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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2017 3THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 20172 All About Smiles 130 Mill St. E. Unit 103 Acton 519-853-0079 HappyHolidays By: Harry Rudolfs Halton Hills' railway historian and heritage activist Jim Waldbusser believes that the Heritage Halton Hills committee may have erred by re- moving the former Mann property at 284 Queen Street from Phase 4 of its Heritage Register List. The property in ques- tion was part of a 50-acre farm bought for Hugh Mann by his son Sir Donald Mann in 1888. Sir Donald Mann is the only native-son of Halton Hills--born on a farm in Bannockburn, Hwy 7 and 4th Line--to be knighted and was an in- fluential railroad tycoon and builder at the turn of the last century. As well, the house on the site can be traced back to 1851 and is among the oldest buildings in Acton. The heritage commit- tee de-listed the property on October 18 after a presentation was made by present-day owner and vendor Ray Arbic. According to the min- utes of that meeting, Arbic stated that he had recently sold the prop- erty and wanted to see i t removed f rom the list. He also said that Sir Donald never lived in the house and that he is already commemorat- ed by Sir Donald Mann Park located to the south of the property. In a telephone inter- view with Halton Hills' heritage planner Anne Fisher, she said, "We don't know how often Sir Donald ever vis- ited the property...(and) t h e h o u s e h a d b e e n greatly altered so they (the Heritage Commit- tee) didn't think it was worthy of consideration from an architectural value." But Waldbusser, armed with records from the Acton Free Press and his- torian John Mcdonald, believes that Sir Donald was not an infrequent visitor to his father 's house. Waldbusser adds two funerals were also held on the property which were attended by Sir Donald and the mov- ers and shakers from that era. Further, Waldbusser also doesn't think that the alterations to the ori- ginal house have much bearing on its signifi- cance as a heritage asset. "I want Actonites to know that they are los- ing," said Waldbusser, who is also a former committee member. "De- listing it means that the 60-day breathing per- iod is gone. There's no transparency in issuing demolition permits and that means this house could be demolished at any time." Waldbusser said that the property is zoned medium-densi ty, and he expects to see the new owner t o bu i ld townhouses on the site. "Ideally, I'd like to see the house remain intact and incorporated into the development," he said. "There's no reason for it to be torn down. It's a perfectly good, func- tional house." Ted Brown, chair of the Her i t age Ha l ton Hills Committee at the October 18 meeting re- sponded via email. "The committee had a recom- mendation from Heritage Consultant David Cum- ming that the property lacked sufficient herit- age value to be included on the draft Phase 4 list... in addition, when Town Heritage Planner Anne Fisher came onboard with the Town of Hal- ton Hills, she too agreed with Cummings' pos- i t i o n -- t h e s t r u c t u r e lacked sufficient herit- age details, to be placed on the Phase 4 list....the committee unanimously voted in favor of re- moving it from the draft Phase 4." De-listing of former Mann property called into question