Results tagged “daviddunlapobservatory”

The future of the historic David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill could be decided in a hearing that wraps up today. The University of Toronto sold the 190-acre property to a developer last summer, who told a Conservation Review Board hearing yesterday that their plans for the site preserve the three historic buildings but don't include a public park. At the other extreme, the Richmond Hill Naturalists want to see the entire site preserved as a park, research facility, and operating museum. Coming up the middle is the town of Richmond Hill, which wants to set aside the forested western half of the property that includes the buildings while allowing development on the eastern half. The Observatory's rich history and importance to the town as a large greenspace in the middle of suburbia should all but cinch the case for preservation of a significant portion of the site.

Toronto is the second most expensive city in North America and fifty-fourth most expensive city in the world, according to the Mercer's annual cost of living survey. In the worldwide list, Toronto jumped twenty-eight spots and now ranks as more expensive than Los Angeles, a city known for its frugality.

In a September news release, the University of Toronto announced in a roundabout way its intention to sell the historic David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill to the highest bidder. Opened in 1935 and home to the second-largest telescope in the world at the time (and still the largest in Canada), the Observatory was overrun by light pollution by the 1960s. Although no longer very suitable for visual astronomy, the DDO continues an active...