Heritage status doesn’t mean Glen Abbey can’t be built over:expert
TORONTO — 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 that 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 that 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.