APPENDIX C

 

Feed Back from Master Plan Public Meetings

 

Introduction:

The following comments and concerns were received during two public meetings held in April 2005 in addition to correspondence received. The first meeting was held at the Thornhill Community Centre on April 21st and the second meeting was held at the Markham Museum on April 27th.

 

The meeting on April was attended by twelve participants and the second meeting attracted over 40 attendees.

 

The comments received have been divided into categories.  The feedback received was further subdivided into the following sections into positive, neutral, and concerns categories.  Neutral responses are comments generally delivered as suggestions rather than criticism.

 

Item # 1 - Educational Programming and Interpretive Plan

Positive

  • Excellent beginning…keeping what is best and adding great new learning opportunities

Neutral

  • More focus should be put on agricultural past of Markham
    • experience has shown that children (especially from the Chinese community) are eager to learn about agricultural history
  • Markham is the high-tech capital of Canada; more interpretation of that ongoing history
  • Museum offers an opportunity to work with native groups:
  •  can we build a long house?
  • children could experience a ‘healing circle’
  • Experiential learning – can we have a barn raising?

Concerns

  • Historical interpretation shrinks in this Plan and will not connect with school history curriculum
  • Site should reflect years prior to 1800s – pre-19th history is lost in this Plan
  • Should have representation of natives – were there native groups along the Rouge?  Not sure/don’t know.
  • Curriculum connections are weak; should develop program with individual schools and teachers
  • Lack of high school focus
  • Need more live, costume interpretation for Museum to be meaningful to visitors
  • Master Plan provides for 3 people to operate the Conklin rides but for only one person for Program – this seems unbalanced

 

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

 

·        Museum Manager indicated that aboriginal people do not appreciate their stories told by others; they prefer to tell their own stories.

·        Consultation and project partnerships with school board will be built on mutually beneficial projects like the Museum’s after school programs in ‘Performance Plus’ schools

·        The Museum will seek private sector and senior government level support for expansion and improvement of school programming

·        The consultants had pointed out that in their recent experience all museums that they are aware of have experienced the trend for declining school program attendance; probably due to changes in school funding for field trips

·        The Museum’s program coordinator will engage with local curriculum planners in order to stay up to date with changes in emphasis

·        The Master Plan is a conceptual approach, the detailed interpretive plan, to be developed once the basic concept is approved will tackle the setting of time periods and methods of communication in all parts of the site

 

 

Item # 2 – Addition, Removal and Relocation of Structures & Large Artefacts/ Collections Management

Positive

  • I am pleased that the Education Building (no water or sewer service) will be removed in Phase 3 to allow for more parking.  Reception Centre will replace this building’s functions.
  • Railway car is national in scope; perhaps other institution can restore and maintain the artefacts better than we can

Neutral

  • Archives:  Will there be archives?
  • Suggestion to work with Town Libraries?  Could they house the Archives?
  • Can children’s miniature railway ride be relocated on site?  Response was that this could be a part of the Heritage Carnival
  • The Locust Hill station should remain
  • What will be in the visible storage display?
  • Does the Plan respect the agricultural history of this area; an agricultural museum is needed in this region, since the Provincial agricultural museum closed in Milton
  • Recommend that the Band shell structure formerly in Morgan Park be recreated here
  • Develop a market place similar to the one on Robinson Street

Concerns

  • Kinney Barn will not stand another move
  • Would like to see more of the buildings kept
  • Suggestion to use an existing building to interpret the 30s/40s/50s
  • Disappointment with recommendation to deaccession railway complex. 
  • Does the Plan allow for the acquisition of significant historic structures or is it only about removal and downsizing of the village

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

·        There will be full consultation at every step and before final decisions are made with respect to artifact de-accessioning

·        The agricultural museum in Milton is still open but is operated by a non profit group and is called ‘Country Heritage Park’

·        At the initial visioning session the futures committee was asked if the Museum should become a ‘special purpose museum’ and the option was rejected

 

Item # 3 - Heritage Carnival & Play Ground Elements

 

Positive

  • Kids and families are looking for this type of experience
  • Some positive opinions– carnival is “romantic”, reminiscent of childhood days
  • Will provide additional activities on site so that parents can plan for a full day experience
  • Relatives from England saw the Carousel on site and requested a photo sent when the Carousel is operating
  • The heritage Carnival will be an asset: attracting people in addition to other hands on things for kids to do with their families

Neutral

  • When will all components of Heritage Carnival be in place?  It was clarified that the Plan has the carnival in place by the end of Phase I.
  •  

Concerns

  • Water Play:  Museum is surrounded by Wave Pool, Angus Glen, Morgan Pool, Canada’s Wonderland, and other town swimming pools - How can we ensure that residents will want to use the water play facilities at the Museum?
  • Difficult to understand what water play/skating areas have to do with a museum, or why such elements should be included in a museum.
  • Carousel is very old – concerned about the cost to fix and maintain them, and to ensure there will always be a mechanic who is trained to maintain this machinery
  • Has there been  consultation with Technical Standards and Safety Authority?
  • Beware of maintenance, regulatory and insurance needs for Heritage Carnival.

 

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

  • The detailed planning for the carnival and play area components will include inclusion of historical displays and interpretive material relevant to Markham

 

 

Item # 4 – Cost & Financial Sustainability

 

Positive

  • Hard decisions need to be taken; Acadia needs to go where it can receive proper care

Neutral

  •  Build a partnership with technology sector to support funding/ resources/ etc
  • Will there be a retail component? 
  • What will the Plan cost per phase?
  • Where will the money come from?
  • Need a more aggressive marketing strategy to promote the site, facilities, and program

 

Concerns

  • Fees will need be set to recover costs but may be too high for families

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

 

·        Cultural Spaces Federal Program and other federal grants may offset some costs

·        The development of a Markham Museum Foundation will become the Fundraising ‘engine’ for the projects described in the Plan

·        Communicate the costs to the rate payers groups and receive feedback

·        The business case for each component will be evaluated prior to each element of the plan implementation to check assumptions

·        A detailed marketing plan will developed and phased in as each new element of the planned site improvement is introduced

 

 

 

Item # 5 – Site Plan

 

Positive

Neutral

·        Remove the word “multicultural” from Celebration Field.  

·        Is the Museum planning to do something about the dusty, muddy parking and walkways as part of this plan

Concerns

·        Proposed site described as a “hodge-podge”

·        Overflow parking area may disrupt visitor circulation

·        The site does not flow for the visitor

·        Location of parking lots should be re-examined (visitors will not want to walk through parking lots to get to exhibits and attractions)

·        Multicultural Fields – the Museum has new neighbours, a senior citizens residence – must consider them when groups are using these fields (i.e. noise levels).

·        Pavilion and Bandstand seem to have disappeared, and they are well liked and used

 

 

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

  • The next step in the implementation will be the development of a detailed landscape and site plan by a landscape architect to address the issues cited above

 

 

Item # 6 – Children’s Museum

 

Positive

·        We can fill a need and niche by focusing on this theme – there is not another Children’s Museum in GTA

·        Together with the other experiences on the site the addition of a Children’s Museum would add significant value to a  Museum visit

·        To gauge the response to a Children’s Museum one only has to witness the large crowds at the Milliken Children’s Festival

 

Neutral

·        The Museum should attempt to get corporate funding for this

·        Children’s Museum scheduled for Phase 2 – Suggested that this item move up in the schedule and prioritize for Phase 1

·        Create a stand alone new structure for the Children’s Museum

·        Construct a new one-storey building that is accessible to everyone to house children’s collections, to be the venue for children’s activities, and to provide space for program

·         

 

Concerns

·        Existing Mt. Joy School House is not a good choice for the Children’s Museum – too many stairs, washrooms in the basement, and it is not accessible.  It was suggested that a new, one-storey building that is accessible to everyone be constructed to house children’s collections, to be the venue for children’s activities, and to provide space for programming.

 

 

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

·        The Museum will review the phasing of capital projects

·        Development of a steering committee for the implementation of the children’s museum will assess the feasibility of fundraising to move the project up

 

 

Item # 7 – Breadth of Consultation

 

Positive

  • An impressive number of individual and group interviews were conducted in the development of the Master Plan.
  •  

Neutral

  • Will there be further consultations?  plans are developed going forward
  • Will the recommendations and suggestions received at these consultations be incorporated in the Plan?

 

Concerns

  • Many groups not consulted:  ratepayers; local native groups (are there any?) Pennsylvania German Society; Markham Historian (Lorne Smith); original/former board members and staff of the Museum

 

 

 

Response / Suggested Action Steps:

 

  • Continued consultation as plans are developed going forward
  • There will be consultations targeted to groups with a particular stake in the contemplated action, such as the Historical Society in advance of deaccessioning
  • Follow up will occur after all consultations, a contact list with phone #s and e-mail addresses are collected at all meetings. 
  • Those who attended these meetings will be informed of, and invited to, future meetings.
  • The Markham Museum and District Historical Society received a presentation concerning the Master Plan at its annual meeting following the publication of a summary of the Master Plan recommendations in the Historical Society Newsletter
  • The Master Plan is a conceptual document and therefore suggestions that are feasible and complementary to the overall direction of the Plan will certainly be incorporated when the relevant component of the project is planned in detail