The Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee is an advisory committee reporting to the City of Burlington Council through the Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee. Heritage Committee members are residents of the City of Burlington who serve as volunteers to carry out the mandate of the Committee.
The Committee’s mandate is:
- To promote the conservation of Burlington’s cultural heritage.
- To provide the community advice to the Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee and Council on issues related to the conservation of Burlington’s cultural heritage.
Click here to view the Terms of Reference of the committee.
Through this mandate, the Committee assists municipal council on all matters relating to the legal designation and conservation of properties within the City of Burlington that have cultural heritage value or interest. The Heritage Committee is formed under the Ontario Heritage Act and established by the City of Burlington Council. The council is required under the Ontario Heritage Act to consult with the committee on:
- The designation of individual properties and of Heritage Conservation Districts;
- The listing of non-designated properties on the register because the property is believed to have heritage value;
- Applications to alter designated properties;
- Applications to demolish or remove properties of cultural heritage value or interest;
- Applications to repeal designation bylaws;
- Easements or covenants.
Municipal Heritage Committee’s exist through out other Municipalities across Ontario.
To learn more about how Heritage Municipal Committees are formed, click here.
Ontario Heritage Act
The Ontario Heritage Act is a provincial legislation put in place in 1975 and governed by the Provincial Government through the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries. Proposed demolition in Toronto during the 1960s contributed to increased heritage awareness in Ontario, eventually leading to heritage protection measures such as implementation of the Act in 1975. This legislation is in place to give municipalities and provincial government the authority to protect and preserve historical significance in Ontario. Municipalities protect and preserve local heritage with the ability to manage change on designated heritage properties to ensure they retain the historic characteristics that make them special. Heritage Designation is enabled when the municipality passes a by-law that designates a certain building, site and/or landscape along with their historic attributes as “places of cultural significance,” usually known as designated properties.
The Ontario Heritage Act gives municipalities a say in the protection of heritage resources located within their region. The Act also provides tools and financial incentives for owners such as grants to maintain heritage sites.
To view the Ontario Heritage Act, click here.
The local Municipal Act will also provide incentives such as tax relief in the form tax rebates to eligible owners of designated residential heritage properties in Burlington through the Heritage Property Tax Rebate Program. For more information, click here.