Sara Nixon
This essay is an element two of a sequence. Learn the primary installment right here.
In Fall 2022, the Ontario authorities handed Invoice 23, which goals to facilitate housing growth within the province. Consequently, on January 1, 2027, roughly 36,000 properties listed on Municipal Heritage Registers however not designated underneath the Ontario Heritage Act will lose their municipal protections, their already-tenuous classification dealing with much more threat.
As heritage professionals and volunteers scramble to safe provincial heritage designations for properties of historic significance of their communities, it’s crucial we contemplate the larger image; Invoice 23 is a symptom of widespread misunderstanding of heritage in Ontario. Even when heritage properties achieve provincial designation in time, so long as the federal government and the general public view heritage and growth as mutually unique, the heritage trade will stay insecure. Conversely, by educating the general public about heritage designation, incorporating heritage into city planning, and connecting with our wider communities, we are able to domesticate a brighter future for Ontario’s heritage trade.
Public Misconceptions
Public understanding of the Ontario Heritage Act is usually poor, and as a consequence, there are fairly a lot of pervasive misconceptions about what the Act actually does and what heritage designation actually means.
Fable 1: “Heritage designation provides an extra burden of upkeep prices to property homeowners.”
The truth is, municipal heritage workers work with property homeowners to search out sustainable and cost-effective upkeep and restore options whereas sustaining the positioning’s heritage worth. Many municipalities throughout Ontario have carried out grant packages and tax-incentives to mitigate the prices related to heritage conservation and upkeep.
Fable 2: “Heritage designation negatively impacts property worth.”
Research in a number of locations present there is no such thing as a adversarial influence on a property’s worth if it receives heritage designation. Certainly, some potential patrons are particularly motivated to buy a singular heritage dwelling.
Fable 3: “Heritage designation is an impediment to redevelopment and is anti-change.”
As The Brown Homestead’s Government Director Andrew Humeniuk says, “heritage conservation will not be about stopping change, however guiding change.” Heritage infrastructure might be tailored into housing or function multi-purpose neighborhood area for the households established close by. As Hamilton Heritage Planner Chloe Richer has identified, you shouldn’t should be rich to reside in an fascinating heritage constructing! Moreover, refitting an present constructing by adaptive reuse has a smaller carbon footprint than developing a brand new one from scratch.
Situating Heritage as A part of the Resolution
The safety instruments at present provided by the Ontario Heritage Act are likely to replicate a standard method to heritage, and as a consequence, overlook progressive preservation priorities that higher replicate up to date neighborhood wants. Right here, we ask whether or not designation ought to actually be the tip purpose for all heritage properties — or can we go additional? Can we develop a extra dynamic, multi-faceted toolbox, like implementing instruments that incentivize heritage protections or encourage purpose-driven adaptive reuse tasks that concentrate on public curiosity? Stronger adaptive-reuse insurance policies can deal with elements of the housing disaster, local weather disaster, in addition to bolster neighborhood revitalization efforts. As one St. Catharines instance, the previous Welland Avenue United Church was rehabilitated to now function the headquarters for Group Residing St. Catharines, a charity supporting individuals with mental disabilities.
Fostering Group-Led Engagement
Communities that undertake grassroots heritage preservation efforts lack instruments and assist, particularly in underrepresented communities that haven’t been included in conventional preservation follow. What sorts of packages, initiatives and incentives might be developed to foster progressive, community-led heritage initiatives that encourage inclusive participation, grassroots company, and neighbourhood enchancment? Empowering communities to take possession of their collective heritage may assist to alleviate the burden positioned on the heritage sector, and facilitate higher dialogue and reciprocity.
There is no such thing as a denying the housing disaster at present dealing with Ontario, nor the affordability disaster or the ever-pressing penalties of the local weather disaster. The cautious teetering to steadiness progress and growth with affordability and sustainability all whereas additionally defending heritage and deepening neighborhood connection is altering drastically. The truth is, change is inevitable, and required, to raised our scenario.
But, for therefore lengthy, change and heritage have been positioned on reverse sides of the spectrum. A lot in order that heritage is hardly prime of thoughts for folk dedicated to bettering communities, and particularly for these working to resolve the housing disaster. There may be this assumption that we should be prepared to lose tangible testaments to our collective recollections and identities to attain reasonably priced housing. However this can be a false dichotomy. It doesn’t should be one or the opposite. Our discipline must do a greater job at situating the vital significance heritage performs to a neighborhood’s sense of place and belonging. The threads of native historical past are what weave into neighborhood id, tradition, and delight. The character and story of an previous dwelling affords depth and texture to a spot. This isn’t solely what we protect, however what we additional domesticate after we designate a heritage property. As individuals transfer into our communities, we are able to take the chance to root them within the area by instructing newcomers in regards to the treaties that cowl their new houses. This issues — as does constructing homes and infrastructure and livable communities.
Sara Nixon (M.A. Public Historical past, Carleton College), is the Group Engagement Supervisor at The Brown Homestead. Sara has lengthy been devoted sharing Niagara’s wealthy historical past, and is actively concerned within the native heritage neighborhood. She at present sits as Chair of the Grimsby Heritage Advisory Committee.
This essay is tailored from a publish initially printed on The Brown Homestead’s web site in March 2024.
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