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A July 4 decision of the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) okayed a low-rise condo development in the South Rosedale Heritage Conservation District in Toronto.¹ The case is noteworthy in several respects.

The aspect of the decision we’ll look at today concerns the status of “old”, pre-2005 Heritage Conservation Districts. This is a particular bugbear of mine. The case (one hopes!) will finally put paid to a befuddlement about older HCD plans that goes back more than 10 years.

You would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard about the province’s proposed changes to the Ontario Heritage Act.

The proposals are part of a much bigger omnibus bill introduced on May 2, 2019. Bill 108, which may have already cleared Second Reading, is on a fast track and expected to be passed into law by June 6, when the Legislature rises for the summer recess.

Stoney Lake, Peterborough County

Today we look at a second OMB decision on cultural heritage landscapes.

Stone milkhouse, Westerveld Farm, Caledon

Still on the topic of cultural heritage landscapes (bear with me, just a couple more rounds to go!): We have yet to look at how CHL arguments have fared before the Ontario Municipal Board, now the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

For the 85th edition of OHA+M: We return to our recent farms theme and look at another way to protect historic farmsteads. I’m very happy to have a guest contributor to the discussion, landowner Barbara Heidenreich.

I have been putting off writing about Bill 66, the proposed Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act.^[1]

As OHA+M is a blog on heritage policy, it seemed impossible to ignore a major legislative foray by the new provincial government that could have major implications for Ontario’s cultural heritage protection regime and the resources it is designed to protect. The bill was introduced last December 6, the final day of the fall session.

Marcolongo Farm, Guelph: View of the bank barn from across the grassy meadow 
Photo courtesy Mike Marcolong​o

So how do you (successfully) designate a farm?

Farm scene near Bamberg, Ontario

Let’s continue our look at the protection of farms using heritage designation under Part IV of the OHA.

Illustration from Perth County Historical Atlas, 1879

Lights on the Sarnia Bridge reflected in the Thames River

The blog marks another milestone with this post. Welcome to OHA+M, edition 80!