Comment regarding Wesley Mimico redevelopment project (EYCC meeting, Oct. 17, 2013)

By way of offering comment regarding the Wesley Mimico redevelopment project at 2 Station Road, in connection with the Oct. 17, 2013 Etobicoke York Community Council meeting, I’ve sent the following email (see below) to the following councillors:

councillor_grimes@toronto.ca
councillor_digiorgio@toronto.ca
councillor_doucette@toronto.ca
councillor_palacio@toronto.ca
councillor_dford@toronto.ca
councillor_lindsay_luby@toronto.ca
councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca
councillor_mammoliti@toronto.ca
councillor_leon@toronto.ca

Comment regarding 2 Station Road

I support efforts to ensure that the Wesley Mimico congregation and the local community continue to play a strong role in a redeveloped church building at 2 Station Road.

I am impressed with the consistent efforts of the congregation to engage in information sharing and exchange of views about the project.

I have also spoken with community members who are focused on preservation of the building as a heritage landmark and am impressed with the relevance of their views.

Continued participation by a faith community in a repurposed place of worship is supported by the Ontario Heritage Act as this post underlines:

Ontario’s heritage places of worship may be characterized as living cultural heritage resources

Several options regarding church conversions are available as recent research indicates:

Giving new meaning to religious conversion – Jason Hackworth and Erin Gullikson (2013)

I support negotiations between the congregation and heritage preservation staff that would enable the proposed redevelopment to move forward, while meeting the Ontario Heritage Act requirements.

Such negotiations have the potential to meet the interests of all stakeholders.

An earlier blog post (see below) outlines how decisions are made, in the course of a church conversion such as this one. In this post I have also outlined where room for negotiation may be available:

The outcome of the Wesley Mimico redevelopment story will depend upon negotiations related to the Ontario Heritage Act

Sincerely,

Jaan Pill