Will controversial cow sculpture be moooved?

Will Charity have to mooove? Or be forced off her stilts onto greener pastures?

Those are some of the questions Markham councillors are grappling with ahead of a September committee meeting where residents and councillors will have a chance to air their beefs about a controversial cow statue installed last month.

At a special council meeting last week, residents showed up to pressure councillors to address ongoing concerns and support for the 8-metre high sculpture that was erected in the middle of a small park on Charity Cres., in the quiet subdivision of Cathedraltown.

Council voted to place the item for discussion on the agenda of the development services committee meeting on Sept. 25

“It’s not going away. It is something we have to address,” said regional councillor Nirmala Armstrong, who put forward the motion at the Thursday meeting.

The motion also calls for a delegation of councillors, including Armstrong and local councillor Alan Ho to meet with developer Helen Roman-Barber, who donated the sculpture, prior to the meeting. Armstrong said their aim is to explore what options are available.

The stainless steel sculpture depicts Charity, a beloved show cow partly owned by Stephen Roman, who owned Romandale Farms, the land on which Cathedraltown and Cathedral of the Transfiguration now sit.

His daughter, Roman-Barber, donated the statue to the city to honour her father’s investment in the world-famous cow. Initially, residents were told that the cow had grazed on the lands of Romandale Farm, and for that reason, the statue should be placed in that location.

A plaque near the statue also claimed this to be true: “The city of Markham is pleased to announce the installation of a statue, Brookview Tony Charity, to commemorate an internationally award-winning Holstein cow that was raised on Romandale Farms,” it reads.

But last week, the Star, discovered Charity never came to Markham, and spent her entire life at the Hanover Hill farm in Port Perry. She was buried on the farm by diary farmer Ken Trevena when she died in 1988.

Ed Shiller, a spokesperson for Roman-Barber, said: “The importance of Charity to Cathedraltown and Markham as a whole is not derived from where Charity lived,” but making “Romandale Farm as Canada’s leading breeder and exhibiter of Holstein cows,” which “contributed significantly to the growth and prosperity of the city of Markham.”

Armstrong said she felt compelled to reopen the issue “in light of new information that has come forward.”

“What I have read tells me that the information that I had was deficient, and what has come to light would likely change how many of the councillors would vote,” she said.

Councillors voted to approve the sculpture in June 2016. Previously the developer and artist presented the sculpture to the city’s public art advisory committee, which rejected the donation amid concerns about the height and location.

But councillors who were present at the June meeting said they were never told about the committee’s rejection and were presented only with a staff recommendation to approve the donation.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti told the Star last week “council knew details of the sculpture, including its location and height” before they approved it.

And while he “understands concerns” about the height and location of the sculpture, he said the city needs to “be careful (how they handle this)… so that we are still considered for future public art donations.”

At the meeting last Thursday, Scarpitti said he had previously met with Roman-Barber to find a compromise and suggested other members of council give it a try.

Armstrong said that will be the goal of the delegation ahead of the September meeting.

“The possible options of what happens next are up to the donor,” she said, which could include relocating it, lowering it or removing it altogether.