Item - 2023.PB10.2

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:

1. City Council include the property at 55 Yeomans Road on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register in accordance with the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion), attached as Attachment 1 to the report (September 21, 2023) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

Gary Miedema, Planner, Heritage Preservation, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on 55 Yeomans Road - Inclusion on the Heritage Register.

This report recommends that City Council include the property at 55 Yeomans Road on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register for its cultural heritage value and interest.

Located on the northeast corner of Danby Avenue and Yeomans Road, south of Sheppard Avenue West, west of Bathurst Street, the subject property at 55 Yeomans Road comprises a Modernist style synagogue, known as the Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue, completed in 1959 to the designs of celebrated modernist Canadian architect Irving Grossman and artist Graham Coughtry.  

The Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue was identified in the North York Modern Inventory in 1997.

The property at 55 Yeomans Road has been researched and evaluated by staff using the criteria prescribed in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and meets one or more of the provincial criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest and is believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest.

A municipal heritage register may include properties that have not been designated but Council believes to be of "cultural heritage value or interest", and that meet one or more of the provincial criteria for determining whether they are of cultural heritage value or interest. The Ontario Heritage Act (the Act) now also limits listing to a period of two years.

Properties on the Heritage Register will be conserved and maintained in accordance with the Official Plan's Heritage Policies. The listing of non-designated properties on the municipal heritage register also extends interim protection from demolition and provides an opportunity for City Council to determine whether the property warrants conservation through designation under the Act should a development or demolition application be submitted.

On January 1, 2023, amendments to the Act through the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) came into effect. Under the Act, should a property be subject to an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and / or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application, properties must be listed on the Heritage Register prior to Part IV designation and before the occurrence of a "Prescribed Event". Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) are required for development applications that affect listed properties.