No summer break for the Heritage Advisory Committee, at least not yet. Before getting an August break, your local heritage protection committee will tackle a couple of items, including a pretty major one; it’s time to bone up on your Official Plan policy, at least so far as protecting cultural heritage goes! Plus, there are at least a couple of new designations warming up in the bullpen, which is a warm-up for a tonne of work coming in the fall.
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 Jack Mallon, Heritage Planner, by email at jack.mallon [at] guelph.ca or by calling (519) 837-5616, extension 3872. Deadline is June 27 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.
NOTE #3: This is the renamed Heritage Guelph, which was approved by council in March.
12 Clarke Street: Draft Council Designation Report – Built in the 1870s by David Young, a local carpenter who put his stamp on many homes in Guelph at that time, the one-storey, gable roof, L-plan house that’s Italianate in style with a large projecting front gable and a smaller gable over the front porch meets four of the nine prescribed criteria for determining design and physical value, historical and associative value, and contextual value, as per Ontario Regulation 9/06. The house also has a rare detail in the form of raised maple leafs on the porch posts, which is likely a reference to the Guelph Maple Leaf baseball team, who won the world championships in 1874.
2 Suffolk St W: Draft Council Designation Report – This item was first on the agenda in May, but it was deferred due to discussions between staff and the property owner. Guelph businessman Thomas Worswick built this house for his family and a home office of his business, the Worswick Machine Co, in the late 1870s. It’s a late Italianate style home with Neo-Georgian details made with yellow pressed brick, and it meets three of nine criteria to designate.
Official Plan Update: Heritage Policies – It seems like we never stop updating the Official Plan, but the time has come again to launch the full and complete update to the Official Plan. Phase one is underway now with this initial information session, followed by a statutory meeting at council in October and final passage in January. The reason why this is coming to the Heritage Advisory Committee is because the subject of phase one are changes to provincial cultural heritage policy.
Heritage Planning Part IV Designation Workplan – For the last item before summer break, Heritage staff will lay out the plan for the fall. They’re looking at approving between five and six new designations every month from September to December, which would further confirm 2025 as the busiest year for heritage designations in the City’s history. You can see the list in the report here.
Guelph Politico 