Fort York Heritage Conservation District

At present Toronto has 11 Heritage Conservation Districts, including one at Fort York created originally in 1985. They are listed with related documentation on the City’s website: <http://www.toronto.ca/heritage-preservation/heritage_districts.htm> In 2004 Toronto City Council passed a bylaw to enlarge the Fort York district. However, the existing documentation backing up the new bylaw is twenty years out-of-date, and does not provide the full measure of support now possible.

As well, in 2005 revisions were made to the Ontario Heritage Act. The new act notches up the level of protection it gives to a Heritage Conservation District by binding council in matters of rezonings and public works when it has passed a bylaw to adopt district guidelines. Provincial Policy Statements now allow for the regulation of development adjacent to heritage sites when the targets for protection have been set out clearly in the Heritage Conservation District Plan or Reasons for Designation, and have been adopted by Council.

The Friends working with the City’s Culture division and Heritage Preservation Services intend to see the deficiency in documentation for the Fort York District remedied in early 2006 through the development of a Heritage Character Statement and plan which would include guidelines for development within the district and adjacent to it. This could include requirements for preserving key viewscapes and setting standards for roads, etc., if necessary to preserve the heritage features of the fort and its precinct.

The process ahead will be much like the one that created materials in support of the designation of the Fort York National Historic Site in 2002-03. And it will come not a moment too soon. Recently, the City’s Works & Emergency Services department began work to replace a sewer on the east side of Bathurst Street that passed through the Heritage Conservation District. The new sewer is needed to serve the housing and other uses that will be constructed in 2006 in the Railway Lands east of Bathurst. However, because no district guidelines were in place and the area was not yet covered by a protocol covering archaeological resources in heritage districts, no review processes kicked in that might have raised red flags. It was a useful warning of the misunderstandings and problems that lie ahead if Council’s bylaw and intent to protect Fort York and its precinct are not complemented by the necessary tools.

“The Directors of the Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common extend Season’s Greetings to all friends of our old fort, and wish you peace and prosperity in the new year.”