City council voted to determine which downtown buildings could be classified
St. Catharines city council has voted to spend $250,000 for a study to determine what downtown buildings should be designated heritage.
Council heard Monday night the Ontario government's plan to build more homes will impact which buildings can be designated.
Heritage planner James Neilson added any building has potential to become heritage.
"Be unlikely that a building from the 1980s would meet all the criteria, but perhaps it might if it had a significant architect and was done in a style that was rare and unique, it's also depending on the values that our community holds. Like, maybe our library," he said.
He adds municipalities can offer tax incentives of 10 to 40-percent, should a building's owner consider heritage.
Councillor Bill Phillips noted the importance of this considering the downtown's growth and potential. "We have an 18-storey tower going up, we have a 30-storey across the street, we have a 36-storey going down on the corner.... Unfortunately, we demolished a beautiful library a while ago, at the corner, and built a courthouse."
Mayor Mat Siscoe admitted some difficulty with this idea, citing some downtown homeowners don't want their buildings on the registry.
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