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Essex reviewing 22 listed properties to determine the suitability of designation in response to Bill 23

Writer's picture: ESSEX FREE PRESSESSEX FREE PRESS

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

Members of Essex Council received a presentation during a special meeting on Monday evening that detailed the process municipalities must take to designate properties of cultural heritage value, and highlighted the benefits of conserving cultural heritage resources for the community and economy.

  “Although the importance of heritage conservation should always be conveyed, the need for this presentation was triggered by recent changes to Ontario Heritage Act as a result of Bill 23,” Rita Jabbour, Manager of Planning Services for the Town of Essex, explained.

  This made “sweeping changes” to the Ontario Heritage Act, Jabbour said. Most notably, listed properties on a register as of December 31, 2022 must be removed on or before January 1, 2025, if no notice of intention to designate is given.

  That property cannot be listed again for five-years.

  Over the next few months, Council – with the support from Planning Services staff and members of the Essex Municipal Heritage Committee – will be tasked to make decisions on whether to designate or remove 22 listed properties from the Municipal Heritage Register.

  The next steps include staff with Planning Services researching and reviewing the listed properties to determine which ones would be candidates for designation. That list of candidates will be presented to the Essex Municipal Heritage Committee for review to obtain support before presenting that list to Council.

  Council will then decide whether or not to initiate Notice of Intention to designate. For those properties Council wishes to proceed with designation, notice will be served to the property owner. There will then be a 30-day objection period. If adopted, there will be another 30-day appeal period. That will likely be this fall.

  In speaking of protecting heritage resources, Jabbour spoke of the Ontario Heritage Act. Through this, Council can designate or list a property or heritage conservation district.

  The level of protection differs between listing or designation, Jabbour explained. Designation is the best way to protect a resource, as it prohibits alteration or demolition, unless an application is made and approved. Listing provides for temporary protection, which allows for alterations but prohibits demolition, unless a 60-day notice is provided to Council.

  Extensive research is conducted before a recommendation comes to Council for consideration for designation.

  Listing requires only a Council resolution, while designation requires the adoption of a by-law that includes a public notification process.

  In order for a property to be listed, it must meet a minimum of one of nine criteria for determining cultural heritage value. For designation, it must meet at least two.

  Currently, the Town of Essex does not have a Heritage Conservation District. Jabbour, however, noted staff is looking at the Colchester Heritage District – including the schoolhouse and Christ Church area – and the Essex Heritage District – the Railway Station and Essex House area – as potential candidates.

  Jabbour spoke about the demolition of the previous Essex Municipal Building, which was located across from the present-day Schinkels’ Meat Market parking lot to make way for a strip mall in the early 1970s.

  Though progress cannot be stopped, to most citizens it is a shame to tear down structures that contain so much understanding of the community and its traditions, she said.

  “Thankfully, with modern-day technical knowledge and a greater appreciation of heritage conservation, by not only public authorities but the private sector, heritage buildings do not need to be demolished to make way for progress, but that effort starts at the municipal-level.”

  Jabbour spoke of how conservation of significant cultural heritage resources is a matter of provincial interest under the Planning Act.

  When Council or a local board, such as the Committee of Adjustment, is making a decision under the authority of the Planning Act, members have to have regard to how a decision could impact a cultural heritage resource.

  The Provincial Policy Statement requires, through policy, the conservation of built heritage resources and cultural heritage landscapes, and even prohibits the development and site alteration that contains, or may contain, archeological resources, unless that resource is conserved.

  “These are policies that must be carried over into our Official Plan and the County Official Plan, and they are policies that all our decisions on planning matters must be consistent with,” Jabbour noted.  

  Conservation, she told Council, has four elements: identification, protection, management, and use of built – buildings structure, monuments, – and cultural resources and landscapes – a geographic area.

  A good example of built heritage is the Colchester Schoolhouse, Jabbour told Council. It was the first in the area built under the Public Schools Act, which mandated better spaces in which children could learn, and one of the first racially integrated schools in Essex County. Others include the historic Essex Railway Station and Essex United Church.

  Examples of cultural heritage landscapes include the John R. Park Homestead, a living example of a 19th-century homestead. Another is the British Methodist Episcopal cemetery in Harrow, the burial place of Black pioneers.

  All of the properties on the Essex Heritage Register are in use, including the Carnegie Building in Essex Centre, home to ECHRS, and Essex House, now used as a residence.

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