This November meeting of the Heritage Advisory Committee will look to the future in some key ways. There’s not a lot in new heritage designations, but there will be some discussion of future designations, and some discussion about a future Official Plan amendment and its impacts on heritage work, a potential demolition of a (sorta) heritage asset and a mistake made in the minutes of a previous meeting. Let’s get into the preview…
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 clerk’s office, by email at advisorycommittees [at] guelph.ca or by calling (519) 822-1260 ext. 5603. Deadline is November 3 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.4
Update to the Heritage Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes – Some guy in Guelph Today pointed out that there was a misprint in the September meeting minutes approved by committee with one item missing mention of a third vote even though it was included in the meeting minutes sent to city council in an information report. Committee will vote to amend the record.
316 Grange Road: Heritage Impact Assessment – A developer wants to take this property and build a 79-unit residential subdivision with a mix of semi-detached and townhouse units, but there’s one problem… Well, two problems: There’s single-storey house and an old bard from the early 20th century there that have to be demolished. An archaeological consultant has advised that while this is a rare type of structure to be found in the Guelph city limits, there isn’t enough justification to designate. The property is listed on the City’s heritage registry, so it still needs approvals to demolish.
Official Plan Update: Heritage Policies – As discussed earlier in October at city council, while the proposed changes are mostly administrative, a lot of it will impact the work of heritage with updated policy and new definitions, all to keep the Official Plan inline with provincial legislation and changes in municipal master plans. City staff are now doing outreach to the advisory committees of council, while at the same time doing public outreach as well, with a plan to bring the new amendment for council approval in January. The committee’s comments today will be taken into consideration in crafting that final version of the amendment.
2026 Designation Priorities – Next year is a very important year for the Heritage Registry because at the end of 2026 anything listed, but not designated will be deleted per provincial mandate. According to this staff report, the priority next year will be to continue working through the list of voluntary designations that have to heritage staff, but members of the committee are being encouraged to prepare their own Top 10 list for staff consideration as well.
Guelph Politico 