Heritage Properties of Ottawa & Gatineau

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Have you seen plans for the proposed replacement to validate that comment? Uganda may not be known for being lavish, but I would hope that they would want to make their embassy at least somewhat attractive. I could be proven wrong though.

I personally have a soft spot for the mid-century apartment buildings, but in this case, I understand why this one might not be worth it. Pick your battles. But the replacement looks like shit!! They're replacing a 50s building with something that's coming out of the late 70s!


http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ns-pre-pm-home

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I personally have a soft spot for the mid-century apartment buildings, but in this case, I understand why this one might not be worth it. Pick your battles. But the replacement looks like shit!! They're replacing a 50s building with something that's coming out of the late 70s!


http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ns-pre-pm-home

The octagonal window on the front looks like it might be a homage to the current building.

[J.OT13]

That's the idea, but it doesn't make it any better. The Central Library also has an "homage" to the original with nothing but a stained glass window salvaged from the tragic demolishion of it's predecessor.


http://www.capitalmodern.ca/modern/w...entral-branch/

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I personally have a soft spot for the mid-century apartment buildings, but in this case, I understand why this one might not be worth it. Pick your battles. But the replacement looks like shit!! They're replacing a 50s building with something that's coming out of the late 70s!

More early 90s, but either way, blech.

[TheseBoots]

Re: 231 Cobourg St. /Lester B. Lived Here

Heritage Society boarding school reach seems to be a trend. To be designated with a heritage building protection, the building itself should have intrinsic history of architectural design value. In this case, no. There are plenty of other mid-century buildings like this in Ottawa. Solution: find one that wasn't let go to rot. The "he walked from here..." argument only serves to prove the fuzzy-headed principles being used for what qualifies as a heritage building. By that reasoning, maybe Pearson was inspired by that octogonal window?

A plaque on the grounds would suffice.

Mid-Century Modern in Rothwell Heights: http://www.habicurious.com/mid-centu...a-briarcliffe/

[J.OT13]

Not quite Ottawa, but interesting none-the-less.

Apple of your eye? Rundown birthplace of the McIntosh is for sale

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...sale-1.4850402

[rocketphish]

Appeal tribunal allows demolition of Rockcliffe Park home, overturning council decision to protect property

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: May 1, 2019

A provincial tribunal has overturned a city council decision to save a large home in Rockcliffe Park from demolition, disappointing the community association that has been trying to protect the heritage character of the historic neighbourhood.

In a decision released this week, an adjudicator with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal ordered the city to issue permit for demolition and new construction at 270 Buchan Rd. as requested by Richcraft Homes and the family that owns the development company.

Council in May 2017 voted 13-10 to block the demolition application after its planning committee and built-heritage subcommittee disagreed on a course of action. It was a moment that some council members held up as an example of protecting the city’s heritage communities from drastic transformation. Mayor Jim Watson and the built-heritage chair at the time, Tobi Nussbaum, voted to save the home.

Richcraft’s owners have wanted to redevelop the property for family. They appealed both the council decision on demolition and the bylaw that underpins the heritage-protection rules in Rockcliffe Park.

While adjudicator Michel Bellemare reversed council’s decision regarding demolition of the two-storey stone-and-siding house at 270 Buchan Rd., he upheld the 2016 bylaw creating the heritage district plan for Rockcliffe Park.

Peter Lewis, president of the Rockcliffe Park Residents Association, said the group doesn’t like the decision on demolition.

“We do completely and unreservedly and, with respect, disagree with the (adjudicator’s) decision,” Lewis said, arguing that there were “weak opinions” from Richcraft to diminish the contribution of the house to the community.

The city’s research says the house was designed by Hazelgrove and Mills in 1940 for Robert Southam and was sold to A. Barnet Maclaren, a member of a prominent lumber and timber family. The house is significant because it’s “associated with the transformation of Rockcliffe into a fashionable suburb,” the city’s research suggests.

The house surpassed the scoring threshold for a Grade 1 house, which can only be destroyed under extraordinary circumstances, like in the event of a natural disaster or fire.

But during the appeal tribunal hearing, there were questions about how the scoring was done in the first place.

Richcraft’s heritage consultant found incomplete evaluation forms and observations that don’t align with scores in a sample of 50 evaluations.

It appears the downfall of the city’s case to protect the home was an admission that 721 property evaluations in Rockcliffe Park weren’t done correctly and that more errors could be uncovered in the future.

Even with 270 Buchan Rd., the house was given an initial score of 80/100 but the number was decreased to 69/100 after further review. Still, it exceeded the 50/100 threshold for protecting Grade 1 homes.

Meanwhile, Richcraft’s heritage consultant during the hearing gave the house a score of between 38 and 40 but didn’t elaborate on how he reached that range, according to the decision, which summarizes the testimony.

The apparent wishy-washy scoring was enough for the adjudicator to side with Richcraft on allowing demolition. The adjudicator also called on the city correct any flaws “to safeguard the integrity of its evaluation process.”

Lewis said he doesn’t believe the decision will set a precedent for similar redevelopment applications in Rockcliffe Park since the district heritage plan still calls for houses that contribute to the community’s heritage to be protected.

Richcraft vice-president Kevin Yemm declined to comment since the tribunal decision is a period during which either party — the company, the city, or both — can appeal to the courts.

Lewis said the residents association hopes the city will consider appealing the tribunal’s decision.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...otect-property

[rocketphish]

Christian organization opposes city over heritage protection for Orléans stone building

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: May 24, 2019



The city wants council to apply heritage protection to an old stone building in Orléans, even though the Christian organization that owns the property is against it.

A staff report for the built-heritage subcommittee, which will consider the proposal on June 3, says the former city of Gloucester in 2000 seemed to have wanted 1820 St. Joseph Blvd. to be lumped into another heritage designation for the property across the street at 1811 St. Joseph Blvd., which includes an 1855 farmhouse for the former Grey Nuns’ Youville Farm.

Gloucester council, however, only approved a heritage bylaw for 1811 St. Joseph Blvd., and not specifically for the building at 1820 St. Joseph Blvd., whose one-and-a-half-storey structure, which dates back to 1900, was used as a storehouse and flour mill for the Youville Farm.

According to a statement of cultural heritage value, the old storehouse is a good example of the stone building design of the time, particularly used in Quebec between 1880 and 1920, influenced by the Second Empire architectural style.

The Sisters of Charity, known as he Grey Nuns, bought 500 acres of farmland in 1885 to support a Bytown community of the organization established by Elisabeth Bruyère, according to city research. The stone building at 1820 St. Joseph Blvd. not only is a standing reminder of the farm, but it also reflects the “historic rural character of Orléans,” the report says.

It appears the former Gloucester council assumed the wording of the heritage-protection bylaw for the farmhouse was good enough to cover the storehouse. A schedule to the bylaw says, “Also recognized in this designation is the small stone house across the street,” but there’s no heritage bylaw for the address itself.

According to the staff report, the city’s heritage branch received a request in 2014 from the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans to make sure the storehouse is properly covered by a heritage bylaw.

The National Evangelization Team (NET) Ministries of Canada owns the land, but the city report suggests the organization is wary of a forced heritage designation.

“The property owner is opposed to the proposed designation and is concerned about potential implications of the designation on the future redevelopment of the site,” the report says.

NET’s executive director couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

Heritage designation would protect the exterior of the stone building, requiring the owner to ask for permission from the city before undertaking any work that would affect the heritage attributes. The interior of the building would be excluded from the heritage designation.

NET can file an objection to the city, triggering a provincial Conservation Review Board hearing that would produce recommendations for council to consider.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...stone-building

[danishh]

cool, so they want to be able to demolish a piece of the region's christian heritage for money.

that sounds about right.

[J.OT13]

So little heritage left in Orleans. We have such weak heritage laws in Ottawa and Canada.

[rocketphish]

Proposed heritage incentive plan would offer grants, but not property tax discount

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: October 15, 2019

The City of Ottawa wants to increase financial incentives for owners of heritage properties to restore their buildings, but it won’t go as far as discounting their annual property taxes.

The proposed community improvement plan tailored for heritage properties has emerged as one of the key proposals from a task force struck by Mayor Jim Watson in 2016 when the city watched some of its landmark properties fall into decay, creating a blight on the capital’s streetscapes and raising a suggestion that landowners were letting their buildings fall into disrepair to win approval for demolition.

Somehow, the city needs to get owners of vacant heritage buildings to breathe life into their properties — think Somerset House in Centretown, or the former Our Lady’s school in Lowertown, or the Magee House in Hintonburg.

Watson supports creating a grant-based community improvement plan for heritage properties because it will help protect Ottawa’s heritage assets, said his spokeswoman Livia Belcea.

David Flemming, who sits on the mayor’s task force, said Heritage Ottawa has been advocating for a property tax discount for owners of heritage buildings, but he sees a community improvement plan as a step forward.

“It’s a good start,” Flemming said. “If we have a light at the end of the tunnel here, we should go to it.”

A community improvement plan, or CIP, under provincial planning law allows municipalities to distribute grants to landowners in priority areas. The City of Ottawa has created CIPs for the Orléans, Bells Corners and Vanier areas to stimulate business activity and beautification. There’s also a program to encourage the development of eyesore, contaminated properties known as brownfields.

The city believes it can create a CIP specifically for properties designated by council under the Ontario Heritage Act, and especially for those located in the city’s design priority areas, like downtown communities and main streets.

The theory is, a heritage property that’s repaired or developed in a way that protects the heritage attributes will see an increased property value assessment, and consequently, an increased property tax bill.

The CIP would provide a grant covering up to 75 per cent of increased portion of the property taxes for up to 10 years or up to the value of the restoration work to a maximum of $500,000.

Under the plan, all the rebates handed out in a given year wouldn’t be able to exceed $500,000. In other words, $500,000 would be the city’s annual budget for the heritage CIP program.

The city initially wants to make the heritage CIP available to applicants for three years to gauge the impact of the grants.

In researching options to incentivize landowners, the city discovered that more than 30 municipalities in Ontario offer some kind of tax-break program for heritage properties. In some cases, municipalities are offering refunds of up to 40 per cent of heritage landowners’ property tax bills, with the province even providing refunds for the education portion of the bills. Heritage buildings, which sometimes have ornate features, require money to maintain and those municipalities recognize the financial burden through those tax breaks.

The City of Ottawa doesn’t want to go that far, but it wants to do better than the heritage grant program already on the books. That program offers grants up to a maximum of $25,000 for restoration work.

Flemming, who has long supported the idea of a property-tax discount for heritage building owners, said the city has suggested to him in the past that a regular tax break could create a revenue dilemma, especially since the federal government owns heritage structures and could ask for a discount in the money it pays city hall in lieu of property taxes.

The CIP program would only work if it gets buy-in from heritage property owners.

Somerset House at Somerset and Bank streets is constantly cited as the textbook case for why the municipality needs to come up with a strategy to encourage redevelopment of rundown heritage properties.

Would the proposed CIP convince Somerset House’s owner to ramp up his redevelopment plan? He couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline Tuesday.

The CIP recommendations are scheduled to be discussed by the built-heritage subcommittee on Monday and the finance and economic development committee on Nov. 5 before going to council for final approval on Nov. 27.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...y-tax-discount

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Proposed heritage incentive plan would offer grants, but not property tax discount

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: October 15, 2019

The City of Ottawa wants to increase financial incentives for owners of heritage properties to restore their buildings, but it won’t go as far as discounting their annual property taxes.

The proposed community improvement plan tailored for heritage properties has emerged as one of the key proposals from a task force struck by Mayor Jim Watson in 2016 when the city watched some of its landmark properties fall into decay, creating a blight on the capital’s streetscapes and raising a suggestion that landowners were letting their buildings fall into disrepair to win approval for demolition.

Somehow, the city needs to get owners of vacant heritage buildings to breathe life into their properties — think Somerset House in Centretown, or the former Our Lady’s school in Lowertown, or the Magee House in Hintonburg.

Watson supports creating a grant-based community improvement plan for heritage properties because it will help protect Ottawa’s heritage assets, said his spokeswoman Livia Belcea.

David Flemming, who sits on the mayor’s task force, said Heritage Ottawa has been advocating for a property tax discount for owners of heritage buildings, but he sees a community improvement plan as a step forward.

“It’s a good start,” Flemming said. “If we have a light at the end of the tunnel here, we should go to it.”

A community improvement plan, or CIP, under provincial planning law allows municipalities to distribute grants to landowners in priority areas. The City of Ottawa has created CIPs for the Orléans, Bells Corners and Vanier areas to stimulate business activity and beautification. There’s also a program to encourage the development of eyesore, contaminated properties known as brownfields.

The city believes it can create a CIP specifically for properties designated by council under the Ontario Heritage Act, and especially for those located in the city’s design priority areas, like downtown communities and main streets.

The theory is, a heritage property that’s repaired or developed in a way that protects the heritage attributes will see an increased property value assessment, and consequently, an increased property tax bill.

The CIP would provide a grant covering up to 75 per cent of increased portion of the property taxes for up to 10 years or up to the value of the restoration work to a maximum of $500,000.

Under the plan, all the rebates handed out in a given year wouldn’t be able to exceed $500,000. In other words, $500,000 would be the city’s annual budget for the heritage CIP program.

The city initially wants to make the heritage CIP available to applicants for three years to gauge the impact of the grants.

In researching options to incentivize landowners, the city discovered that more than 30 municipalities in Ontario offer some kind of tax-break program for heritage properties. In some cases, municipalities are offering refunds of up to 40 per cent of heritage landowners’ property tax bills, with the province even providing refunds for the education portion of the bills. Heritage buildings, which sometimes have ornate features, require money to maintain and those municipalities recognize the financial burden through those tax breaks.

The City of Ottawa doesn’t want to go that far, but it wants to do better than the heritage grant program already on the books. That program offers grants up to a maximum of $25,000 for restoration work.

Flemming, who has long supported the idea of a property-tax discount for heritage building owners, said the city has suggested to him in the past that a regular tax break could create a revenue dilemma, especially since the federal government owns heritage structures and could ask for a discount in the money it pays city hall in lieu of property taxes.

The CIP program would only work if it gets buy-in from heritage property owners.

Somerset House at Somerset and Bank streets is constantly cited as the textbook case for why the municipality needs to come up with a strategy to encourage redevelopment of rundown heritage properties.

Would the proposed CIP convince Somerset House’s owner to ramp up his redevelopment plan? He couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline Tuesday.

The CIP recommendations are scheduled to be discussed by the built-heritage subcommittee on Monday and the finance and economic development committee on Nov. 5 before going to council for final approval on Nov. 27.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...y-tax-discount

Is there anybody who thinks it's a good idea to reward these assholes? We need policies that punish not reward people whose business MO is "demolition by neglect". Especially the owner of Somerset House. Fuck him in particular.

A little bit of a carrot is fine but it needs to come with a really big stick. This proposal is 100% carrot.

[J.OT13]

This proposal is pretty weak. We need a system that punishes neglect (huge fines, expropriation) and rewards good behavior (tax breaks and grants for those who restore heritage buildings). This seems to be a very weak version of the latter.

[OTownandDown]

The truth is, only government truly has the capital to fund heritage restorations the right way. Private business owners don't make enough rent, especially in Ottawa for the type of maintenance required. And when improper maintenance isn't allowed, the property goes into decline.

Texas, for example, has an amazing property tax rebate/grant program that seems to work very well. We should be trying to emulate them as much as possible.

[DarthVader_1961]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...tion-1.5328864

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...tion-1.5328864

Owner demolishes home day before heritage eligibility
March Road home was one of the last 19th-century stone buildings in the area

Laurie Fagan · CBC News
Posted: Oct 21, 2019 4:20 PM ET | Last Updated: 2 hours ago



A 19th-century stone home considered important to the agricultural history of rural Ottawa was demolished on Sunday — a day before a city committee could have taken a step toward protecting it.

The Scissons home at 910 March Rd. in Kanata North was a one-and-a-half storey stone farmhouse built sometime between 1895 and 1891 in the former March Township.

On Monday, the Built Heritage Sub-Committee had an item on its agenda to potentially give the Gothic Revival-style home its designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

If passed, it would have gone to full council on Wednesday for approval and the notice of intention to designate it could have gone to the owner this coming Thursday, cancelling any demolition permits.

However, the owner got a demolition permit from the city last Thursday and knocked it down on Sunday.

"It was absolutely awful timing and a real race against the clock," said Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, who chairs the sub-committee.

He said there are only a handful of 19th-century farm homes in the area and it reflects the agricultural history of rural Ottawa.

"I'm pretty devastated and sad for the community because this is a house people have known on March Road and it's an absolute shame when one of these buildings is lost."

A staff report presented at Monday's committee said the former city of Kanata identified the building as having historical interest and it had been placed on a heritage reference list after amalgamation.

But staff assured the committee the demolition was lawful.

Court Curry, the city's manager of heritage services, said the stone dwelling was to be included on the city's heritage registry earlier this year but that was delayed until November due to spring flooding in the area.

Placing the home on the registry would have provided a 60-day cooling off period in order to determine if there was actual heritage value, he said, but he added staff were confident it would meet the standards.

"It's a sad day for rural heritage," he said.

"Last week when we became aware that the demolition permit had been issued, I reached out to the owner to explore options including moving the house on the site — unfortunately they weren't interested in discussing other options."

Curry said his understanding is the home is owned by the descendants of the original owner and they are in the process of selling it to a housing developer.

He said the city is closely monitoring 500 properties slated to be added to the city's heritage registry next month so what happened to the Scissons house doesn't happen again.

Michael Polowin, a lawyer representing the party in the process of purchasing the home and the three hectares of land that surrounds it, would not reveal who his client is.

He said the blame lies with the city's heritage staff, who had many years to grant heritage designation but never did.

"Let me be clear: by Oct. 10 heritage staff had signed off on the demolition, agreeing there was no impediment," he said.

He said only when the demolition permit was issued Thursday did he get emails from Curry that the heritage survey of the home should be completed by Friday, ahead of Monday's meeting.

"This is abysmal behaviour and city staff, much to their chagrin, do not run the city," Polowin said.

"They didn't do their job and they are trying to cover their rear ends by pointing fingers at my client and that's not fair, my client did everything right."

Polowin said he couldn't comment on whether his client had any guilt about tearing down a 19th century home that was part of local history.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...tion-1.5328864

[Proof Sheet]

Michael Polowin, a lawyer representing the party in the process of purchasing the home and the three hectares of land that surrounds it, would not reveal who his client is.

He said the blame lies with the city's heritage staff, who had many years to grant heritage designation but never did.


Hey isn't he retained by Heritage Ottawa to fight the plans for the Chateau Laurier

[OTownandDown]

The article is incorrect on one point. There's tons of this exact house, rotting out in the bush in Ottawa's far flung suburbs. We just don't cry over those ones, for some reason. I guess because we can't force those owners to maintain their property in good condition.

Heck, even the NCC owns several rotten versions of this house.

How about some priorities?

Edit: https://goo.gl/maps/giyoe23qHftHg1hU7

[rocketphish]

Planning committee OKs controversial infill subdivision for historic Nepean estate
The existing stone house on the property was bought in 1914 by William Wilfred Campbell, a Confederation poet, who named it Kilmorie.

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: November 14, 2019



The planning committee on Thursday approved a controversial infill subdivision on a lush, historic Nepean estate once owned by a Confederation poet.

Theberge Developments wants to build homes on 10 lots next to a heritage home at 21 Withrow Ave. It’s a lush property in the City View community.

The existing stone house on the property was bought in 1914 by William Wilfred Campbell, a Confederation poet, who named it Kilmorie. The city pursued heritage protection for the building in 2016 after the community raised concerns about the property going up for sale.

Theberge earlier this year won a decision from the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal for the first phase of the infill project, which is four detached homes fronting Withrow Avenue.

A dozen people told councillors on the committee to reject the rest of the development proposal.

Mary-Sue Haliburton called the private property a “green beating heart in the whole amalgamated city” and said she hoped the public could one day have access to the land.

Joan Clark, president of the City View Community Association, said people have been offering donations to help save the historic property. About $80,000 has been raised, but people are skeptical about giving money because they don’t know what council will do about the development application, she said. The developer, while prepared to entertain an offer, hasn’t told the community association how much the land would cost.

“We must protect this green space,” Clark said. “Once green space is gone, it’s gone forever.”

Ben Glossop of the Poets’ Pathway Committee stood in front of councillors with an acoustic guitar and, in a sombre tone, sang A Wood Lyric, written by Campbell. “It is this green space that is a symbol of what the Confederation Poets wrote about and what gives us a sense of self as Canadians,” Glossop said.

Nick Tinker said the proposed development “it’s not very exciting for city building,” pointing to the plan to cut down mature trees on the land in a community that lacks park land.

However, a report from city planning staff says the community has “adequate access to various types of park and open space areas.”

Coun. Scott Moffatt challenged that analysis, noting some parks in the community are for specific purposes, such as tennis courts and ball parks, and aren’t general gathering spaces.

Theberge intends to find a homeowner for the heritage home, which requires between $400,000 and $500,000 in repairs before being habitable, according to company planning consultant Jonah Bonn. The heritage home would have a larger lot than the other lots.

The property is in the College ward of Coun. Rick Chiarelli, who’s a member of the planning committee, but he wasn’t at the meeting Thursday. He’s been largely absent from city hall since allegations of improper behaviour with former staff and potential staff surfaced in September, prompting an investigation by the integrity commissioner. Chiarelli, who has denied the allegations, attended a city council meeting on Nov. 6, the first time he has appeared at council since the scandal broke.

According to the city planning report, staff asked for Chiarelli’s agreement on the subdivision application on Sept. 20 but received “unclear direction” from the councillor. The city decided to bring the subdivision application to planning committee along with the rezoning application for the project.

The planning committee overwhelmingly supported the development plan. Only Coun. Jeff Leiper dissented. Council will vote on Nov. 27.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-nepean-estate

[lrt's friend]

I knew the owner of that home before he passed away. That house was filled with history and the gentleman was a descendant of some of Ottawa's and specifically Gloucester's earliest pioneers and United Empire Loyalists.