[URBAN NOTE] "Heritage conservation districts are long overdue"

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing Toronto features an essay by a Toronto civil servant, Mary L. MacDonald, in defense of Toronto's established policy regarding districts dense with heritage.

What we choose to build, what we choose to demolish and what we choose to save tells us a lot about dominant human values: social, cultural, environmental, economic and political. Buildings and landscapes embody these values and reveal information about the people who designed them, the people who inhabit them and the geographic, cultural or historic moments or movements that inspired them. Our built environment and landscapes tell stories, and they reveal and illustrate our many histories, both the illustrious and the otherwise invisible.

Toronto’s diverse cultural heritage is reflected in the built form and landscapes of its neighbourhoods, main streets, commercial areas, ravines and parks, as well as in the traditions and cultural spaces of its over 2.5 million residents. Cultural heritage is widely understood to be an important component of sustainable development and place-making and, as Toronto’s growth intensifies, Toronto City Planning is acting to ensure that intensification is reconciled with the ongoing conservation of significant heritage areas. To this end, the City is using a suite of policy tools and processes to create a culture of conservation and context sensitive design, recognizing that, as Canada’s largest city, Toronto faces both unique challenges and opportunities in conserving and benefiting from heritage conservation districts (HCDs).

In his September 15, 2016, opinion piece on HCDs, Michael McClelland asserts the City of Toronto is looking for a “silver bullet” to control development in the downtown core; neither are HCDs a “blunt tool.” On the contrary, the identification, evaluation and designation of HCDs across the entire City have been made a planning priority because HCDs are valued for their ability to provide contextual, place-based policies and guidelines. HCDs are also valued for their ability to strengthen business areas; leverage economic development; positively influence conservation and planning outcomes; enhance civic engagement; protect the public interest, and demonstrate compliance with provincial planning policy and the City’s own Official Plan.