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York St. residents want heritage status for neighbourhood, town says further consultation is needed

May 16, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Orangeville council decided not to pursue heritage status for York Street area properties.

Mayor Lisa Post said council makes its decisions by way of a combination of factors: The expert advice of staff complemented by community participation in the decision-making process.

In a report to council, the town’s planning staff recommended that the effort to have York Street area properties designated as a Heritage Conservation District (HCD) be suspended.

Instead, staff urged council to task the Heritage Orangeville committee with the job of reviewing and updating non-designated properties on the Municipal Heritage Register. There are more than 450 non-designated properties currently on the register.

Staff suggested an outside consultant be hired, even though consultants had been hired in the past to look into the same issue.

A number of York Street area residents wrote council in support of the HCD designation.

“I am dumbfounded to see that council will be asked to agree to a motion not to pursue designating the properties surrounding York Street as a Heritage Conservation District,” wrote Linda Patterson.

Jane Lightle wrote: “Even though your Orangeville Historical Charm tourism material continues to promote it, it doesn’t seem that saving one of the most significant and beautiful areas of our historical town is much of a priority.”

Rebecca Scott wrote: “Our street is a small street with mostly heritage homes on it. It makes sense to have this designation. It also makes sense that Orangeville have a Heritage Conservation District when it advertises Orangeville as having Historic Charm Dynamic Future. We must preserve our historic charm.”

Council also received a petition with 26 names of people supporting HCD status for the neighbourhood.

“The community has spoken up loudly and clearly in opposition to what was recommended by our town expert,” Post said.

She spoke with Councillor Debbie Sherwood, who is the chairperson of Heritage Orangeville, to determine how to best fulfill the community’s wishes according to the recommendations of municipal staff.

“I think that we’ve reached that,” she said.

Post gave kudos to York Street residents who she said have been diligent advocates for the preservation of the neighborhood’s heritage.

“As a result of that tireless advocacy, the heritage preservation in that area has continued,” the mayor said. “You can see that on that street the residents are concerned with preserving the heritage of their properties.

“They do the work, they maintain their properties, they’re all beautiful, they’ve done a great job and I love walking down that street.”

An HCD is an area with a concentration of heritage resources with historical association.

Designating an HCD enables a municipality to manage and guide future change throughout the district in a way that preserves the area’s attributes that contribute to its heritage value.

Once an HCD designation is in effect, any alteration or demolition to properties within the district is subject to a permit approval process. The HCD plan is to provide guidance for considering permit approvals for alteration, demolition, and new construction within the district. An HCD also specifies the types of activities that may occur without requiring permit approval. 

“I think that there is a way we can move this forward to get additional community consultation, which I think is required before we pursue a motion to unequivocally move forward with the Heritage Conservation District [designation],” Post said.

“I cannot support the part of the staff recommendation that specifically states that an intention to designate the properties surrounding York Street as a Heritage Conservation District not be pursued at this time,” Sherwood said.

She said the committee previously urged council to move forward with the designation.

“We have to protect our heritage streets such as this one,” Sherwood said. “Our logo states historical charm, and York Street is definitely part of that historical charm.”

Sherwood said there’s no need to hire a consultant to redo a study costing as much as $100,000. She suggested the town host an open house with the neighbourhood’s residents to discuss the HCD designation and its ramifications.

“When this went on seven or eight years ago, it was the biggest gong show I’ve ever seen,” Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor said. “None of us were on council at the time. It was embarrassing to watch.”

The council of the day handled the issue very poorly, he said. The current council, he said, is already tackling the subject very professionally.

“It’s just important for everybody else to know that we are talking about one street for this heritage area,” Taylor said. “We’re not talking about any other part of town.”

There’s a simple reason to support the HCD designation, he said. And that’s because the majority of the street’s residents want it.

But then there was the amended motion to which Post alluded. She asked that the designation request be received and that an open house meeting with residents take place. She asked that staff hire a heritage planning student to review the municipal non-designated properties and determine which ones should be prioritized for heritage status.

The motion was carried unanimously.


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