Councillor Peters spoke to the Heritage Conservation District Study, that was previously raised by Council in 2018. He supported the initial study and asked the Committee for feedback to revisit the topic before Council.
Councillor Sherwood recommended that the Committee is inclined to seek direction from Council first before an endorsement can be made. Should the Committee be interested in the previous study, it is available on the Town website. It was suggested to consider dividing the previous proposed HCD into two sections.
Mr. Sarazin stated that there were contrasting perspectives regarding this expansion, one of which was a concern that an inclusion would place limits on what a property owner could do with their home. Councillor Sherwood added that should an expansion of the district be approved, no single property could be excluded from the conservation area. Contrary to this concern, including more area within a heritage conservation district may help prevent undesirable structures that do not complement an existing heritage aesthetic.
Councillor Peters stated that support from Council on this subject is difficult to ascertain at this time. He suggested that this study serves the purpose of retaining a heritage downtown core. He suggested that a misinterpretation of the data and study in part attributed to the dismissal of the project and that if it were to be brought up again, he would seek to clarify these misconceptions.
Ms. Addy suggested that the community may be more amenable to the idea of the expansion if there was an opportunity to benefit from it. For example, if the Heritage Conservation District by-laws could be combined with the Ontario supported tax rebate program. She suggested that such an implementation would allow the Town to create their own criteria as it relates to the program and may create goodwill in the community. Furthermore, it was explained that a couple of conditions of the program is that the property is municipally designated and that the recipient of the rebate would enter a heritage easement agreement with the Town. Councillor Peters added that property owners in the district would only be impacted by this benefit should they pursue an appropriate renovation project. Ms. Addy stated that there should be no negative impact for a property to be included in a heritage conservation district.
It was confirmed that the Committee would be open to discussion on the heritage conservation district expansion (based on Council direction), and suggested that some minor adjustments to the proposal such as property data sheets could be made.