This past summer I spent way more time than I cared to attending council meetings, writing letters and talking to neighbours about a proposed Heritage Conservation District (HCD) for our tiny historic hamlet, when I really needed to be up on the scaffolding. I am hardly anti-heritage but I also don’t believe that the benefits to the community of heritage preservation outweigh the necessity of proper communication, community consultation, and a reasonable understanding by all stakeholders of the pros and cons of the issue. I’ve included a copy of my main letter to then-Councillor Glenn Brooks, City of Ottawa, which best encapsulates my thoughts du jour (and, methinks, contains a fair serving of hubris on my part, too).*
So why, six months later, is this issue still on my mind?
It is certainly in part because Dude decided to throw up what is, IMHO, a shack of a structure across the lane from my house which, he told me, would become rental housing. Not only did he move a decrepit bungalow onto a property in the main village that would be reliant on well and septic, he did so WITH NO BUILDING PERMIT. According to the building department of the City of Ottawa he did, post-installation, receive a building permit when necessitated to do so. And so I wonder: What else could the city have done? What else do they ever do in these circumstances? If the basic protections we assume we have can be so easily ignored or trampled, how are communities anything but on their knees with respect to planning, building and development?
On the other side of the river, the municipal council for North Grenville, through a small waterfront land swap of sorts with a senior community member, has ostensibly opened the door to allowing a full-scale residence to be built on a prime canal-front property. Sure everyone wants to live on waterfront (I already do). The difference between the development of this property and all others in the village, is the inarguable change it would bring to the prime viewscape in the village for all residents and visitors who have come to rely on the gorgeous, unimpeded view of the rolling banks of the canal and old church. It is this particular viewscape that is featured in the Chamber of Commerce marketing materials for the township and in fundraising calendars and other promotional materials. It’s nothing short of apple pie, for goodness sake. I, too, adore the stunning view but am not utterly convinced that anyone has an unalienable right to an existing built or natural viewscape. It feels like a public right but I am, as yet, too ignorant to wrap my brain around all the philosophical, cultural, moral and precedent-setting implications of this conundrum. It is one of the many puzzles on my long list of Important Things I Need to Figure Out (Preferably Soon).
So six months later, although the HCD proposal was voted down by NG council, it still feels like a hollow victory and the village remains without real, long-term solutions.
What is the balance, then, between a building-free-for-all and creating a bureaucratic, rule-oriented behemoth that stifles creative solutions to community challenges? How are we, as a community, to come to terms with that double-edged sword of group controls and personal freedom? And how are we to do that without, as a changing community, coming apart at our fragile seams? I find polemics exhausting but I’m not convinced that’s a reason to disengage and hibernate in my little corner of the village, hoping to hell nothing really bad happens.
Boy, it’s lazy winter days like today, curled up on a sunny couch with a stack of fascinating books, that I wish I had a whole lot less fight and a whole lot more flight.
* Community issues in our village are further complicated as we are geographically divided by the Rideau River and effectively have two municipal governments governing separate parts of one village. Husband and I fork over our doubloons to the City of Ottawa.
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22 June 2010
Mr. Glenn Brooks
Councillor, Ward 21
City of Ottawa
SENT VIA E-MAIL
Dear Mr. Brooks:
Re: Proposed Heritage Conservation District (HCD) for Burritt’s Rapids
We are residents of Ward 21 and live at 7764 Burritt’s Avenue, which is in boundaries of the identified hamlet plan for Burritt’s Rapids which is part of the city’s Official Plan documents. We have never had cause to write to you before as we’ve always been very happy with our relationship with the city. The city funds the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall (that kind of community support pleases us), we have the best garbagemen in the city (they even pick up our garbage when we forget to put it out) and if we have any questions about snow clearing city staffers are courteous and attentive and work with us to address our concerns. As Burritt’s Rapids is geographically split by the Rideau River, we accept the fact there are fewer city services available to us and that we have to cross the river to North Grenville to pick up our mail, use the library and attend events at the Community Hall. To us, we consider Burritt’s Rapids as one community, albeit with anomalies.
What we are not fine with is that there are discussions underway that propose a Heritage Conservation District for Burritt’s Rapids and residents who reside within the City of Ottawa’s portion of Burritt’s Rapids have not been informed about the proposal. The Township of North Grenville held their first public information meeting on June 2nd and those of us from Ottawa were specifically told that North Grenville had no jurisdiction over the City of Ottawa and could not/would not include Ottawa residents in their upcoming survey of affected residents. The meeting was held by North Grenville planning staff for the residents of North Grenville yet Stuart Lazear, the Heritage planner from the City of Ottawa attended the meeting as did Sandra, your assistant.
To date, no residents on the Ottawa side of Burritt’s Rapids have received a letter or any other type of notice that there have been discussions around a Heritage Conservation District for Burritt’s Rapids. At the meeting, we were told that if the district goes ahead on the North Grenville side it could go ahead on the Ottawa side! We spoke to several of our neighbours who also live within the proposed district and they had no idea what a Heritage Conservation District was or that their properties would be directly affected by such a proposal.
For the record, we do NOT support a Heritage Conservation District in Burritt’s Rapids for the following reasons:
- We believe that existing zoning, by-laws, and the Official Plan notes for the village already adequately protect the heritage nature of the village. We also believe that “old” doesn’t always equate to “best”. Yes, there are some beautiful, unique homes worth preserving (if the homeowners choose that route) but there are countless “handyman specials” that were built with the skills and materials at hand, just as there are a mix of well-built and poorly constructed homes today. “Vernacular” is the euphemism for this particular style of building.
- Individuals who wish to designate their own individual properties are able to do so. We encourage them to pursue this designation.
- Any discussion of heritage without a discussion of community sustainability is entirely out of touch with the challenges facing our society today. These old houses will cease to be lived in when people can no longer afford to heat them or spend money on gas to drive to the city for work, school, to visit elders, or to shop for our most basic needs. Aside from the North Grenville public library and Community Hall we must leave Burritt’s Rapids to have all of our needs met and there are no public transit options. That is not sustainable in any way, shape or form. But innovative and creative solutions exist to work around this.
- Not all new housing is ‘bad’ housing. We have no social housing, no flex housing, and certainly no dedicated seniors’ housing. It is possible, and desirable, to build attractive in-fill and peripheral development and look at adaptive reuse that contribute to the life and spirit of the village and ‘true’ sustainability, not detract from it. Many of the urban infill strategies credited to such notables as Jane Jacobs also apply in the rural context.
- We live in a 120-year old home and have sunk countless hours and thousands of dollars in our century home to ensure its integrity and that it serves the needs of our family. It is our very own time and money pit. As a passive outcome, our improvements provide pleasure to our neighbours or others who enjoy the village and have watched our work over the past twelve years. In addition, I (Andrea) graduated last week from the Advanced Housing program at the Heritage Institute of Algonquin College in Perth. I committed two years of my life to learn how to build sustainable housing and how to retrofit existing houses, such as ours, to bring them up to 21st century standards for energy efficiency. As a tradesperson, I am also capable of refinishing all the woodwork on my house to ensure that it last another 120 years. We are well-informed and do NOT need anyone – including any special interest group within the community – advising us on what is ‘appropriate’ for our house or imposing a timeline for the work. The existing City Planning and by-law staff are capable of making appropriate decisions based on Ontario Building Code and existing by-laws, guided by Official Plan documents.
- We like living in a mixed socio-economic area and believe that private property is just that. Neither of us are interested in living in a gated or otherwise homogenous community, such as Niagara-on-the-Lake or other areas put forward as examples at the June 2nd public meeting. Having a Heritage Conservation Area imposes restrictions that some members of our community, due to fixed incomes or other economic circumstances, will not be able to afford. A neighbour made the excellent point that people who buy little old houses in rural villages often buy them because that’s all they can afford. Heritage paint colour and custom milled wood siding is the domain of those who have the time and money to worry about such things.
- We are concerned about the impact of a process like this on community relations. The documents presented at the June 2nd meeting talked about 75% of property owners in one HCD being pleased with the outcome and that was held up as “best practice”. But what about the other 25% who weren’t happy? What is the effect of this division within the community? Did valuable, contributing members of the community move away as a result? Were the voices of marginalized people suppressed? Were people too intimidated to vote what they really felt because of pressure or bullying from others? Was this just an effort to clear out the ‘undesirables’ in a neighbourhood? What kind of snitching and finger-wagging does this encourage amongst neighbours? We believe in communities not kingdoms, in inclusive neighbourhoods not zoos. If someone wants to have a say about our house then they’re free to make us an offer should we ever choose to sell.
- This type of undertaking needs to be done with the utmost care for transparency and trust and we believe this has been compromised. There are special interest groups/individuals who are pressing for this to come to fruition before the general populace has been informed. How come some people know about this and others do not? It is not my job as an individual citizen to knock on doors and brief my neighbours. It is the City’s job and, arguably, part of your job to be informed by all of your constituents and not by a select few. Your assistant, Sandy, attended the Heritage Conservation District information meeting on June 2nd, yet residents of Ottawa were not directly informed about the meeting. Yet again, Sandy attended the North Grenville Committee of the Whole Meeting at the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall last night. I found out this morning that there was significant discussion about the HCD and a resolution was passed by Councillors to permit a survey of residents to take place. How did you find out about the meeting? There were no flyers, no e-mails, no sandwich boards, and no advertisements so virtually no one attended the meeting (ourselves included). This time no residents on either side of the river were informed in any manner. It is impossible to be informed without reasonable access to the most basic information. Shameful is the word that comes to mind.
- I understand that you believe the Burritt’s Rapids Community Association is in favour of this community designation. Although there are individuals on the Board that are promoting/supporting this designation, we want to reiterate that the Burritt’s Rapids Community Association in no way represents the community’s opinion about the designation. They have posted no information about either meeting on their website, posted no flyers at the mailboxes, nor sent out the usual mass e-mails to residents about the initiative that has been underway for more than two years. They have not asked affected residents for their opinion, as is appropriate, because this initiative is supposed to be driven by the North Grenville Heritage Committee under the auspices of the North Grenville Council. My understanding is, as the previous Chair of the Burritt’s Rapids Community Association, that the Association was “hands off” this topic, save for asking that Ottawa deal with the issue simultaneously with North Grenville. If you are taking advice on this issue from any members of the Community Association, or are being told that the community 100% supports it, then you are receiving advice from special interest groups or individuals and not from the community itself. Very different, indeed.
We think it is imperative that you receive a response (“Yes I support it”, “No I don’t support it”, or “I would like more information”) from 100% of the citizens with properties directly affected by the proposed HCD in a timely way. You already have our comments. It is critical that ALL affected constituents are informed of your opinion and tangible actions on this issue and not just those who are taking up the pen to write.
We look forward to your response.
Kindest regards,
_______________________________
Andrea Cordonier
Past Chair,
Burritt’s Rapids Community Association
Affected City of Ottawa Resident
_______________________________
Andrew Vignuzzi
Affected City of Ottawa Resident
(Our contact info was inserted here)
cc Mayor Larry O’Brien, City of Ottawa
Mayor Bill Gooch, Township of North Grenville
Johanne Levesque, Director, Community Sustainability, City of Ottawa
Sally Coutts, Heritage Planning, City of Ottawa**
Andrew Vignuzzi
** Note: Sally Coutts e-mailed me upon receipt of this letter asking that her name be stricken from our contact list and that all correspondence be directed to Stuart Lazear, City of Ottawa