"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Tuesday 5 June 2012

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.
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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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, so we are still looking to see if Aurora might already hold a suitable place for the tree seedlings. In the past year, a group of homeowners complained to Council that there was a land-locked piece of property in their midst that was an oasis for teens late at night. And that the teens were noisy, left a mess and damaged neighbourhood parked cars. When council really began to look at the bit of land, the neighbours backed off and said it was just fine.
Can you recall where that parcel was, Evelyn A bunch of baby trees might suit the people in neighbouring houses and reduce the collection of teens . I think it was just a building lot.

KA-NON said...

I will infer by your comments that the documents with which you have been provided indicate that Ms. Bartley Smith's wishes were indeed for the lands to remain undeveloped.

You argue that her wishes are academic given that free title, without covenant to the benefactor's wishes, is in the hands of a 3rd party.

The question then becomes political. If the rightful owner of the property today wished to sell it for the purposes of development, what position should the town take, given the memories that it's (voting/squeekly wheel) citizens retain re: the wishes of Ms. Bartley Smith? Fight it through appeals to the OMB (remind you of a certain golf course development) or endorse it?

Depends on council I guess. And which master each constituent member believes he/she serves. Or where they live, perhaps.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes we get stymied by bureaucratic hogwash. My Grandma donated her quilt collection to the ROM. Years later, they were having a fund-raiser and encountered difficulties. I wrote to tell them that, since the quilts were never on display and of no use to them, they should feel free to sell them off at one of their events. They replied that it was a great idea but that they were unable to do that. The deal is that when you accept a donation in kind like that, it can only be removed from the collection in exchange for something better in the same field. So they could not auction off the quilts unless they were repaid with better quilts.

Anonymous said...

If Ontario Heritage is broke? & the province is broke? Do they not need the $ from doing something with that land? Just asking. Usually it is the bottom line that matters.