By the end of this month, the University of Toronto will finalize its sale of the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill to an undisclosed private third party. The university has already laid off the observatory’s staff.

Governing Council committees had voted for the observatory’s closure and sale starting last November, but now a group called the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders has stepped in, in an effort to classify the observatory and surrounding area as a world heritage site. The group said it will not hesitate to take the matter to the UN, under its UNESCO agency.

Meanwhile, the municipality of Richmond Hill has already approached the provincial Conservation Review Board regarding the protection of the site.

The Defenders group is arguing for protection of 100 per cent of the observatory and its surrounding area, while the municipality is arguing for 48 per cent, which includes the observatory but excludes an adjacent strip of forest land.

The university also wants to remove portraits of David Dunlap and his wife, currently situated inside the observatory, and relocate them to U of T’s new institute for astronomy. The Defenders are opposed to this proposal. They believe the portraits to be part of the building.

U of T has otherwise washed its hands of the matter, saying that the fate of the observatory remains a matter to be dealt between the town and the developers.

Rob Steiner, U of T’s Assistant Vice-President strategic communications, said: “[The observatory’s] historical value is for the town to decide.”

Steiner said the purpose of the observatory is for supporting astronomy, and that it is important for the university to “honour [that] original intent.” He added the observatory has not been able to do world class research over the last 20 years due to light pollution from the GTA. The university has said that funneling the profits it will make from the sale back to its astronomy program will better suit the intent of the Observatory’s original donor.

The 79-hectare site, along with the 74-inch telescope, then the second largest telescope in the world, were donated to U of T by Jessie Donalda Dunlap in honour of her husband in the 1930s. It was donated on the condition that the site be used for scientific research. If sold, the site could be reverted to the ownership of the Dunlap heirs. In 2003, U of T successfully fought for the termination of that clause.