Heritage Conservation Districts
The City of Toronto has been designating HCDs since 1985 and has created 20 of them, as of the date of this document. While these districts protect historically significant neighbourhoods, they employ wide-ranging methodologies of evaluation, development guidance, and goal setting. A consistent approach to studying and planning HCDs will ensure that they are of a high quality, fair and defensible.
HCDs are important because they ensure that areas valued for their significant history and character are protected and managed in the long term.
HCD Plans provide the City and the community with a clear set of policies and guidelines that respond to the unique historic qualities and attributes of a neighbourhood, so that appropriate change can be guided and welcomed. HCDs are also important because they reflect what a community values about an area. The local community should help to define what is important about a neighbourhood or area and provide input for the analysis of its cultural heritage values, character and conservation objectives. HCDs foster a sense of time and place that results in local community pride. The collaborative nature of creating an HCD has proven to create stronger historic neighbourhoods and communities.
The OHA empowers City Council to legally designate a defined area of the City as an HCD under a municipal by-law. Once the designation by-law is in place, City Council will issue or refuse heritage permits for alterations and demolitions under section 42 of the OHA. For appropriate alterations to properties within an HCD, City Council has delegated permit approvals to the Chief Planner.
Property owners within an HCD who wish to alter their property or demolish a designated structure must obtain heritage permits. The appropriateness of proposed changes will be weighed against the HCD Plan, the Official Plan, the Provincial Policy Statement, and the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation Historic Places Canada. HCD advisory committees will also be consulted where appropriate.
The creation of an HCD is usually a community driven process. Community groups are encouraged to nominate areas for consideration by City Council. Although it is primarily the attributes and features that are visible from the public realm that are of the most concern in the majority of HCDs, it is important to remember that under the OHA the entire property, except for the interior, is designated as part of the HCD.
An HCD comes with many benefits in addition to a predictable and more refined heritage planning process for the district. These include an attractive and protected stable neighbourhood, access to heritage conservation incentives, City staff assistance for understanding the HCD Plan and the appreciation of the district and its history throughout the community. Most importantly, an HCD designation protects significant areas and neighborhoods from damage to the integrity of its character and its cultural heritage values.
An HCD can also limit the extent to which properties can be developed so that new additions or structures fit into the character of the HCD. This may mean that certain structures will not be recommended for demolition or extensive alteration. While the intent of an HCD is to manage change and to find a way to allow harmonious alteration and additions, it can also be true that a small number of property owners may feel disadvantaged by the regulations of a HCD Plan. The plan needs to be written to address the conservation of the entire district and might not always address the experience of a single or few owners who might feel constrained by the regulations.