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There will be no problem finding a new location in Cooksville for either the historic plaque dedicated to Sir William Pearce Howland, or the sculpture that graces the facade of the boarded-up Confederation Square building which served as the former Mississauga town hall, says current Ward 7 Councillor Nando Iannicca.
In fact, the councillor already has suggestions about where each should be relocated.
The Howland plaque, which commemorates the Father of Confederation who lived and ran his business in Cooksville for a decade in the 1830s, would be ideally suited to be placed in the little parkette at the northwest corner of the historic four corners of Cooksville, at Dundas and Hurontario Sts., he feels.
"When Mr. Arback (developer Nathan) put up the building just behind there where the library is now located, we had him set it back a bit so there is a little area with benches and a couple of trees so we could create a little urban parkette," says Iannicca. "I think that's contextually where it belongs."
Excellent idea.
As for the bas relief sculpture done by artist Cleve Horne to depict the bright future of Toronto Township when the new town hall opened in 1953, (Hazel was just a Hurricane waiting to happen the next year then) the councillor is hopeful that can be incorporated in the new development that may rise on the lands once the demolition of the old town hall goes forward.
The Libfeld family, owners of The Observatory Group had their property, which wraps around the east and south sides of the former central library at the corner of Dundas and Confederation Pkwy., rezoned for luxury condominiums many years ago.
The development was the apple of Iannicca's eye for several years as he negotiated a deal with the owners that would have seen Cooksville retain its library there when Central moved up to its current site in front of City Hall. "Not only that, but we negotiated for a 20,000 sq. ft. community centre," says Iannicca, who grew up in a house on King St. W. just to the south of the site.
"Unfortunately, the market changed almost as soon as it was approved and it never happened," adds the Ward 7 councillor and self-appointed chief Cooksville cheerleader.
The idea of having the library incorporated in a private development was subsequently transferred to the Arback development.
The City still owns the former Central Library site. It will soon be going up for sale, offered first to other public bodies such as the Region and school boards. If there is no interest there, it could be sold to the adjacent landowner at fair market value.
"I've already talked to them (Observatory) about incorporating the sculpture somewhere in their new plans and they're all for it," says the councillor. Better that it be used in a private development than stuffed away in a warehouse somewhere and never see the light of day again.
The new proposal by the Observatory Group will be for a work/live/stacked townhouse multi-use type of development which has been tried in Oakville on the eastern fringe of the downtown core near the marina with great success. "It's catching on like wildfire there," says Iannicca.
At today's general committee session, the Ward 7 rep talked about visiting a bed and breakfast, "a croissant's toss from the Arc de Triomphe" in Paris which incorporated such a myriad of uses, including dentist's and lawyer's offices, the residential component and a superb bakery on the ground floor. Or, as Iannicca — who is just slightly prone to hyperbole — put it: "the finest pastry shop in the history of the civilized world."
That is commonplace in the great cities of the world but isn't even on the map in North America.
In any event, he's hoping that the developer comes forward with an innovative design incorporating a variety of uses that, "would see the kind of animation on street level that we are always looking for," but seldom achieve.
The home grown councillor says the level of interest in redevelopment in Cooksville has significantly notched up recently, thanks to a number of factors including a lack of GTA greenfields in which to develop anymore and the significant enhancement of transit planned in the next few years on both Dundas and Hurontario Sts.
It looks like Cooksville could the next great frontier for development — again. Maybe it will even happen this time.