1.) The Village of Portsmouth is the focus of a radical change--- heritage buildings may be flattened and residential towers will be built along the waterfront. The Ontario government is selling Rockwood hospital and the land on which the hospital is situated, more than 100 acres.
During the early 1970's a real estate developer named Teron wanted to build "Marina City" in Sydenham. Mr. Teron was known as "The Father of Kanata":
House of Commons Debates Ottawa June 12, 1970.
Mr. John Gilbert, New Democratic Party.
"...The hon. member for York South (Mr. Lewis) asked the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Laing) questions with regard to the development of housing in land on the Kingston area
waterfront. We were told at this time a private developer by the name of Teron is interested in developing waterfront property in the Kingston area which should be used for public recreational purposes...To sell this property, which really belongs to the public, to private interests would be indicative of a preference for individual profit rather than a concern for the public of Kingston."
Mr. Teron wanted to create high rise apartments on land between City Hall and Lake Ontario. The property is now Confederation Park.
"In 1966 the CPR freight yards had been removed from in front of City Hall and a small park had been created as an Expo project in the following year. The closure of the Dry Dock and Locomotive Works had added an air of dereliction...Sydenham residents wanted the city to acquire the land for public use, mainly as a park." (From
" Democracy in Kingston: A Social Movement in Urban Politics, 1965-1970." Page 23.
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2.) Local politicians in Kingston are trying to convince the Ontario government to designate Portsmouth a Heritage Conservation District. Old Sydenham was designated a Heritage Conservation District in the year 2015:
"The area consists of about 550 properties bordered roughly by Johnson Street, Barrie Street, King Street and Lake Ontario."
3.) Common characteristics of Heritage Districts:
- "A concentration of heritage resources." (buildings, sites, structures, landscapes, archeological sites) that have some common link for reasons of use, aesthetics, socio-cultural or historical association."
- "A concentration of heritage resources." (buildings, sites, structures, landscapes, archeological sites) that have some common link for reasons of use, aesthetics, socio-cultural or historical association."
- A framework of structured elements including major natural features such as topography, land form, landscapes, watercources and built forms such as pathways and street patterns, landmarks, nodes or intersections, approaches and edges.
- A sense of visual coherence through the use of such elements as building scale, mass, height, material proportion, colour, etc. that convey a distinct sense of time or place.
- A distinctiveness which enables districts to be recognized and distinguished from neighbouring areas.
4.) Examples of provincial heritage properties include:
- courthouses and jails
- monuments and cemeteries
- historic gardens and forts
- provincial parks and cultural heritage landscapes
- power generating stations and provincial mental health facilities.
5.) A comment by former Sydenham politician Bill Glover about the fate of Kingston Penitentiary:
"It's very, very important that City Council designates the Kingston Penitentiary under the provincial legislation to give Council the power to protect this historic property...because federal designation as a National Historic Site of Canada, while it is important, does not protect the property after it passes from public ownership to private hands." (From: Frontenac Heritage Foundation, Volume 40, Number 1, January 2013.)
6.) Dr. Jennifer McKendry and many other people saved the Sydenham District from intensification, and Dr. McKendry is trying to preserve the Village of Portsmouth.
7.) The 20-acre Portsmouth Olympic Harbour park and pavilion was a gift from the taxpayers of Canada to the City of Kingston after the 1976 Olympic Games:
"Since the facility would later remain available to the public, the government of Ontario provided funds for the purchase of the land, and the federal government shared the cost of the installation."
Olympic Yachting Centre, buildings and land- $6.4 million tax dollars.
See the documents "Montreal Olympics Official Report, Volume One" Page 85/275, and "Montreal Olympics Official Report, Volume Two" Page 215/238.
The Yachting Centre will be demolished and the land is part of massive, private redevelopment of nearby Kingston Penitentiary.
Sydenham Parkland - Macdonald Park.
8.) Limestone
9.)
Historic landscapes.
Portsmouth Village
The 100-acre Provincial Campus located on King Street West will be sold to residential and commercial developers. The Ontario government is fast-tracking the sale of hundreds of "ghost buildings" and vacant properties including Guelph Reformatory, Perth Jail and the former London Psychiatric Hospital.
Lake Ontario Park is prime real estate, located near Rockwood and the Penitentiary. The City is always complaining about a lack of affordable housing and they are using government-owned properties as a land bank. I believe that Lake Ontario Park is on a "hit list" of properties that will be expropriated for housing, based on the following information:
a.) Kingston Penitentiary guard towers, perimeter walls and at least 11 buildings will be demolished to facilitate the construction of high-rise condominiums.
b.) The Prison for Women will be completely gutted so that the National Historic Site of Canada can be converted into student housing and luxury condos. And residential towers and parking lots will remove any green space on the 8-acre lot.
c.) The City rezoned The Church of the Good Thief to permit residential accomodations.
10.) Graveyards
11.)
Irreplaceable buildings:
Portsmouth Village
Kingston Penitentiary
Prison for Women
Rockwood Asylum
Church of the Good Thief
Isabel MacNeill Halfway House for Women
Corrections Canada Museum
Penitentiary Water Tower
Portsmouth Halfway House
Penitentiary Farm House
Union Street Correctional Services Training Centre
Old Sydenham
The Martello Tower housing the Murney Tower Museum
Kingston City Hall
McIntosh Castle
Bellevue House, where Canada's First Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald lived.
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| Bellevue House, 35 Centre Street, Kingston, Ontario. |
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Potential Heritage Conservation Districts:
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| The City of Kingston Official Plan, Page 368/569-Potential Heritage Conservation Districts, May 1, 2018. |
The yellow-coloured areas on the map are Heritage Chararacter Areas:
1.) Lower Princess Street
2.) Portsmouth Village
3.) St. Lawrence Ward
4.) Alamein Drive
5.) Cataraqui Drive
6.) Village of Westbrook
7.) Kingscourt
8.) Rockwood, a former psychiatric hospital
The pink-coloured area is a Heritage Corridor Area:
1.) St. Helen's Complex including Stone Gables
The orange-coloured places are Heritage Conservation Districts, protected by the Ontario provincial government:
1.) Market Square
2.) Barriefield
3.) Sydenham
