Bradford’s plan to preserve the heritage of Bond Head’s historic downtown is creeping ever closer to completion, and you can help.
Town staff and consultants, Archaeological Research Associates (ARA), are set to host a public open house about the proposed heritage conservation district (HCD) for Bond Head, at the Bond Head Memorial Community Centre (2892 County Road 27) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 30.
The meeting is expected to include a roughly 30-minute presentation from ARA recapping the plan so far, before guests are expected to break out into groups to discuss the themes and guidelines for how properties are to be classified.
Staff described the current version of the draft plan as a “minor” update to the previous version following review and changes made as a result of the provincial government’s Bill 23, which received royal assent in November 2022.
According to the current version of the plan and under Ontario’s Heritage Act, an HCD is a geographical zone in which the heritage character of the area is protected under bylaw, with a primary focus on the streetscape and the elements of buildings, landscapes and open spaces visible from the public space.
For Bond Head, the district radiates outward from the main intersection of County Road 27 with County Road 88/Line 7 and is set to include 75 properties fronting those roads.
The plan does not consider the interiors of buildings, and even when it comes to exterior elements, doesn’t prevent changes, but does provide guidelines to help ensure those changes fit with the heritage character.
As an example, the plan doesn’t prevent homeowners within the district from upgrading windows, but does provide examples of how new installations can blend in with historic features.
Beyond doors, windows and exterior walls, the plan also includes guidelines for foundations, porches, verandas, balconies, additions, roofs, parapets, chimneys, storefronts and entrances, signage, lighting, awnings and more.
Those guidelines are intended to maintain the district’s most unique and attractive features without being overly restrictive or cumbersome to property owners.
However, heritage permits are required for major alterations and additions, demolitions or relocations, as well as new construction.
The plan also provides guidelines for how new construction within the district should be “sympathetic and subordinate” to the existing buildings in terms of their scale, massing, materials and details, but are not required to mimic heritage buildings.
While all properties within the boundaries are expected to be considered part of the HCD, there are two different classifications — contributing properties that demonstrate one or more of the key attributes of the distinct character of the district, and supporting properties which do not.
Of the 75 existing properties, 46 are proposed to be classified as contributing, while 29 would be supporting.
Work has been underway on the HCD since 2017 and Amy Barnes, consultation manager with ARA, and guest speaker Dr. Wes Kinghorn, a London resident, who lives in an HCD, previously explained the concept and nature of HCDs to residents at a prior open house in January 2022.
For more information about the plan, visit the town’s website.
— With files from Patrick Bales
