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Purpose This Paper Seeks Members' Views on the Preservation-Cum

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Purpose This Paper Seeks Members' Views on the Preservation-Cum Information Paper No. 13/2014 (for discussion on 11.3.2014) Wan Chai District Council Preservation-cum-development Proposal for the Residence at 23 Coombe Road Purpose This paper seeks Members’ views on the preservation-cum-development proposal for the residence at 23 Coombe Road. Heritage Conservation Policy Statement 2. The Government seeks to protect, conserve and revitalise as appropriate historical and heritage sites and buildings through relevant and sustainable approaches for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. In implementing this policy, the Government will give due regard to development needs in the public interest, respect for private property rights, budgetary considerations, cross-sector collaboration and active engagement of stakeholders and the general public. Administrative Grading System 3. The Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB), having regard to the assessments of the heritage value of individual historic buildings by an independent assessment panel and the views and additional information received from members of the public and the owners of the buildings concerned during the public consultation exercise, has accorded Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 status 1 to individual historic buildings. The 1 Under the grading system, – Grade 1 status refers to buildings of outstanding merit, which every effort should be made to preserve if possible; – Grade 2 status refers to buildings of special merit; efforts should be made to selectively preserve; and – Grade 3 status refers to buildings of some merit; preservation in some form would be desirable and alternative means could be considered if preservation is not practicable. 1 grading of historic buildings provides an objective basis for determining the heritage value, and hence the preservation need, of historic buildings in Hong Kong. The grading system is administrative in nature and does not provide historic buildings with statutory protection. 4. Besides, the list of Grade 1 buildings is regarded as providing a “pool” of highly valuable historic buildings for consideration by the Antiquities Authority (i.e. the Secretary for Development) under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance (the Ordinance) (Cap. 53) for possible monument declaration. Section 8 of the Ordinance provides for a mechanism for the owner or lawful occupier of a monument to claim compensation in respect of financial loss suffered or likely to be suffered by him by reason of - (a) the exercise by the Antiquities Authority, or by a designated person authorised by him, of the powers specified in section 5(1)2; or (b) a refusal to grant a permit or any conditions imposed in a permit. Policy on the Conservation of Privately-owned Historic Buildings 5. It is the Government’s policy objective to strike a proper balance between respect for private property rights and heritage conservation. The Government recognises that on the premise of respecting private property rights, we need to offer appropriate economic incentives to encourage private owners either to hand over or conserve historic 2 Section 5(1) of the Ordinance provides that - “Subject to this section, the Authority, and any designated person authorised by him in writing, may, for the purposes of this Ordinance, at all reasonable times - (a) enter and inspect any proposed monument or monument; (b) with the prior approval of the Chief Executive- (i) fence, repair, maintain, preserve or restore any proposed monument or monument; (ii) excavate or search for relics in any proposed monument or monument and remove any relics hitherto undiscovered.” 2 buildings in their ownership. Given individual circumstances, the requisite economic incentives to achieve the policy objective would be considered on a case-by-case basis. Land exchange is one form of economic incentive. In the past, the Government has discussed with owners of monuments / historic buildings in the following cases about exchanging Green Belts of similar development parameters (such as the site area and the gross floor area) near the monuments / historic buildings concerned for preserving the monuments / historic buildings; and under the land exchange arrangements, the owners concerned have to pay full market value premium for the land exchange in accordance with the established policy - (a) King Yin Lei The Chief Executive in Council approved in 2008 a non-in-situ land exchange with the owner of King Yin Lei in order to preserve the historic building for revitalisation. Under the land exchange arrangement, the owner of King Yin Lei surrendered the entire site of King Yin Lei to the Government, while the Government granted an adjacent Green Belt site of the same size to the owner for residential development. (b) Ho Tung Gardens The Government suggested land exchange to the owner of Ho Tung Gardens in order to preserve the important parts of Ho Tung Gardens. The proposed site for exchange comprises three lots. Among them, one belongs to the Ho Tung Gardens site where the tennis court and garage are located, while the other two are Green Belts adjacent to Ho Tung Gardens. Under the land exchange proposal, we proposed to apply the original development parameters of Ho Tung Gardens to the proposed site for exchange. But regrettably we have not reached an agreement with the owner. Preservation-cum-development Proposal for the Residence at 23 Coombe Road Heritage Value 6. The residence at 23 Coombe Road was constructed in 1887 and 3 is a private property. The building is probably one of the oldest surviving European houses on the Peak. Its first owner was Mr John Joseph Francis. Mr Francis was prominent in civic affairs. In 1878, the then Governor Sir John Pope Hennessy appointed a committee of four (including Mr Francis) to investigate the issue of mui-tsai (妹仔, indentured Chinese girls working as unpaid domestic servants). This committee recommended the constitution of a Chinese association for the protection of women and girls, leading to the subsequent establishment of Po Leung Kuk. When bubonic plague attacked Hong Kong in 1894, Mr Francis was appointed as the chairman of a committee of the Sanitary Board. According to records, the residence at 23 Coombe Road is the only remaining building in which Mr Francis has lived. The residence at 23 Coombe Road was accorded with a Grade 1 historic building status by the AAB, that is a building of outstanding merit, which every effort should be made to preserve if possible. However, in the absence of any statutory protection mechanism, the owner is under no statutory obligation to preserve the building. Photos of the residence are at Annex A. Preservation-cum-development Proposal 7. The residence at 23 Coombe Road has been under the threat of demolition in the past. The Development Bureau subsequently had explored various preservation-cum-development options with the owner, but the owner considered that land exchange was the only acceptable option and offered surrendering the site of 23 Coombe Road (the original site) to the Government in exchange for the Government site opposite to 23 Coombe Road (the proposed site for exchange). 8. According to the owner’s proposal, the owner will surrender the original site to the Government in exchange for the proposed site for exchange which is of the same size as the original site; the owner will pursue residential development on the proposed site for exchange based on the development parameters of the original site. According to the Peak Area Outline Zoning Plan (No.: S/H14/11), the original site is zoned “Residential (Group C) 2” and the proposed site for exchange is zoned Green Belt. The owner is applying for the Town Planning Board’s approval to rezone the proposed site for exchange to “Residential (Group 4 C) 2” and the original site to “Other Specified Uses” annotated “Historical Building Preserved for Cultural, Community and Commercial Uses”. Details of the owner’s proposal are at Annex B. 9. The Development Bureau supports in principle offering of economic incentives such as through exchanging land of the similar development parameters for preserving the residence at 23 Coombe Road from the heritage conservation perspective. In discussing the land exchange proposal with the owner of 23 Coombe Road, we have adopted the established principles (such as exchanging Green Belts of similar development parameters near the monuments / historic buildings concerned and requiring the owners to pay full market premium). If the land exchange proposal is materialised, the Government will consult Members on the future use of the residence at 23 Coombe Road. Advice Sought 10. Members are invited to comment on the above proposal. Development Bureau February 2014 5 Annex A Annex B - 1 Executive Summary E1. This rezoning proposal is submitted on behalf of Juli May Limited (the Applicant) to seek Town Planning Board’s approval to rezone site where the graded historical building at No. 23 Coombe Road is located (the original site) for conservation and to rezone a substitute site (the proposed site for exchange) of the same size in the opposite “Green Belt” zone for residential development. By doing so the rare 126-year-old European house at No. 23 Coombe Road will be preserved in-situ with minimal intervention for wider appreciation by the general public. E2. Upon approval of this rezoning proposal, the original site will be rezoned “Other Specified Uses” annotated “Historical Building Preserved for Cultural, Community and Commercial Uses”, which will be surrendered to the Government. The proposed site for exchange will be rezoned “Residential (Group C)2” (“R(C)2”) for a single house development by the Applicant. The development parameters of the proposed site for exchange will be the same as those applied to the original site, which is zoned “R(C)2” under the Approved Peak Area Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) No. S/H14/11, with an as-of-right permitted plot ratio of 0.5 or the plot ratio of the existing building whichever is greater, and a maximum building height of 4 storeys including carports.
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