Theme: Sticks
True or False? Strong legislation is the answer to protecting historic places.
Question: What measures really work to achieve effective protection of important resources?
Here are some of your thought provoking answers
- Put strong policies in official plans and area plans
- Enforce legislation by increasing political will
- Set appropriate benefits for developers
- Incentives are far more important to achieving heritage conservation objectives than legislation
- Compensation is a privilege, not a right
- In theory, legislation must be stronger – perhaps based on the Quebec model – but there is no will to do this in English Canada
- Strong legislation must be accompanied by meaningful incentives – perhaps on the Vancouver model
- At the outset of negotiations with developers (private sector) there needs to be a positive atmosphere – that there will be a successful outcomes
- Avoid the sense of confrontation and the ‘we vs them’ mentality
- Engage the political community in a pro-active way to be supportive of preservation and to be activists when convincing developers to listen to the community and heritage planners
- Make good use of media to inform public of issues re: heritage and pros of restoration/protections
- Have the Administration put together a ‘dog and pony show’ and take it to the community and to Federation of Community Leagues
- Incorporate public education in any protection plan and legislation
- We need high-quality public debate to listen to both developers and heritage advocates to ensure that bad decisions are not made on bad information
- Simplifying the process without compromising the value of the end of the result
- Soft legislation is required, but financial incentives will be the more important factor
- An enthusiastic local heritage committee
- Produce inventories of historic buildings to make owners more aware of the heritage value of their properties
- Guidelines developed to reflect the specificity and identity of a place
- Free advice offered by city architects
- Good planning – density; grain; streetscape – ahead of any projects
- Strong power control over building permits, eg. Design review, commission d’urbanisme
- Strong legislation needs to matched by carrots
- Better enforcement is important
- Designation powers at both municipal and provincial levels
- True/False – strong legislation is necessary not sufficient
- Resources to enforce – staff, laws, courts
- Sticks have value for engaging the community
- Putting the spotlight on inappropriate development and on good development
- Planning act can be as important as a heritage act
- Create more Mature Neighbourhood Coalitions
- Carrots, Stick and Education in equal measures