initiated rezoning application to come up with
$450,000 within an arbitrarily chosen six month time frame.
At Time: 62:30 in the video of the April 24, 2012 Council meeting, Councillor
Vince Kerrio discusses his forthcoming motion:
"... to table this to give the residents their time to see if they can
come up with the money to purchase and demolish the school and
at that time I guess we would enter into an agreement maybe to
make it, to turn it, into a park ... and maybe in the meantime we can
talk to the owner of the funeral home to see if we can enter into an
arrangement maybe to lease him, to come up with some other
arrangement to not have to sell him, to lease him, the land ... I'm of
the mind to give the residents the time they need to come up with
an alternative arrangement."
Following that Council meeting, the Friends of the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield
reorganized and came up with that alternative arrangement. The Building
Canada Through Arts and Heritage Legacy fund will provide up to $500,000 to
demolish the redundant school building and develop a commemorative park in its
place, providing an almost dollar for dollar return on that portion of the City’s
2012 Capital Budget investment.
City Council subsequently passed two resolutions regarding the Friends’ project,
one endorsing the project for Building Canada Through Arts and Heritage
program purposes and the other indicating its willingness to provide a Landlord
Authorization.
3) The statement “… the northerly portion of the lands at 6015 Barker Street …
has significant associative value to the community due to the proximity of the site
to the larger battlefield site connected with the War of 1812, Battle of Lundy’s
Lane” is ERRONEOUS.
The southerly, not the northerly, portion of the lands at 6015 Barker Street,
contain the most associative and contextual value.
Also: The property at 6015 Barker Street is NOT in proximity to the battlefield: It
is the battlefield – the southerly portion in particular being the central “killing
ground” according to Graves.
Significant study of this cultural heritage resource has already been done. It was
the subject of a 1964 report by the Historical Sites and Monuments Board of
Canada to Federal Resources Minister Arthur Laing. It was the subject of Donald
E. Graves’ books The Battle of Lundy’s Lane: On the Niagara 1814 (Baltimore,
Maryland: The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1993) 342
pages and Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy’s Lane 1814
(Toronto: Robin Brass Studio,1993) 352 pages.
Both the federal government in the mid-1960s and Mr. Graves in 2012 and 2013
indicated the lands bounded by Barker, Drummond, Lundy’s Lane and Main were
the scene of the most intense fighting and should be conserved and restored.
Furthermore, the Hon. Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment, in a November
23, 2012 letter [Appendix G], advised: “The Drummond Hill property where the
Battlefield Public School is located is within the boundaries of Lundy’s Lane
National Historic Site of Canada.”
The property has not only historical (or associative) value. It also has important
contextual value because it is important in defining, maintaining or
supporting the character of the area; and it is physically, functionally,
visually and historically linked to its surroundings.
Furthermore, it meets the definition of, and stipulations for, a Cultural Heritage
Landscape as per the 2005 Provincial Policy Statement:
2.6 Cultural Heritage and Archaeology
2.6.1 Significant built heritage resources and significant
cultural heritage landscapes shall be conserved.
Conserved:
means the identification, protection, use and/or
management of cultural heritage and archaeological resources
in such a way that their heritage values, attributes and
integrity are retained. This may be addressed through a
conservation plan or heritage impact assessment.
Cultural heritage landscape:
means a defined geographical area of heritage significance which
has been modified by human activities and is valued by a
community. It involves a grouping(s) of individual heritage
features such as structures, spaces, archaeological sites and
natural elements, which together form a significant type of
heritage form, distinctive from that of its constituent elements or
parts. Examples may include, but are not limited to, heritage
conservation districts designated under the Ontario Heritage Act;
and villages, parks, gardens, battlefields, mainstreets and
neighbourhoods, cemeteries, trailways and industrial complexes
of cultural heritage value.