Dating from 1864, Rockcliffe…

Dating from 1864, Rockcliffe Park is a Heritage Conservation District in Ottawa. The Rockcliffe Park Residents Association opposes the following in Bill 23:

Changing the criteria required for heritage designation of buildings and districts. The criteria as they stand are valid and there is no reason to make it tougher to protect heritage.

Giving ministerial power to override heritage protection. This is offensive.

Tilting the balance further in favour of developers by eliminating third-party appeals of planning decisions to the Ontario Land Tribunal by community organizations and residents -- thus mirroring the troubling imbalance that already exists with respect to appeal rights of related to heritage permits where third parties are denied appeal rights.

Imposing “gentle intensification” as of right in places where three units on a single property would conflict with the heritage attributes of a heritage district, as would be the case in the Heritage Conservation District of Rockcliffe Park.

Repealing the authority for the City to regulate exterior features, sustainable design, character, scale, design features, and landscaping and the like through site plan control. This would mean that all communities’ desire to ensure neighbourhood character is a cornerstone of planning would be eliminated.

Crippling the Heritage Register by making it impossible to keep a property listed for more than two years.

New regulations: There will be a new process to amend or repeal heritage plans. These plans are the bedrock of heritage protection. We strongly oppose any changes designed to diminish protections.
We support a change, to increase efficiency, that would provide that when a heritage plan is to be amended, only proposed amendments may be appealed, not the whole heritage plan.

Changes to the Provincial Policy Statement and integration with “A Place to Grow” : The statement in the PPS that “Significant built heritage resources and significant cultural heritage landscapes shall be conserved” must be left intact if there is to be any hope of protecting the province’s cultural heritage. Heritage designation is intended to ensure that all development is contextually appropriate, not to preclude intensification that meets this test. To ensure contextually appropriate development, elements of built form, including height, scale and massing of development must conserve the defined cultural heritage value and attributes of the heritage conservation district. This should be spelled out clearly.