Municipalities in Ontario are required to protect and preserve historic properties by the Ontario Heritage Act and the Provincial Planning statement. Heritage designation is the most common tool that municipalities do to achieve that.

The process for heritage designation is regulated by the Ontario Heritage Act. Properties are first evaluated using the criteria established by the province in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and a report is written. It is then presented to the Municipal Heritage Committee which reviews and provides recommendations to Council. Council will then review the designation and issue a Notice of Intention to Designate. At this point, a public notice is prepared and a notice is also circulated to the property owner as part of the formal consultation process. This notice begins a 30-day period during which either the property owner or a third party may object. If no objections are received, Council passes a by-law to designate the property at the next available Council meeting.

The provincial government sets the criteria that all municipalities must use to evaluate properties for heritage designation in Ontario Regulation 9/06. The criteria are as follows:

• The property has design value or physical value because it:
  • is a rare, unique, representative or early example of a style, type, expression, material or construction method,
  • displays a high degree of craftsmanship or artistic merit, or
  • demonstrates a high degree of technical or scientific achievement.
• The property has historical value or associative value because it:
  • has direct associations with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization or institution that is significant to a community,
  • yields, or has the potential to yield, information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture, or
  • demonstrates the work of an architect, artist, builder, designer or theorist who is significant to the community.
• The property has contextual value because it:
  • is important in defining, maintaining or supporting the character of the area,
  • is physically, functionally, visually or historically linked to its surroundings, or
  • is a landmark.

There are no regulations as to who may nominate a property for designation. Properties may be designated by Council, the Municipal Heritage Committee, staff, community members/organizations, or property owners.

The City's preference is to work closely with property owners to designate their properties. Many of our designations are owner-initiated and we works closely with the owners from researching the property to finalizing the by-law to providing options for funding and grants.

Under the Ontario Heritage Act, municipalities do not need a property owner's consent to designate a property and may proceed whether or not the property owner is supportive. In cases where the designation is not supported by the property owner, the process for designation includes the ability of the property owner to object to both Council and the Ontario Land Tribunal for review.