Dear editor:

Hats off to town Coun. Gary Burroughs for saying what I believe many Niagara-on-the-Lake residents feel about the Shaw Festival’s plans to demolish and rebuild the Royal George theatre (“Sorry, boss: Theatre design still sucks,” Aug. 7).

But expressing angst about the recently presented designs for the proposed new theatre and the negative impacts of the planned build on both Queen and Victoria streets isn’t enough.

Nor is calling on people “to keep complaining” until those designs are changed.

Council can and should insist that the Shaw Festival change course and use the tools at its disposal to ensure that happens.

And at this point in the Royal George rebuild project, council should be holding all the cards it needs to win the game and the day.

For starters, it can refuse to issue a permit for the demolition of the two historic homes on Victoria Street that the festival now owns and wants razed to create an easy access route to the Royal George construction site.

Second, council can refuse to rezone the land on which those houses stand from residential to commercial.

It’s hard to see the Ontario Land Tribunal overturning those decisions, given that they would result in two existing houses being preserved.

I’m not suggesting that council permanently block the planned reconstruction of the Royal George, only that it require the festival to bring forward revised designs and proposals that take the concerns of residents and the historic characteristics of Niagara-on-the-Lake into account.

(My preference would be for the existing theatre to be saved, if that’s still possible, to preserve an important part of our town’s built heritage.)

But I fear that town may have already thrown its cards down on the table and conceded the game, if council’s February decision to exempt the Royal George and the Victoria Street houses from the Queen-Picton heritage conservation district study area is any indication (“Royal George Theatre given OK-go for post-closure rebuild,” March 6).

Not granting the exemption would have prevented the festival from significantly altering the theatre and houses for a year.

Time enough for the festival to develop a design and rebuilding plan for the George that NOTL residents, businesses and visitors could embrace, and that reflects the historic nature of our community.

Terry Davis
Old Town