City of Kitchener, Ward 10 James Howe Adam Kochanski Gabriele Korschewitz Sarah Marsh

Transcription

1 City of Kitchener, Ward 10 James Howe Adam Kochanski Gabriele Korschewitz Sarah Marsh What value to our community is preservation of heritage properties? JH: Our built heritage is a tremendous gift from previous generations and helps us to connect with our collective past. Finding ways to conserve or preserve our history for future generations is very important. What have you done to save built heritage in your municipality? JH: Through my blog and Twitter, I was a leading voice in the effort to save the smaller buildings on the second block belonging to the former Lang Tannery. I saw great potential for them to become a vibrant people place similar to the Distillery District in Toronto. My efforts included speaking to City Council and having an opinion column published in the Waterloo Region Record. An overview of my arguments with links to key blog posts is found here. As a proactive measure, I co-lead a Jane s Walk with Warren Stauch of the heritage of the Central Frederick

2 neighbourhood. It is available online as a self-guided tour. Similarly, I have participated in other heritage-related Jane s Walks and Doors Open events. How will you balance land development pressures against the need to preserve significant landscapes, heritage structures and older neighbourhoods? JH: I grew up near the downtown core in a residential neighbourhood, live with my family in one now and am active with the Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association. Many of the existing residential neighbourhoods in Ward 10 are candidates to be Cultural Heritage Landscapes. I attended both meetings held by the city on this initiative. I see this process as being a way to help preserve the character of these neighbourhoods and their built heritage. Having residents be engaged in this process is key to ensuring informed decisions are made that strike the right balance. I have already shared information to help

3 Ward 10 residents understand and be involved in this process. I foresee the vast majority of the development in the downtown core, midtown and east downtown Kitchener replacing surface parking lots and other under-used properties. So I expect little potential impact on heritage structures and no reason to be redeveloping collections of properties in existing residential areas. Many studies have shown the environmental advantages of retrofitting heritage buildings vs. demolishing them and building new buildings, even new energy-efficient, LEED certified buildings. (e.g. The Greenest Building: quantifying the environmental impact of building reuse). Would you encourage the adaptive reuse of your community s built heritage? How? JH: I would strongly encourage the adaptive reuse of Kitchener s built heritage. The city is attracting investment by developer s interested in adaptive reuse of buildings. We need to maintain and enhance these relationships and attract more likeminded people. As projects move forward, we need to be reflective about how we can improve the process and

4 implement changes. On a personal level, I look forward to helping determine how we can achieve the desired outcome by focussing on what is necessary to make it happen (probably by working backwards from that point) rather than identifying barriers that appear to make the desired outcome impossible. What two additional heritage landscapes/ properties/ districts would like to see protected through listing or designation? JH: I d like to see both the traditional East Ward (including Central Frederick/Auditorium neighbourhoods, Pandora Neighbourhood, Onward/Crescent neighbourhood) and the Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood conserved and possibly protected through the Cultural Heritage Landscape process. Will you support a grant to those who seek to conserve and restore their heritage properties? JH: Yes How large a grant would you offer to property owners to preserve a heritage building? JH: I d support grants up to the $3,000

5 maximum available for eligible projects. Are financial incentives important to encourage home owners to invest in heritage properties? JH: Some people are concerned about having the means to invest in maintaining a heritage property or their ability to restore their home s heritage feature. A financial incentive can make this work feasible. Under the Ontario Heritage Act, listing and protecting heritage properties is a municipal responsibility, not a private responsibility. A heritage property may be designated by the municipality over an owner s objection, and the owner may appeal the designation to the Conservation Review Board (for individual property designations) or the Ontario Municipal Board (for heritage district designations). Do you agree that a municipal council should act if necessary to designate a heritage property even when the owner disagrees? JH: Yes. At the same time, there may occasionally be specific situations with extenuating circumstances where city council should respond to the property owner s wishes. And every effort should be made in every situation to achieve a mutually agreeable outcome. Under what circumstances would you vote against the recommendation of the Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee to designate a building as a heritage landmark? JH: That s a difficult hypothetical question

6 to answer. On June 30, Kitchener Council voted against a number of such recommendations. Based on what was presented at Council, I disagreed with most of these decisions. I thought there may be a case for an older gentleman who had owned his home for decades and perhaps for the building at Frederick and Duke which was largely unremarkable except for a façade added after it was built.