Designation doesn’t prevent development: expert
An Ontario town voted this week to designate one of Canada’s most famous golf courses a heritage site, but one expert says the status doesn’t necessarily protect Glen Abbey’s greens from being turned into a housing development.
Paul Dilse, a heritage planning consultant in Toronto, says Oakville, Ont., town council’s vote of intent to designate the Glen Abbey Golf Club a heritage zone means it is immediately protected under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The designation, which was voted on Monday night, comes one month before the town council is set to decide whether it will approve or block a housing development Glen Abbey’s owner, ClubLink, has planned for the course.
ClubLink has said it wants to turn the course into a mix of 3,200 residential units, office and retail space – a plan that has drawn considerable opposition from locals who say Glen Abbey is worthy of preservation.
The course was designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus and opened 40 years ago. It has hosted the Canadian Open 29 times and is slated to host it again next year. The Canadian Golf Museum and Hall of Fame, and Golf Canada offices are also housed on the site.
But despite the heritage status now granted to the prestigious course, Dilse said the area could still be developed.
ClubLink still has 30 days to appeal the heritage designation to the Conservation Review Board, he explained.
Even if ClubLink loses its appeal, its development could still proceed, depending on what guidelines Oakville decides to introduce to preserve the site’s heritage. Those guidelines could theoretically be as lenient as requiring parts of the golf course to exist alongside the new housing development, he said.
A spokeswoman with Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport said any appeal by ClubLink on the heritage designation would trigger a hearing, the result of which will be sent to Oakville’s town council. Denise Balfour said, however, that whatever the appeal hearing’s findings, “the final decision will ultimately be made by the local council.”