Maligned by some and misunderstood by most, heritage designations are, nonetheless, the most immediate means we have to protect the historic buildings that represent our local history and define the character of our hometowns. City of Hamilton Planner Chloe Richer guides us through the mazework of heritage designations, addresses common misconceptions, and considers what we lose when we lose our built heritage.
Maligned by some and misunderstood by most, heritage designations are, nonetheless, the most immediate means we have to protect the historic buildings that represent our local history and define the character of our hometowns. City of Hamilton Planner Chloe Richer guides us through the mazework of heritage designations, addresses common misconceptions, and considers what we lose when we lose our built heritage.
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:05.6] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Open Door, presented by the Brown Homestead. Protecting the John Brown House in the Norton Cabin was the original inspiration for our mission to reimagine historic sites as engines of progress in their communities. One of the first critical steps on that road is heritage designation and today, that is our focus. Enjoy.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:31.9] AH: Maligned by some and misunderstood by most, heritage designations are nonetheless, the most immediate means we have to protect the historic buildings that represent our local history, define our cultural landscapes, and define the character of our hometowns but who determines what buildings should be designated? By what process do they do so and what is the enduring impact?
To help us understand the answers to those questions, I’m very happy to turn to Chloe Richer, and not for the first time. Chloe is a former heritage planner for the City of St. Catharines and I had the opportunity to work closely with her in that role to amend and update the heritage destination for the Brown Homestead. Chloe has since moved on to the City of Hamilton, first as a part of their very busy heritage and urban design team and more recently, as a senior planner for initiatives in the sustainable communities division of their planning and economic development department. Welcome, Chloe.
[0:01:29.5] CR: Thank you for that, Andrew. That’s a great introduction.
[0:01:32.7] AH: It’s great to have you back at the homestead. It’s always wonderful to see you here. For the purposes of our discussion today, we’re going to focus on the designation of properties by municipalities, and the guidelines for municipal heritage designations are set by the Ontario Government and outlined in the Ontario Heritage Act. Now, there are two different approaches outlined in the act in part four and part five respectively, and maybe you can give us an introductory overview of those two different approaches.
[0:01:58.9] CR: Sure. So part four, designated properties are individually designated properties. We have, as of this morning, 288 individual designations in the City of Hamilton. So that really looks at the property and what we call heritage attributes or features that are protected within the designation bylaw of those individual properties and as you mentioned, there’s also the part five properties.
Those are heritage conservation district designations or we may call them HCDs throughout the podcast. There are currently seven in Hamilton and with the HCDs, you’re really looking at the character of the district. So you know, it’s not necessarily so much about the individual property but what makes up that district character.
[0:02:42.7] AH: So we’ll start with part four, which as you said, deals with the conservation of individual properties. Now, properties under part four are designated when the city council passes a bylaw, designating them but that’s towards the end of the process. Starting at the beginning, how are properties identified as candidates for designation?
[0:03:00.1] CR: Sure, so they can be identified through a number of ways. Sometimes it’s the owner of the property, they have an interest in heritage and then protecting their property and they may reach out to the municipality. It could be a member of a municipal heritage committee. So again, a number of different ways.
What’s really important doing very fulsome research and evaluation of the property to determine if it’s you know, a good candidate that’s worthy of this part four designation. So we use what’s called, Ontario Regulation 906 Criteria, and right now, with the provincial legislation, two or more criteria need to be met for a part four individual designation.
Municipalities have municipal heritage committees, so their role is to advise staff and council on designations. Council would support the designation and there is an appeal process as well. So there can be what’s called objections to notices of intention to designate within 30 days and then once there is a designation bylaw, there’s also the opportunity for someone to appeal that bylaw to what’s called the Ontario of Land Tribunal.
And so again, if council does support and approve, then the official designation would be through the passing of a municipal designation bylaw.
[0:04:20.1] AH: And as I’m sure, people can realize, based on what you’re saying is, by the time it gets to council, there’s been a lot of work done by really a pretty large team of people starting with the planning department. Maybe you can give us a little bit of a breakdown of what the structure of the planning department looks like typically and what the place of the heritage planner is within that department.
[0:04:38.5] CR: Yeah. So it depends on the municipality but at the City of Hamilton, there’s a number of teams. So there’s a development planning team. Now, the cultural heritage planners are part of what’s called, heritage and urban design. So that team is made up of that section, we call them the city of cultural heritage planners, natural heritage planners, and urban designers.
Their program leads for different areas. So there’s a program lead for cultural heritage, there’s managers, directors, you know, higher level staff, and the City of Hamilton, we also usually have a planning coop student to help, and recently two contract staff were hired planning technicians that focus on evaluation and research of properties.
So they’ve got a work plan they’re working on, it’s quite a large team at the City of Hamilton and they do great work.
[0:05:28.9] AH: And now you mentioned in there the Heritage Advisory Committee in Hamilton. I presume like St. Catharines has a heritage advisory committee made up of citizen volunteers.
[0:05:36.6] CR: Sure. So the City of Hamilton, there’s the main Hamilton municipal heritage committee. There’s also a heritage permit review subcommittee that focuses on, again, heritage permit applications and there’s a number of working groups as well. So you know, working groups for example that focus on public outreach and education or on inventory and research and so staff, when they’re recommending a designation will consult with the Hamilton municipal heritage committee.
As an advisory committee, they make recommendations, not approvals but they would move, you know, motions for example, indicating that they support and wish to move forward with the designation as per staff recommendation and a staff report. So staff work really closely with the members of these municipal heritage committees.
[0:06:22.5] AH: Now, you touched earlier on regulation 906, which really is the heart of the designations part of the Ontario Heritage Act and you said as well, it requires that two of the three criteria are met for a property to be designated and those just to give a little bit of a summary for people, those three areas typically are physical or design value, historical value, and contextual value.
[0:06:47.7] CR: Sure. So with that first type of criteria, there’s often a focus on the built heritage resources and key historical architectural styles. So you know, identification of whether it’s for example, gothic revival style, Queen Anne, arts and crafts, and what are some of the key physical components that you often see in those types of architectural style.
Now, with the historical or associative value, the focus is often on perhaps the intangible history. So associations with individuals who you know, maybe may have been prominent in the community and to perhaps, lived in that house for example and then there’s contextual value as the third type of criteria as well.
So for example, is this building considered a landmark by the community? Those sorts of things. So you know, the different types of criteria try to cover different aspects of what makes the property important to the community. So with heritage designations, you know, there may often be a focus on architectural styles.
But you can see different types of you know, tangible and also intangible history throughout all of these criteria when you look at them as a whole.
[0:07:56.0] AH: Definitely the contextual values sections tends to be the hardest one to pin down in a concrete way and gives a little bit more latitude in terms of assessing those intangible aspects as you said. So once that evaluation is done and staff has presented its report to council, and assuming council accepts the recommendations of staff and passes the bylaw and that there’s no appeal, that’s when the designation becomes official.
Now, in terms of that designation itself, the designation bylaw, what does that look like? What would we find in a typical designation document, the bylaw document?
[0:08:28.6] CR: Sure, so really the key piece, I think both for the public, from the staff perspective, and also for members of the heritage committee is looking at what’s called a statement of significance or statement of cultural heritage value or interest. So what that does is it has first, it starts with the basic description of the property so it can be identifiable and then it has statements on these three different categories of heritage values.
So it talks about the historical or associative value, the physical design value, and the contextual values so that when you read the statements, you understand why it’s important to the community and then the final piece as part of the statement that’s really key is what’s called the list or description of heritage attributes.
So those are the physical features that should be protected and if someone wishes to make alterations to these features, they would need to submit a heritage permit application and that would go for staff as well as in Hamilton. The heritage permit review subcommittee for review and a recommendation would be made.
You know, do we see this is a type of work that follows best conservation practices and that staff and/or committee members would support? So when you get those heritage permit applications in you know, they can be recommended for approval, recommended for denial, or put conditions on, so that what that designation bylaw does is it really outlines in a clear way what needs to be protected at the property.
[0:09:53.3] AH: And those things, those character-defining elements of things we regard as they needed to be protected because really, they’re the specific elements of the building that represent those areas of importance, correct?
[0:10:06.2] CR: Exactly, yeah. So there’s been a full sum evaluation through the research on the property and with a lot of heritage designations the focus is on the exterior because you know, that’s often what the public sees. However, there are a number of properties, such as this one where we’re recording our episode, where there are interior features that are protected as well.
[0:10:27.0] AH: That addresses the designation of individual properties. The second method you mentioned of course was the establishment of heritage conservation districts or HCDs and you know very often, of course, when you see one historic building, you’re going to see more around it and rather than seeking multiple individual designations, often what a municipality will do is exercise their option to establish a heritage conservation district, which protects those properties.
But also, it becomes a reflection of the character of the area that they collectively represent. Now, the criteria for that is very similar in that what the qualification is that at least 25% of the properties in that district meet at least two of the criteria outlined, the same criteria we mentioned above. Now, how many HCDs do you have in Hamilton right now?
[0:11:14.2] CR: There’s seven HCDs in Hamilton right now, so there are quite a few.
[0:11:17.8] AH: I think if I remember correctly, Hamilton is doing a study on the Melville Heritage District. Would that be the eighth and is that a project you’ve been involved with?
[0:11:25.6] CR: So if there is to be an eighth heritage conservation district, the city is currently looking at another area in Dundas. There is a currently across Melville Heritage Conservation District. I’ve not had the chance to be involved in this second potential HCD in Dundas but it is an active project and the heritage team at the City of Hamilton has been doing some great work on that one.
So when there is a municipality looking at establishing a new heritage conservation district. As you mentioned, they’re looking at the district as a whole and there is a heritage conservation district study that takes place prior to a plan. So there’s a consultant that would be working on the study or sometimes it’s done in-house and what they’re really looking to do is evaluate the different properties within the study area and determine boundaries for the heritage conservation district.
If the municipality does go forward with the heritage conservation district, what’s prepared is a heritage conservations district plan, and depending on what’s in the plan, they can be either more or less permissive in terms of what types of work require a heritage permit application. So in some areas, perhaps they are more flexible and permissive in terms of what alterations are able to take place.
So it’s really an interesting process and you know, it really depends on what the community is looking for as well. So yeah, and what the character of that district is. So each of those studies and plans will be a little bit different, depending on the community that’s being evaluated.
[0:12:59.7] AH: Each one’s unique and often very specific in terms of the character and nature and history of the area and as well, there’s sort of – within a plan as an internal division in the sense of looking at which properties are contributing properties, which one’s contribute to the character of the district and which ones don’t and there’s sort of a different stringency in terms of how those properties are handled.
So that’s the second version and again, very different than designating individual properties but something that’s common to both for me and it’s always been a guiding principle is that a heritage conservation is not about stopping change but about guiding change and you’re in something of a unique position to speak to this because for as long as I have known you, which I’m sorry to remind you, it’s about eight years now, you’ve been a passionate advocate for progressive conservation of cultural heritage.
And not just built heritage or manmade buildings but in your new role, you’re focus is on the social and community development aspects of urban planning including some pretty monumentally important areas like affordable housing and I’m interested to hear your perspective on the challenges and opportunities of balancing, you know, the legislative and ethical responsibilities that municipalities have to conserve the heritage properties but also what the obligations to address to many other critical community needs that we’re facing today.
[0:14:15.7] CR: Sure, so like you mentioned, the intent of a heritage designation isn’t to prevent change but it’s really to manage change through the heritage permitting process and ensuring that the integrity of heritage resources isn’t inversely impacted but of course, we have you know, many different areas in urban planning that we look at cultural heritage planning being one of them.
You know, there’s a big discussion on other issues such as housing, climate change, et cetera, right now. So you know, for example, one thing that we can do that would bring some of these issues together would be looking at adaptive reusable heritage resources into housing. So there are different organizations out there that have compiled lists or examples of those both in Canada, The States, and elsewhere.
And you know, I really do think that in terms of affordable housing, a diverse population should have the opportunity to reside in heritage buildings or heritage conservation districts. Again, not only the higher income renters or homeowners and so you know, this ties to some other issues that we’re seeing in society right now like gentrification.
[0:15:23.3] AH: And adaptive reuse is a really key phrase in heritage, you know meaning simply, to adapt a building for a new purpose and certainly, there are a lot of buildings that for one reason or another can’t be or won’t be used for their original purpose. Some examples being old schools or old churches and so on and I agree, I think they represent an opportunity for use that does address the community needs that way.
[0:15:45.7] CR: You know, you mentioned schools and churches but there could even be you know, industrial buildings that are larger that could be turned into housing, artist space, et cetera or if we want to look at a smaller scale, there could be a single-family home that is now used as a restaurant or even an amenity space for a larger development. So I think there is a lot of opportunities to really build relationships with others and planning in development and make connections with some of these wider issues.
[0:16:13.7] AH: And certainly in Hamilton, some of those older industrial buildings that are not in use anymore represent some great opportunities. Some of those are extremely well built and that wouldn’t be a lot of fun to try to demolish, so repurposing them is a much better approach but also keeps that reference point to the industrial history of the city.
[0:16:29.5] CR: Yeah, and that’s really important to the City of Hamilton and you know to your point, we heard that saying that the greenest building is the one that’s already built.
[0:16:38.0] AH: Now, there’s two sides to that. As you said, the greenest building is the one that’s already there. That’s a great saying that advocates for conservation but something that I always harp on is we also have a lot to learn from traditional building methods, ways of doing things that aren’t – don’t exist anymore that often are lost arts that we really should retain.
[0:16:55.0] CR: Yeah, I think that’s one of the benefits, you know, kind of at a higher level, having these properties that require, you know, some very unique skills, does keep those skills and trades alive. I think there are also some misconceptions that I would like to clear up, definitely, about some heritage features such as wood windows needing to be replaced with vinyl ones.
You know, sometimes the public doesn’t think the wood windows are energy efficient and you know, that’s not true but they do need to be maintained certainly for them to last, you know? And they do last for over a hundred years if properly maintained.
[0:17:26.9] AH: Now, when you said, you touch on some of the misconceptions about what heritage destinations, and there are some others as well that we can definitely talk about and one of those often is – and you started touching on it before was that sense that if a property is designated that the owner won’t have the opportunity to make repairs and changes that they like. So that’s where that list of defining elements in the statement of significance comes in, yes?
[0:17:49.6] CR: Right. So there is that misconception but again, it’s not that they can’t make changes but that we want to ensure that there aren’t those negative impacts. So you know, if they want to change something that potentially will impact the heritage attribute, sometimes called the character-defining element, there is a process to go through with the municipality.
So there’s a heritage permit application they would need to submit and they would need to go through the approval process. So it depends on the municipality but for some minor alteration, there may be delegated approval through, for example, the director of planning or chief planner, more complex projects, you know, they may have to go to council for approval.
But yeah, there’s a process to go through and I think staff try and, you know, really work well with the owners, provide that public education in outreach. So the City of Hamilton, for example, we have guidelines on masonry and you know, and wood windows and different topics of interest that we can share.
We also have a list of heritage contractors that we can share. So we really try and do our best to build a great relationship with homeowners and share some of their knowledge and resources that we have as cultural heritage planners and heritage professionals.
[0:18:58.9] AH: And that’s something I think people need to understand is that they’re the people who largely are on their side and recognize that there have to be practical meaningful solutions and support those solutions and even sometimes it means making a compromise. One example that comes to mind is a case, so there was a church here in St. Catharines that was over 150 years old and their old slate roof had largely run it through its natural lifetime.
And this church, this small congregation said, “We can’t really afford to replace the slate with another slate roof” and the heritage committee and then the staff supported this said it will give them permission to replace it with modern materials. So there is largely and usually some consideration for practical considerations and sustainability as well.
[0:19:40.0] CR: Yeah. I think that does certainly staff. We do our best again to work with owners, be reasonable, and listen to all their different considerations. Again, we do our best to work with the owners and come to the best solution possible for everyone.
[0:19:52.6] AH: When you mentioned the impact on people thinking that they can’t do certain things or that there’s a limitation on what they can do, other people take that and they assume that there is an adverse impact on the property values of heritage properties and there have been many studies that have demonstrated that there is no adverse impact.
[0:20:09.6] CR: Sure, I think people have definitely different perspectives but as you mentioned, there is existing research and multiple studies that show property values. They don’t decrease, they’re not negatively impacted by designations but there are also a lot of folks out there who, you know, they love their properties. They see the value in the heritage features or if they’re in HCD, they see the value and the character of the district and some of the benefits to themselves and their families living in these types of properties and districts.
So people have different perspectives but part of the role of being a cultural heritage planner is you know, trying to show what the research indicates and clearing up some of these misconceptions out there.
[0:20:49.4] AH: And you mentioned heritage conservation districts, they’re a little bit different entity but there are other studies of these based in the US that have demonstrated that the establishment of heritage districts actually raises property values.
[0:21:01.6] CR: Right and you know, I think there is some net of showing that for example rent and other costs of increase even outside of HCD. So you know, it’s definitely the world we’re living in right now where there are so many concerns about you know, housing and costs. It’s an interesting topic so you know, I’m always interested in following the research and seeing what’s new.
[0:21:21.4] AH: That’s where the planning aspect comes in, you know, being aware and making thoughtful decisions. We talked about adaptive reuse and so on and balancing those things out and making that a factor in the decisions that are made within any municipality, how are we going to use our space, what are we going to protect, and how are we going to shape the growth that is happening here pretty exponentially through most of Southern Ontario.
[0:21:43.5] CR: Yeah, and I think part of the conversation as well is you know, these different areas of entrust don’t need to be competing needs. How could we preserve this building of interest and integrate it into a new development that, you know, may add housing but there’s a benefit through an amenity space or something.
You know, that could really be wonderful for the development that, if the building was demolished, you know, it would be a loss. So trying to work together and yeah, see what we can come up with for best development.
[0:22:13.8] AH: You said, sometimes it takes a little bit more money but really, sometimes what it takes is a little more imagination and creative thinking and planning time to come up with those solutions. Now, another area that’s come up that’s been and discussed a lot in heritage circles lately is the issue of insurance and the heritage property owners having challenges finding insurance for their homes because it has a heritage designation on it. What has your experience been with that?
[0:22:39.7] CR: Sure. My experience has been, I mean, really the issue is really more features that could be seen as causing safety concerns. So for example, the homestead is still made up of knob and tube wiring in them. So it’s not the designation itself. One thing that the City of Hamilton does to you is provide a letter to owners so that you know, you can send this to their insurance company and it helps clear up some of the misconceptions and I find that’s often what it takes.
[0:23:05.0] AH: That seems to be a very valuable part of it is I don’t think anyone should really want to have knob and tube wiring live in their home regardless and oftentimes, that’s been my experience anyways, that it is more about the condition and age is more of a concern to insurers more so than the heritage designation. That’s not considered a problem in it of itself.
[0:23:26.0] CR: I think sometimes there’s some concern about you know, if there is a loss would a building need to be replaced, reconstructed, that sort of thing but you know if we do see for example, fire and a total loss of a designated heritage building then you know, from the city’s perspective we’re not looking to have it replicated or reproduced. If there is, for example, a loss of some interior features and not the entire building then you know, really up to the owner or what approach to take.
So they could source some new old stores, some heritage stores from a salvage company but staff would you know, generally want to see what’s called a conservation plan to understand the damage. So something that would assess the condition and to make recommendations. So typically, we like to see repairing rather than replacement done but it really depends on the situation, the event that occurred, what the damage is, that sort of thing.
[0:24:18.4] AH: So I think the common denominator really we’re talking about is a way of identifying those issues, identifying those challenges and then looking for creative solutions to them and for me, you know, a community that has an understanding of and values its cultural heritage as a good basis that will help guide those choices and shape and inform, you know, development in other progressive things in a manner that will have the best outcome for the community overall.
[0:24:45.0] CR: That’s why we have, you know, our volunteers on the municipal heritage committee to provide their feedback as well. You know, they may not be heritage architects but they have their areas of expertise and you know, maybe research and evaluation. It may be some of the more hands-on work but getting that feedback is very important also.
[0:25:02.7] AH: And usually on a good committee, a variety of life experiences and perspectives and knowledge, which makes a committee like that valuable.
[0:25:11.1] CR: That’s right.
[0:25:11.7] AH: And times changed and societies changed and rules change like most if not all, legislation in the Ontario Heritage Act is a living document, subject to occasional amendment updates, which leads to municipality’s need to review and revise their designation process and certain, the Ontario Heritage Act in recent memory, was amended and it’s caused municipalities like Hamilton to need to make some adjustments to their approach to heritage designations. What are some of the adjustments that you’ve had to make?
[0:25:41.1] CR: Sure. So in the past, the City of Hamilton had a multi-year staff designation work plan. It had 166 properties on it and there were low, medium, and high priorities. That previous work plan was recently rescinded earlier this year and there’s a new candidate for part four designation list. It was initially 120 properties and those were generally stable or low-risk properties.
But those that we still did wish to perceive designation of and secondly, there’s a high priority candidates for part four, again, individual designation lists. There’s 60 properties on it and those are perceived or immediate risk-type properties that are on that list. So in the past few months, staff have been continuing to add properties. So there had been another 15 or so added and there’s been a lot of work done in public education of owners around the status and these new lists and you know, removal of that previous work plan.
So staff have had to do a lot of administrative work as well just notifying owners and there had been some recent achievements over the summer. So there have been two part-four designation bylaws passed recently and one notice of intention to designate issued. So that notice is issued prior to the passing of the bylaw.
[0:26:59.2] AH: When you talk about a list of high-priority properties, what defines that? Is that a case of you mentioned properties that are at risk, is that the primary consideration or is it properties that are considered to be of higher significance in terms of their value or both?
[0:27:12.5] CR: Yeah. So often it’s something that could be at risk in an area that perhaps is prime for redevelopment. So we’ll say the main candidate, the non-high priority list that’s more stable residential areas, where we don’t anticipate too much change to occur but you know, I think there’s been a lot of change in Hamilton in recent years and so yeah, the high priority list is where we think or perhaps, some of our useful heritage committee members think that something could happen in some of these areas.
It could be demolition or it could be alterations that would have negative impacts. It could be a removal of you know, some potential future heritage attributes, that sort of thing.
[0:27:53.3] AH: Now, you also referenced a level of protection we haven’t really discussed yet, which is covered under the Ontario Heritage Act, which is properties listed on the municipal heritage register. Now, what does listing a property, which is different than designated property, what does listing a property on the registry accomplish?
[0:28:10.4] CR: Sure. So having a property listed on the municipal heritage register but not having it designated means that if an owner wishes to demolish or remove any building or structure on that property, they need to provide the council a 60-day notice to do so. There have been some changes to how the register works, so there are now expiry dates, which means the registers become more of a placeholder for individual part-four designations.
So one process changed that we have that we’re working on here with the City of Hamilton is cultural heritage staff will be reporting back to council on a standard notice of intention to demolish process. So an application form and what’s required for the consideration of Hamilton municipal heritage committee and council.
[0:28:55.0] AH: I think the last thing about that register we haven’t talked about yet is the process and the process for being listed is very similar to the process for being designated with the exception that only one of three criteria needs to be met. Again, those being physical, historical, and contextual significance but also too, the level of research is, the bar is lower.
[0:29:13.2] CR: Well, we wouldn’t necessarily have a full cultural heritage assessment for a property that’s being recommended to be added to the register. You know, I think we still want to make sure we have that rationale certainly in place if some research will be done but it would be considered, you know, preliminary.
It’s a bit of a balance, we want to have as much as we can but also understanding it’s not, as you mentioned, a full individual or part four designation. So the information that we may have already, perhaps some additional new research but not to the same levels for a heritage designation.
[0:29:45.6] AH: Definitely. So we’ve talked a lot about the means of protecting properties and the process for protecting properties but a question that comes up from time to time with people who may not have the same love of history that you or I may have is they try to get a handle on why protecting these buildings is important and what we lose when we lose our built heritage and I think each of us has an answer to that and an idea but for you, why does it matter and what do we lose when we don’t do it?
[0:30:10.8] CR: Sure. I think there are so many reasons why protecting our heritage is important. You know, it keeps the rich history of different areas and stories alive. People have, you know, a real sense of pride and place and it’s a way to recognize that as well. We talked about this earlier I think a couple of times but it really helps keep those traditional crafts and trades alive and we touched a little bit on sustainability.
But you know, you’re seeing less demolition when you’re protecting older buildings and seeing less construction waste and you know, you can really celebrate the vibrancy of public architecture and landscapes as well through some perhaps, city-owned properties and again, just seeing a diversity of neighbourhoods.
Buildings aren’t necessarily constructed the same way so you know, it really adds to the architectural history by having heritage designations and ensuring these built heritage resources are kept for future generations.
[0:31:05.0] AH: You know, we talked about some of the misconceptions that we were hoping to dispel but are there other areas in the conversation or heritage that you would like to see covered that we don’t talk about enough?
[0:31:14.9] CR: Well, we touched on this a little bit but really, just making sure that cultural heritage isn’t seen as an impediment to housing, especially affordable housing. Being able to see some of these key issues in society right now really, you know, going hand in hand and having cultural heritage resources seen as an important asset for a number of reasons.
We touched on some of that just now but yeah, I really think it’s important to build relationships with different stakeholders. So it could be members of the public, other levels of government, the private sector, and the development community and we touched on this quite a bit earlier but really seeing more of a diversity in cultural heritage and focus on telling some of those untold stories that perhaps weren’t focused on in the past.
[0:31:55.9] AH: I agree 100% and that’s one thing that does come up from time to time and I think historically, it’s been a valid criticism that there are communities that have felt left out of the process. They felt that their experience hasn’t been valued as much as some other people’s experiences.
Do you feel that we have, under the current designation parameters, we have the tools to now represent and reflect those communities or do you think we need to even go a little further in terms of adjusting the process?
[0:32:21.0] CR: Well, I think public outreach and community consultation is really just so key to that and you know, there are always new strategies we can use to reach different communities. So COVID’s been interesting because we were able to connect with a lot of folks, you know, online that perhaps weren’t able to come out in person. You know, maybe it was their work hours so they couldn’t find childcare or have transits.
So I think it’s definitely a challenge but you know, one thing that the City of Hamilton has done recently and I don’t know that this came up earlier but we were able to hire two new planning technicians to focus on research and evaluations. So really being able to prioritize and spend their time on that, on the research and evaluation side is fantastic and you know hopefully, we can get into some of those different types of stories.
[0:33:06.3] AH: And sometimes it means reflecting cultures that have come to the area and sometimes it is as you touched on earlier, there’s a real working-class history in Hamilton and traditionally, that’s one group that’s often been left out of the discussion when it comes to heritages is working-class communities.
[0:33:21.9] CR: You know, with some of the untold stories, I think there’s a lot of work that the plan impression started doing and continues, it needs to continue doing with different indigenous communities and I know that’s something that you do work on here at the Brown Homestead. So we didn’t get into that, it could be its own podcast perhaps. So suggestion for a future episode.
[0:33:39.6] AH: Absolutely, I agree, and I think that it’s the future of heritage, to be honest, and I hope this conversation has given everyone listening a better understanding of the important role that heritage conservation and heritage designation specifically, play in both understanding our past and helping shape our future and certainly, has been helpful for me that way.
We did this episode because now is a critical time for heritage. There’s considerable growth and development pressure through most of Southern Ontario and communities that don’t have a clear conservation policy with a sense of purpose will discover that in the not-too-distant future that mistakes are being made, they were avoidable but are irreversible.
Certainly, we see that Hamilton’s in good hands and I think St. Catharines is as well. We haven’t engaged in a motivated safe council, a strong planning department that understands the importance of heritage and a heritage planner, who somehow seems to have more hours in the day than the rest of us given, how much work he’s been able to get done in recent months but challenges remain.
Our communities are changing, social needs are growing and long-term successes is going to require strong grassroots support and participation. So if anything we’ve said today resonates with you or if you just love that cool old house down the street, I encourage you to engage with your local historic sites, community groups, heritage advisory committees, and city council members to find out how you can get involved and if you’re already part of the local heritage community, I challenge you to embrace change.
Too often, we default to being a single issue, voice focused on conservation first and conservation only. Our challenge and this applies to myself as well, is to recognize that change is good. Development is necessary and social need is growing and the importance of finding solutions is paramount and what greater legacy could there be for the historic buildings that we love and more importantly, the lives lived in and around them than to be a part of a wholistic solution that makes our communities healthier, more compassionate and more inclusive for ourselves and for those who are going to come after us.
Chloe Richer, thanks for being here today and keep fighting the good fight.
[0:35:48.7] CR: Thanks for having me and I’d echo your words to always reach out to your local cultural heritage planners and municipal heritage committees.
[0:35:56.5] AH: Absolutely, thanks so much.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:36:03.3] ANNOUNCER: Thanks for listening. Subscribe today so you won’t miss our next episode. To learn more or to share your thoughts and show ideas, visit us at the brownhomestead.ca on social media or if you still like to do things the old-fashioned way, you can even email us at opendoor@thebrownhomestead.ca.
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