Cultural heritage

County branch of Architectural Conservancy launched

The day was an exciting one as the Prince Edward County branch of the Architectural Conservancy Ontario (ACO) was launched recently. It is the eighteenth branch of the ACO, which has over 1,000 members across the province. The decision to start a new branch of the ACO in the County was spurred on in large part by the senseless and untimely demolition last fall of two historic houses within Sandbanks Provincial Park. This despite valiant attempts by local groups and numerous individuals to halt the demolition and preserve and repurpose the heritage structures. The mandate of the ACO, a charitable organization that began in the 1930s, is the strategic use of education, advocacy and direct action to encourage the conservation and reuse of structures in heritage districts and landscapes. It had a hand in conserving and restoring Fort Henry in Kingston, St. James Church in Niagara-on-the- Lake and old City Hall in Toronto, as well as playing a supportive role in Toronto Union Station. The first branch of the ACO formed in 1961 in Port Hope.

“This seems to be a time when we need our community to be proactive in and ready to face threats to our cultural heritage,” said Liz Driver. “During the effort to save the Sandbanks heritage homes last summer, we realized how difficult it was to quickly mobilize people to engage with the matter. It was felt there would be strength from belonging to a provincial organization such as the ACO with its long experience and expertise in heritage. Having a Prince Edward County branch of the ACO will help us speak with one strong voice when needed.” She also noted that the group will be able to partner with other County groups on projects of interest.

Keynote speaker at the meeting was Diane Chin, Chair of Architectural Conservancy Ontario, who provided a brief history and background of the ACO, as well as noting existing legislation affecting heritage. She also spoke to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and the provincial policy statement mandated that municipalities plan for a range of housing and housing affordability. Also, the task force report released recently has extremely worrisome components in it for heritage, according to Chin. “It seems to blame the reason that we don’t have affordable housing across the province on heritage.” Noting the challenges faced by the ACO on housing and affordable housing, she said, “We are so afraid that the government is going to use affordable housing as a way to restrict the heritage designation and all the heritage protections that we have.” She added that demolition not only destroys heritage, but has an extremely negative impact on the environment in terms of carbon production.

Driver spoke to an “almost tsunami of development applications in the County” made up of development proposals in towns, rural landscapes and along shorelines. “I could just mention the Nery Inkerman project on Picton Heights, Picton Harbour lofts on Bridge Street, Royal Shores golf course at Long Point, and the just announced new ideas for Camp Picton.”

She said as a result of these development applications, people are realizing just how vulnerable historic buildings and landscapes are. “The other thing is, we have come to have a new application of the interconnection between cultural heritage and the natural environment.” Driver said development is not necessarily bad. “In fact, repurposing old buildings is a good thing,” she said, adding, “Any development has to be sensitive to the County’s special sense of place. There is absolutely no question that our community is passionate about conserving County heritage and, of course, there are many disparate heritage groups in the County with all kinds of interesting particular focuses.”

Five ideas were presented by Driver of many for the upcoming activities for the branch. “We are going to have to choose which ones are the priorities to get going on and we will aim to strike a balance between buildings and landscapes, and between education and advocacy.” Plans and talks and panel discussions are scheduled for this spring and summer. She said there will be a strong focus on the cultural heritage of hamlets, farms and shorelines, also the connection between cultural heritage and the natural environment. “A second idea, which would be a lot of work and a big project and would have to be done in collaboration with the municipality, is to update and digitize our heritage documentation from the 1970s and ’80s,” said Driver. The reason why updated documentation is needed is to have a better outcome from development applications.

Number three on Driver’s list is the on-going process of monitoring development applications and to articulate the heritage issues with them. “And most importantly to facilitate public engagement, because it’s only with public engagement that we will have the best outcomes and the best kind of development and outcomes.” A fourth idea is to champion the designation of a heritage road. “I am thinking of the road that runs through Grimmon’s Woods, but maybe we could even have a contest for which heritage road we want to champion for designation in the County,” outlined Driver. “A fifth idea or activity would be partnering with other organizations on things we have in common. For example, it would be fun to discuss with PECFN (Prince Edward County Field Naturalists) an initiative to educate owners about retaining their chimneys and their barns and other structures as habitat for wildlife, so chimney swifts in the chimneys and barn swallows in the barns and that kind of thing.”

While an executive will be elected for the new Prince Edward County branch of Architectural Conservancy Ontario in the fall at the first meeting, for the time being Liz Driver will serve an interim president, Debra Marshall as interim vice-president and Marc Seguin will act as the branch representative to the provincial ACO. To find out more about Architectural Conservancy Ontario or to become a member, visit acontario.ca (choose ’branches’ from the menu, select Prince Edward County, click on ’new membership’). Donations can also be made to the branch by clicking ’Donate’ at the top right.