Town’s heritage district takes shape
Andrea Macko, Staff Reporter St. Marys’ unique history and heritage is worth preserving, according to the results of a heritage open house held on Feb. 7 — now, the issue has become how to do so.
About 30 people participated in the Feb. 7 open house; the display was also set up at the Heritage Fair on Feb. 15. The interactive display was created by Stratford-based Town Design Collaborative (which was hired by the town to guide the process) and, co-hosted with a community-based steering committee.
Town Design Collaborative partner Laura Dent says that the results reveal that “there is strong recognition that St. Marys has some very distinctive landmark buildings; some communities may have one, but St. Marys has many, and people are very attached to that.”
The next step in the designation process, says Dent, is to send out a “very brief” questionnaire to property owners and other stakeholders in the downtown area to determine what kind of designation guidelines they would like to see, before Town Design begins creating detailed guidelines.
Dent explains that the questionnaire will cover general areas, such as whether or not cornices (ornamental mouldings at the top of a building’s exterior) should be included.
This survey will also ask about a preferred boundary for the district; in the open houses, almost 70 per cent of participants favoured a district that encompassed the downtown commercial district, as well as the “views” along Queen Street on both sides of the valley.
Town Design is also meeting with the Downtown Merchants Association on April 9 “with the sole purpose of discussing the guidelines we’re thinking of including.” As well, a second newsletter will be available next week at town hall, the library, the museum, the municipal operations centre and from committee members that will provide an update on the process.
Results from the survey and the meeting will guide Town Design in creating firm guidelines to present to town council, likely in May. The HCD will not pass without council’s approval.
Survey results
The open house consisted of eight interactive stations, where participants
could anonymously offer their opinions on which features of St. Marys were
important to them, how the town could protect these special features, how
other aspects could be improved, and general information on what a Heritage
Conservation District (HCD) is.
In the downtown core (the general area in which a HCD is being considered),
the Opera House and Carnegie Library received the most votes for
architectural landmarks, followed closely by the town hall; other structures
of note included the Queen Street Bridge, the train station and the Queen
Street commercial landscape.
These landmark buildings, responses revealed, helped give downtown St. Marys
its unique character, especially when paired with features like the river
valley, bridges and waterfall. Also high on the
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list were the many 19th Century buildings in the downtown.
As for general likes and dislikes, participants pointed to the small shops
and cosy restaurants and the general convenience of the core, as well as its
general appearance. In the dislikes column, “slummy” upper apartment units,
unimproved back lanes, inconsistent signage and heavy truck traffic were
noted.
Most participants believed that the downtown could be improved by increasing
repair and maintenance, encouraging sympathetic development and providing
incentives to do so. Helping business owners and encouraging diversity, both
via incentives were also cited as ways to improve the downtown.
“A number (of these improvements) speak to what an HCD could address,” says
Dent. She adds that the town has taken some steps by creating the property
standards bylaw.
“It’s interesting that these issues come up and the town has taken steps to
maintain (buildings),” notes Dent, adding that it will be interesting to see
what are the long-term effects of the property standards bylaw.
As for other concerns, such as parking, tourism and retail diversity, “a HCD
couldn’t speak to it directly, but improvements could be the outcome of
having an HCD in place,” Dent notes.
Attendees were also asked to use one word to describe the downtown; while
almost all were positive, there was one negative word: underutilized.
Dent says that, from a heritage conservation perspective, the word “speaks
to the need to encourage development and business in the downtown.”
She adds that it is one of the words used in the 2002 economic
revitalization study, which led to the proposed HCD designation. “People
want to see the downtown vibrant,” Dent explains, “and ensure that it
remains vibrant and viable.”
In the fall of 2005, the town began the designation process by hiring
Commonwealth Historic Resource Management of Perth, ON, to do the initial
study of whether a HCD would be viable in St. Marys. This first phase was
received in 2006. Town Design Collaborative was hired in 2007 to guide the
designation process.