Preserving heritage

Some residents unhappy about Wellington HCD plan restrictions

Anumber of concerns and questions arose from a lengthy public meeting held virtually last Thursday in which consultants Bray Heritage gave a presentation on the draft Wellington Heritage Conservation District (HCD) plan. More than three dozen people tuned into the more than two-and-a-half hour meeting, including Councillors Mike Harper, Ernie Margetson and John Hirsch to hear in broad terms what the HCD designation is and what it may mean to the village of Wellington. Voiced were a variety of concerns about Wellington not having enough shops, another noted there are too many hotels, motels, glamping and Airbnbs. Others noted how taking the traffic out of downtown Wellington will kill the downtown, and there were questions over building height restrictions, as well as insurance rates on heritage properties.

Michael Michaud, Manager of Planning noted the study was started in 2019 when a firm of consultants were brought on board tasked to determine if portions of Wellington met the requirements under the Heritage Act for moving forward with the designation. “Then coming up with some policies and guidelines on how to preserve the heritage components that are important in this particular community,” said Michaud. Carl Bray with Bray Heritage said one of the things about doing a HCD study is that it allows you to dig much deeper into the character of a place. “It actually puts into words what things that are often subconscious or left unsaid or taken for granted, and by actually putting them down on paper through a fairly rigorous process you end up with a series of heritage attributes,” explained Bray. “What that gives you is the actual language to really start focusing discussions about what type of development is appropriate, if it’s new development or if it involves changes to existing buildings and settings.”

It was noted the boundary of the proposed Wellington HCD will include the original part of Wellington at the intersection of Belleville and Main Streets, including the former harbour and existing docks, extending to the residential area to the institutional core. “Then to the commercial core, to the westerly development, which is a combination of former industrial and later residential, then a chunk up Consecon Street.”

Bray said the boundaries tend to focus on the property boundary of the properties that face onto Wellington Main Street. “They don’t go further inland; we wanted to make sure it was a tight enough boundary and not too large to manage and to capture the highest concentration of cultural heritage attributes.”

In talking about what a HCD plan can do, Bray said people often think a collection of buildings as just that. “It`s more than that, it’s the whole context, it’s the sum rather than the bits,” explained Bray. “It`s the sum as defined by local people, as well as the insight we might bring. It’s a tool, it’s something that is meant to be used.” He describes it as a change management tool. “It doesn’t prevent development, far from it, it encourages development, but of a compatible sort.” Bray said the HCD policies and guidelines give municipal staff the tools they need and speeds up the development process. “It helps ensure that what gets built and changed is what local people understand, the compatibility, and really what they want.” Bray says the HCD doesn’t regulate things other than what you can see from the public realm from the street. “What happens behind, as long as it doesn’t visually overwhelm what’s out the front, it’s really not part of the policies and guidelines.”

In terms of permits, Bray confirmed that much of the work any property would undergo in an existing building in the HCD does not require a heritage permit, such as regular maintenance. Interiors are not affected by the designation. Heritage permits are required for changes to an existing building; a major change, such as a new building, a demolition or a major alteration would need a building permit and/or a heritage permit. Liz Driver with the Prince Edward Heritage Advisory Committee noted it was interesting that the Picton Main Street HCD is very different to the Wellington HCD. “One difference that popped out to me is height, mass and scale are not part of the character of either the district or the sub-areas and I am surprised by that,” said Driver.

Evan Nash asked if the HCD plan allows for development to continue in the downtown core.

Anthony Lemke had numerous issues with the plan, including limiting density. “This HCD plan is going to freeze us where we are,” said Lemke. He noted one of the goals of the HCD plan is to encourage development and revitalize the downtown core. “I am having a really tough time understanding what you mean by encourage development,” said Lemke. He said the contributing resources on Main Street have been identified as 1.5 to two-storey structures with the exception of what is referred to as the commercial core. “What the heck will development look like when you are building 1.5 storey buildings, keeping views of the lake, keeping similar mass and scale to your neighbours,” he said. Bray said his read of the Secondary Plan (SP), which is currently under review, doesn`t show commercial development all along Main Street, or up the side streets, but concentrates it at the nodes (Belleville and Main Streets, and Wharf and Main Streets, for example). “Even under the current SP, new commercial development is focused north of the Millennium Trail,” he added.

Bray said Wellington has a small downtown core and one that was not intended to overwhelm the rest of village. Lemke said under the SP, from Belleville Street to Consecon Street and all along Main Street, is zoned village core. “That is the highest density development zoning possible in the town of the Wellington, including north of the Millennium Trail,” noted Lemke. Johannes Debus said he made a commitment to Wellington by buying a property on Main Street under the knowledge the SP zoned commercial would provide allowance to build. “This is putting a wrench in our ideas and our vision when we made this commitment,” said Debus. Surprised the HCD plan would pass so quickly in June or July, he expressed his disagreement to the new plan.

Driver noted that every property owner in the HCD who has a contributing building is eligible for the heritage grant program. She also spoke to the flexibility within the Wellington HCD from non-contributing properties to be developed within the guidelines. “Those buildings do not have to be kept and they are not considered to be contributing to character as they stand.” Nash said the town is at a crossroads. “We have a lot of development ahead of us that could be executed flawlessly and we could end up with one of the most enviable places to live, or we could screw it up and destroy our town right now,” he said. “The heritage of this town is the authenticity of the people who have spent a lifetime giving back because they wanted to see a positive change in their community.”

The Wellington Heritage Conservation District plan is expected to be further reviewed and/or amended to incorporate some of the comments raised by the public. It will then be presented to the Heritage Advisory Committee before coming before Council for approval. It is expected to be adopted in June or July at which time all district property owners will be notified.

The draft Heritage Conservation District plan can be viewed by visiting the link thecounty.ca/residents/services/ planning/heritage-conservation/wellington-heritage- conservation-district.