| Ontario Heritage Act | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Legislative Assembly of Ontario | |
| Enacted by | Legislative Assembly of Ontario |
| Status: In force | |
The Ontario Heritage Act, (the Act) first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage value or interest.
Once a property has been designated under Part IV of the Act, a property owner must apply to the local municipality for a permit to undertake alterations to any of the identified heritage elements of the property or to demolish any buildings or structures on the property. [1]
Part V of the Act allows for the designation of heritage conservation districts.
Until 2005, a designation of a property under the Act allowed a municipality to delay, but not ultimately prevent, the demolition of a heritage property. Heritage advocates were highly critical of the 180-day "cooling off" period provided for under the legislation, which was intended to allow time for municipalities and landowners to negotiate an appropriate level of heritage preservation, but often simply resulted in the landowner "waiting out the clock" and demolishing the heritage building once the protection of the Ontario Heritage Act had expired.
In 2005, the provincial government enacted changes to strengthen the Act. Under the amended legislation, a landowner who is refused a demolition permit under the Act no longer has an automatic right to demolish a designated building once the cooling off period has expired. Instead, the landowner has the option to appeal the permit refusal to the Conservation Review Board for individual properties or the Ontario Municipal Board for properties within a Heritage Conservation District and the appropriate board would make the final decision on whether or not a demolition permit is issued. Where the OMB refuses to issue a permit, the landowner would have no choice but to preserve the heritage building.
The amended legislation also contains provisions which enable municipalities to enact by-laws to require owners of designated buildings to maintain the structures and their heritage elements. Such by-laws are intended to prevent "demolition by neglect", although the collapse of Walnut Hall in Toronto demonstrates that such buildings are still at risk.
Heritage designation is not universally welcomed. Because it imposes restrictions, or at least delay, on alteration or demolition of protected properties, some owners and would-be developers feel their property rights are compromised. [2] [3] There is also concern that the restrictions will make it more difficult to sell and/or develop affected properties, with a negative impact on market values.
Ottawa: As part of the city’s heritage inventory project, the city is reviewing properties in Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South and placing those considered to have “cultural heritage value” on a registry. Owners will be required to give 60 days notice to the city before demolishing a listed property. [4]
Rockcliffe Park: The entire village, which is now part of the City of Ottawa, became a Heritage Conservation District in 2016. [5] The objective is not just conservation of individual buildings but of the park-like qualities of the area as a whole. This means that lot sizes, spacings between houses, and streetscapes are also protected; for example, new circular driveways are no longer permitted. [6] There is a current appeal by a home-owner who is also a developer. [7] [8] Pending the outcome of a September 2017 hearing before the Ontario Municipal Board, [9] City of Ottawa policy is to continue to apply the Heritage Conservation Plan.
Experience with the new provisions of the Act has been mixed. Municipalities, who were given significantly greater authority with the amendments, have, in some cases, used the authority to prevent or delay development proposals, with questionable intent. In one case a golf course was designated when the local Council received a proposal to develop it for housing.
Another flashpoint has been proposals to develop or significantly alter church properties. The government of Ontario has recently published a guideline that provides a context for the inherent conflict between religious beliefs and the civil authority over religious property that is enabled by the Act. The "Guide to Conserving Heritage Places of Worship in Ontario Communities" is part of the Ontario Heritage Toolkit. The Guide provides an understanding of how religious and heritage preservation goals can be balanced.
Properties under federal jurisdiction are also problematic; enterprises such as banking, navigation and interprovincial rail operate beyond the jurisdiction of Ontario's government. Various federal private member's bills ( Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act , Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act ) attempt to restrict demolition of historic properties, but all are narrow in scope and provide no protection against demolition by neglect.
Rockcliffe Park is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, close to the centre of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1864, organized as a Police village in 1908, and an independent village from 1926, and ultimately amalgamated with the rest of Ottawa on January 1, 2001. As of 2011, it had a population of 2,021. In 1977 the entire village of Rockcliffe Park was designated a Heritage Conservation District. Rockcliffe Park is one of only a handful of surviving nineteenth-century communities of its kind in North America.
The National Capital Commission is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region, including administering most lands and buildings owned by the Government of Canada in the region.
Panet House is a historic building in Ottawa, Canada. Built by Charles-Eugène Panet, it is located at the corner of Laurier Avenue and King Edward Avenue, near the University of Ottawa. The building currently houses the embassy of Iraq in Canada. From 1998 to 2018, the building served as the embassy of Angola.
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters specified in provincial legislation. The tribunal reported to the Ministry of the Attorney General from 2012 until it was replaced in 2018. The Board had been criticized for its broad powers and authority to override the Planning Act decisions of municipal councils.
Maple GO Station is a train and bus station on GO Transit's Barrie line, located in Maple, Ontario, Canada. It is Ontario's oldest operating railway station, with passenger service dating back to 1853.
The Guild Inn, or simply The Guild was a historic hotel in the Guildwood neighbourhood of Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario and was once an artists colony. The surrounding Guild Park and Gardens is notable for a sculpture garden consisting of the rescued facades and ruins of various demolished downtown Toronto buildings such as bank buildings, the old Toronto Star building and the Granite Club. The park is situated on the Scarborough Bluffs with views of Lake Ontario. Guild Park remained open and the refurbishment of the Guild Inn into a facility for social events was completed in May 2017.
The Dominion Public Building is a five-storey Beaux-Arts neoclassical office building built between 1926 and 1935 for the government of Canada at southeast corner of Front and Bay streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada for the designation and preservation of historically significant Canadian lighthouses. It was passed by the Canadian Parliament in May 2008. The act set up a public nomination process and sets heritage building conservation standards for lighthouses which are officially designated. First introduced in 2000 as Bill S-21 in the Senate of Canada the bill enjoyed consistent multi-party support despite the unpredictable legislative agendas of minority Parliaments and was repeatedly re-introduced. The final vote of approval was made by the Canadian Senate in 2008 and the bill received Royal Assent on May 29, 2008.
Walnut Hall was a row of four Georgian-style terraced homes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed in 1856, it was recognized by both the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto as being of historic significance, but portions of it collapsed and it had to be demolished in 2007 due to neglect. At the time of its demolition, it was Toronto's last remaining complete row of 19th century Georgian townhomes.
Alma College was a girls' private school in St. Thomas, Ontario, in Canada. Built in 1878, the school was in operation between 1881 and 1988. The college closed in 1988 in part due to a teacher's strike. Primary school and music classes were still taught on campus until 1994. Following its closure the school building was used as a set for several movie productions; Silent Hill, its image is included in the 2009 film Orphan and the made-for-TV movie, Mr. Headmistress (1997). The building was destroyed by a fire on May 28, 2008.
Heritage Montreal is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the architectural, historic, natural, and cultural heritage of Greater Montreal. Architect Phyllis Lambert founded Heritage Montreal in 1975. It was preceded by Save Montreal, a volunteer group co-founded by Michael Fish after the controversial demolition of the Van Horne Mansion by developer David Azrieli in 1973. Heritage Montreal played a key role in efforts to halt demolition and redevelopment in the McGill Ghetto, also known as Milton Park.
The City of Toronto's Heritage Property Inventory is a list of buildings, structures, and properties in Toronto that are identified by the city, for the purposes of preserving their original facades and appearances. The inclusion of any property on the Inventory is a clear statement that the City is seeking the long-term preservation of the heritage attributes of a given property. The list has reached the 8000-property mark, and continues to grow as properties in Toronto reach maturation. Approximately 4,500 of the included properties are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The National Hotel was a hotel built on the southeast corner of King and Sherbourne streets, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Under pressure for condominium apartment redevelopment, the City of Toronto attempted to preserve the building, designating it a heritage site in 2009, but the building was eventually torn down in 2013. The hotel's north and west facades were preserved as part of the new condominium development, examples of "facadism" in Toronto.
The Heritage Property Act is a provincial statute which allows for the preservation of cultural heritage properties, archaeological sites and palaeontological sites in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Heritage Places Protection Act is a provincial statute which allows for the recognition and protection of cultural heritage and natural heritage properties in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
The One is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If completed, it will be the tallest building in Canada. At 328.4 metres and 91 storeys, it will be taller than First Canadian Place, which has been Canada's tallest building since 1975. It will also be Canada's first supertall skyscraper, as defined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Construction of the building is estimated to be completed by March 2025.
The town of Collingwood, Ontario, was the first municipality in Canada to have a heritage conservation district included on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
Sand Pits Lake, better known as The Pond or McKay Pond is an artificial lake located next to McKay Lake in the Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
McKay Lake is a meromictic lake located in the former Village of Rockcliffe Park in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.