The Trinity Royal Heritage Conservation area includes much of the uptown commercial and residential core. (Danielle McCreadie)
More of Saint John’s architectural history will be showcased thanks to new changes to the city’s Heritage bylaws.
The city has introduced a new two-step path for recognition of Heritage properties: first as a Local Historic Place, and second as part of a new or expanded conservation area.
“In order to assess the merits of a particular individual property we’ve proposed a scoring system, which takes into consideration not just age but cultural significance, architectural significance,” he said.
There is a new pathway created to have your building gain heritage status. (City of Saint John)
Boyce says property owners who aren’t inside a current Heritage Conservation Area can apply to make a case for the historic value of the building.
He says they have certain criteria to look for in properties but are still working on a scoring formula.
“Simplistically, it might be antiquity– the oldest gets the highest score or something. Our buildings tell our story, they’re kind of a physical remnant of our past that tell a story about our history as a city, and our development,” he said.
Boyce also explains the single designated properties won’t have to follow the same restoration rules, but they also won’t be eligible for the city’s Heritage grants.
“As you know they’re [the city] going through a budget process right now, and it may decrease the heritage grant allocation, or it may not,” he said of the future of the Heritage conservation program.
A table of comparisons of Local Historic Places and properties in Heritage Conservation Areas. (City of Saint John)
Boyce, chair of the Heritage Development Board, says they’ll also have the option to expand or create new conservation areas.
“Periodically we would review those lists and if we saw there was a cluster starting to occur in a neighbourhood, then perhaps it would be time to consider the creation of a new Heritage Conservation Area,” he said.
He says there are parts of the city where he could see those clusters forming: parts of the central peninsula, the old North End, some communities on the Lower West Side, and the area north of Union Street.
“Those are the kinds of neighbourhoods where hopefully we’ll see some clusters showing up that would warrant further consideration.”
Boyce says more protections for the city’s heritage asset is a good thing but doesn’t discredit the hard work some property owners are currently doing without recognition.
“It’s up to and it’s thanks to individual property owners that we continue to have such a wonderful Heritage resource in this city…who care about their properties and make the investment. That’s truly the most successful route to Heritage conservation,” he said.
