Today, people travel the…

Today, people travel the world to see major heritage buildings and landscapes. People travel locally, to historic district for a variety of shopping, service and entertainment reasons. From the brief description provided, it appears the MCM is seeking to undermine the heritage planning system, which will likely result in the destruction of buildings and landscapes.

Issuing a NOID takes time, and it is unlikely most municipalities will be able to work through their entire register within the two year deadline. The, as I understand the proposal, non-designated structures will fall off the registry and cannot be put back on for five years. A smart developer could buy up lots of heritage structures, and then apply to tear them all down the day the two years are up. There would be no protection and great gaps, like missing teeth, would be left in our cities and town. A precious sense of place will have been lost. Tourism and service business will be left in declining neighbourhoods, and Ontarians will travel to Quebec to see preserved structures and communities.

There needs to be a longer bridge, from registry as a holding place to the new regime, to avoid the carnage of heritage structures likely to result from the proposal.