Heritage Guelph gets back to work promising a busy 2025 after what was definitely a very busy 2024! No major heritage designations this week, or any complicated fights about demolitions at this meeting (we think). There will be a kind of demolition discussion at this month’s meeting though, and there will be some discussion about the workload ahead, and then we will head downtown for another big project!
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 Craig Vallesi, Policy Planning Clerk, by email at craig.vallesi [at] guelph.ca or by calling 519-837-5616, extension 3913. Deadline is January 10 at noon.
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.
785 York Road – Amended Heritage Impact Assessment (Powerhouse, Chimney, Service Tunnel and Cannery Storage) – Deferred from last month’s meeting was this report concerning certain buildings and assets on the Ontario Reformatory property. Although much of the original OR campus is protected with a Part IV designation, these assets are not and it’s been Infrastructure Ontario’s intent to completely demolish what remains of these structures and then carry out environmental remediation if there’s any risk of contamination. Staff are recommending that I.O. carry out a detailed structural investigation with an eye to retaining the chimney and/or a portion of the wall of the powerhouse because these aspects important details regarding the OR’s self-sufficiency.
2025 Heritage Guelph Meeting Schedule – Also deferred from December’s meeting, Heritage Guelph will need to review and endorse their committee meeting calendar for 2025, which, with two exceptions (including this one), remains the first Monday of the month.
2025 Part IV Designation Strategy – As you may recall, Bill 23 set a deadline to delist any heritage property not registered at the end of December, but Bill 185 gave Ontario municipalities, and their heritage assets, a two-year reprieve. So where are we going from here? Heritage staff at the City want to put 50 new designations on the board by the end of 2025! To get there, committee may be making more use of the consent agenda tool in order to streamline the process.
Macdonell and Allan Structures Municipal Class Environmental Assessment: Allan’s Bridge Preferred Solution – For the last year or so, City staff have been considering the revitalisation of the Allan’s Dam and Macdonell Bridge area; both are deteriorating and are in need of refurbishment if not a full blown reconstruction. These are also heritage assets, so the heritage committee will get an opportunity to discuss the matter, but there was no report included in the initial agenda release to outline what the preferred solution is.
Guelph Politico 