The Bradford West Gwillimbury Heritage Committee was asked to remove a home at 131 Church St. from the Heritage Registry, a list of buildings of potential heritage interest.
Even though the home has been extensively modified and stripped of almost all of its heritage attributes, the committee declined to delist. Instead, it suggested that if and when the property owner wants to demolish and redevelop the property, that would be the time to approach the Heritage Committee – which would then evaluate the structure on a scoresheet, to determine if there is any reason to preserve it.
“It’s very ‘plain Jane’,” said member Diane Milos, “but it does fit in (with the streetscape) in that it’s on a big lot, with a lot of trees.”
The Committee noted there was a window of opportunity to request delisting, but that window has passed - and the home on Church Street should stay on the registry because it is “pre-1900” in construction.
Milos was critical of several recent developments in the older part of Bradford, where single family homes have been torn down to make way for three-storey townhomes. “They are not building homes that fit into the streetscape,” Milos said.
Community Planner Ryan Windle noted the townhomes meet the zoning requirements of the municipality. “We don’t have hard, fast rules. We don’t have Site Plan (Control) for Residential,” Windle said. What the Town does have is a policy that requires developers to ‘consider’ the character of the neighbourhood – but “it’s a little harder, when they’re meeting all the zoning requirements.”
Provincial Policy also comes into play. Municipalities have been told that they must encourage higher densities, and intensification within their urban boundaries.
The question of how to protect historic streetscapes may be answered in Bond Head, where a first draft of a Bond Head Heritage Conservation District (HCD) study has been delivered to the Town. “It’s literally hot off the press,” said Windle. The findings will be coming to Council either in September or early October.
After the meeting, Windle indicated that Bradford West Gwillimbury is considering new town-wide Urban Design Guidelines that could provide another tool for preserving neighbourhoods – but as far as he knows, there are no plans for a Bradford HCD. “We have not been given council direction to explore any HCD other than for Bond Head.”
Windle suggested that there might be room for a grassroots approach to preserving streetscapes, as has occurred in both the city of Ottawa, and in Hamilton.
In Ottawa, neighbourhoods can undertake a Streetscape Character Analysis, that identifies three key attributes of the streetscape that should be upheld by any new residential development (excluding apartment buildings), and considered by Council when a new development is proposed. The goal is to preserve the “look and feel” of the streetscape.
In Hamilton, the Durand Neighbourhood Association has launched the Durand Neighbourhood Character Project, to apply the Ottawa-style analysis to its older neighbourhoods.
“If residents wish council to consider plans for their neighbourhood (grassroots), they can be the driving force behind a plan that could result in characteristics of an area that they think are worthy of protecting” being included in guidelines to be considered for new development.
But there is a caveat: “As of today, the zoning bylaw has certain permissions, such as height, that are available as of right.”
The three-storey townhomes meet the height restrictions.
