There’s going to be a busy slate at this month’s Heritage Guelph meeting as the local heritage protection committee’s got a lot of extra protection to do. First up, they will asked again to put themselves between history and the wrecking ball as a property already under protection is threatened yet again. But other matters this month are less urgent or dire as the committee adds three more properties to the formal list of designated properties.
NOTE #1: If you would like to delegate to one of the items at the meeting, or to access an alternative meeting format, get in touch with the committee liaison before Friday May 3at noon at jack.mallon [at] guelph.ca or by calling (519) 837-5616, ext. 3872.
NOTE #2: This meeting will take place in-person at City Hall and virtually on Cisco Webex. You can find the link on the agenda page for this meeting on the City’s website.
2187 Gordon Street: Application to Demolish – Some people just don’t know when to quit… Although council upheld its decision to approve the heritage designation for the Kidd Barn and the Blair Farmhouse back in February, the owners of the property have decided to forget the whole thing and demolish all the buildings on the property. The application was deemed complete at the end of March, and the permit will come to council at the May 14 planning meeting, but first is stops at Heritage Guelph where staff recommends that the community refuse it.
Request to Province to Extend Municipal Register Deadline – As you’re probably aware, municipalities around Ontario have until the end of this year to move properties listed on the heritage registry to having them formally designated. Any property listed, but not designated, on January 1, 2025, will be delisted and cities won’t be able to list them again for five years. But what if the Ontario government didn’t do that? Heritage Guelph Chair Sara Epp is bringing a motion to have staff prepare a report to look at having the mayor petition the government for a stay on deleting the list till 2030.
72 Gordon Street: Heritage Attributes and Designation Recommendation – Also known as the Schnurr Electric building on Gordon, staff brought to committee an evaluation report on this property last month, and now they’re ready to move on a formal designation. Reminder, the building meets five out of nine criteria under Ontario regulations.
100 Queen Street: Heritage Attributes and Designation Recommendation – The evaluation report for this one came back last month too, an old house designed by famous Guelph architect Frye Colwill. As previously reported, this house meets four out of the nine possible criteria for designation, and as we learned at last month’s meeting it’s presently owned by Heritage Guelph committee member Miranda Corman.
14 Neeve Street: Heritage Attributes and Designation Recommendation – This evaluation report came back in March, the Law House, where the Law family lived for 134 years. According to staff, the property meets four of nine of the criteria under Ontario Regulation 569/22, so now it will stop at committee before going to council for formal designation.
19 Fountain Street West: Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report – There was no report included in the report, but the property is listed on the City of Guelph’s Municipal Register of Cultural Heritage Properties. As usual with an evaluation report, the committee will offer their own commentary at this meeting before a formal request for designation is returned.
Guelph Politico 