The owners of a 185-year-old farm just south of Guelph want to donate 30 acres of the property for public use for a natural heritage park for future generations to enjoy as the city grows around it.
But the Marcolongo family feels they are on a “collision course” with city plans and developers who want to see a busy road cut through the proposed park.
The property is a 105-acre piece of rolling farmland on the east side of Gordon Street immediately south of Springfield Golf course.
Council has issued a notice of intention to designate a 30-acre parcel of it as a cultural heritage landscape, as recommended by the city’s Heritage Committee.
But the family is worried what preferred city concept plans, along with opposition from developers who have been buying up surrounding properties south of Guelph, will mean for its wishes.
The city’s Clair/Maltby Secondary Preferred Concept Plan presented to council April 12 showed what would be a connector road running through the proposed heritage park, connecting Maltby Road to Clair Road.
Two developers have also filed appeals against the notice of intent to designate the property.
“We’re on a collision course” with the city and developers, says Assunta Uffer-Marcolongo, the family matriarch who lives in the farmhouse.
“I’m very worried. There’s been a lot of sleepless nights,” she says.
Her husband Dr. Vincenzo Marcolongo, bought the property in 1972. The family believes the farm was established around 1830 and the house and barn were built around 1860.
The farm is actually now technically owned by a foundation set up by the family that supports international medical training through scholarships. The farmland is leased out.
The 30-acre natural heritage park would be a legacy the Marcolongos would leave for future generations, they say.
“But you can’t put a road through a cultural heritage landscape and expect it to maintain its heritage attributes,” says son Mike Marcolongo.
“You can imagine our dismay on April 12 when we saw it in the plans being presented to council. It definitely took us for a loop.”
Stacey Laughlin, senior policy planner with the city, says the road is not a done deal.
“It’s far from set in stone right now,” she says.
Staff is still considering whether it will be part of the preferred concept plan that comes to city council at a special meeting on June 14.
“If the answer is ‘yes, we need to pursue that road further from a transportation and engineering perspective,' it's still not a definite answer. There’s still steps to be taken to determine if that road could go there,” Laughlin says.
Those steps would include a full heritage impact review.
“Once we have our initial answer as to whether we’re going to pursue that road or not, that would determine the next steps,” Laughlin says.
Currently the city is proceeding as if the lands have been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, says Stephen Robinson, the city’s senior heritage planner.
Mike Marcolongo says the family is getting “mixed messages” from the city.
He points out that 15 acres of the 30 they are offering the city is developable. The family could make millions selling it for that purpose.
“You would think the city administration would be ecstatic,” he says.
The two developers that have filed appeals of the notice of intention to designate the property, feel that while the home and barn are culturally significant, the land behind it is “neither unique, rare nor has the potential to contribute to an understanding of a community or culture.”
Those appeals will be heard by the provincial Conservation Review Board.
“Those buildings themselves don’t do the property and what is at stake here justice,” Assunta Uffer-Marcolongo says.
The family, which includes Mike, his mother and brother and sister, is not against development.
In fact they have already sold 35 acres of the farm to Option For Homes, a developer who focuses on affordable housing models.
But they're worried about the heritage park, the legacy of the property and on a bigger scale, what this means for the city’s plans for the entire area.
“This is much bigger than this farm,” Mike Marcolongo says. “This is about the Clair/Maltby Secondary Plan. There’s a lot at stake here. The south end plan is being rushed.”
The Marcolongos join some residents of the nearby Rolling Hills subdivision are also up in arms about what the plans mean for their area, including sensitive watershed areas.
“Once land is developed, you can’t go backwards,” says Marcolongo, adding that he feels the plans are being unnecessarily rushed.
“The south end plan will have repercussions for many generations to come. Let’s tread carefully,” he says.
Asked what it might mean for plans to donate the land to the city, Mike Marcolongo says “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
The Marcolongos have been conducting walking tours of the property for the public. Two more are planned for May 26 and June 2, both at 1 p.m., at 2162 Gordon St.
