Join us as we delve into the connection between heritage conservation and housing legislation in BC.
For the past few months Heritage BC has been learning, fielding questions, and formulating our response on the impacts the new BC housing-related legislation (Bills 44, 46, and 47 all passed in November 2023) will have on heritage conservation in our communities. This article is meant to give a sense of this legislation, the impact on heritage at BC’s local government level, what questions professional heritage planners are asking, and the type of advocacy that Heritage BC can and will be doing in response.
The announcement comes at a time of unprecedented housing unaffordability and demand, and Heritage BC acknowledges the importance of this legislation in demonstrating the Province’s commitment to providing more housing in our communities. We believe that heritage tools and heritage conservation values can work in cooperation with this changing legislation and its goals. Heritage, at its core, is a tool for managing change in our communities. Through advocacy and collaboration, we can strengthen the impact of efforts to ensure heritage’s place in our changing streets and neighbourhoods.
The Legislation: What Changes & What Remains
The most recent legislative amendments change the Local Government Act (LGA) and Vancouver Charter, creating new provisions that require local governments to adopt or revise official community plans and reform zoning bylaws to allow for increased residential density. Some changes from these amendments were in place immediately (as of November 2022), some have deadlines this summer, and some must be underway within the next two years. Bill 44 facilitates the construction of small-scale, multi-unit buildings onto existing, previously less dense (called “restricted”) single-family or semi-detached lots. Bill 46 introduces amenity cost charges (ACC) as a development-based financing tool, and Bill 47 encourages density along well-serviced transit corridors and at transit hubs. Together the three bills aim to reduce historic barriers to increasing density in BC’s communities.
Heritage BC is encouraged that BC’s Bills 44 and 47 do not remove the protective tools for heritage conservation within the LGA, as legislation in other provinces has done explicitly. The bills do not apply to existing heritage designated properties and recognized archaeological sites. Heritage tools available to local governments including heritage registrations and designations, heritage revitalizations agreements (HRAs), and heritage conservation areas can and should still be used to encourage and support heritage conservation in communities. In this way, heritage can continue to apply many of the same protections prior to the introduction of new housing statutes.
The Legislation: Vulnerabilities & Opportunities for Innovation
Historically, BC local governments have offered density incentives to private developers in exchange for heritage protection, primarily through heritage revitalization agreements (HRAs) or similar planning tools. The practice shows that density and heritage protection have been working in tandem. However, with the recent amendments, upzoning and density is expected outright, making it a challenge to bring in density in neighbourhoods as leverage for heritage protection. In addition, limitations on how Bill 46’s new ACC are used, means that there are not yet clear alternatives for establishing effective financial heritage incentives as a partner to or replacing those non-financial incentives (like density).
It is worrying to lose density incentive programs as a tool for heritage conservation, as it leaves our heritage resources more vulnerable to demolition in the name of development. The impulse to demolish existing buildings in order to achieve density will likely lead to the loss of unregistered historic buildings and neighbourhoods. In response, planners and community heritage advocates will need to both engage with existing heritage tools and find new strategies. In this work Heritage BC sees the opportunity to collaborate with heritage partners to advocate and innovate.
Advocacy Underway – What Heritage BC is Doing & What Others Can Do
Heritage BC’s primary role has long been supporting local heritage advocacy. Excellence in heritage stewardship has always relied on future planning and we can continue to support this. For some smaller local governments that have yet to use the heritage tools identified in the LGA, or even informal tools such as heritage inventories, this is a place to start. Regardless of the recent changes , you can still establish a heritage program. It may be even more important/imperative to do so! Introducing heritage programs can benefit other local government goals as well, through improved environmental sustainability, tourism, and small business-oriented economic opportunities. Communities with thoughtful heritage programs empower residents with a sense of place and community identity, while supporting diversity and inclusion.
Heritage BC offers a wealth of online resources, including sample bylaws for heritage designation, HRAs and heritage conservation areas. For communities seeking hands-on support, we facilitate workshops. As the situation evolves, we will seek to share timely information. For example, we are hosting a conversation on heritage’s intersection with housing at our upcoming Annual Heritage Conference in Nelson BC, which we plan to follow with webinars this summer.
We will continue to inform the Heritage Branch (Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport) and the Ministry of Housing about the increased vulnerabilities facing heritage. We will bring our members’ questions to their attention, whether it be around how historic neighbourhoods overlap with transit-oriented development areas, the pressures of small-scale multi-unit housing programs, or clarifying how updating community heritage registers could pave a path for historic building retention through official community plans.
We will encourage establishing appropriate incentives for heritage that are central to the heritage goal, rather than a side-effect of development. For example, supporting heritage tax incentives, Provincial funding, and grants that offer non-developers opportunities to take the lead in heritage conservation. We will continue to champion the role that heritage conservation must play in housing sustainability and climate-action, seeking solutions that meet multiple community sustainability goals such as bylaws which prioritize retention but also encourage deconstruction and the reduction of demolition, such as Victoria’s Demolition Waste and Deconstruction Bylaw.
As the Heritage Branch develops guidance for municipalities and engages with the housing policy arm of the Provincial Government on the impacts and ramifications of the new legislation, our collaborative communication with them remains important. When we learn more from them we will share it.
We will continue to work with the BC Association of Heritage Professionals (BCAHP) and other knowledgeable partners to understand the challenges and opportunities for heritage that will develop as local governments put into action their new bylaws and as case law is developed around the new regulations. In the coming months new resources and training opportunities taylored for heritage planners will be developed. Together we can rely on each other to keep our commitments to heritage front and centre, seek answers to tough questions and find innovative solutions.
Finally, those working in heritage conservation have long embraced adaptive reuse and we excel at being creative in this arena. We can look at historic schools and churches transformed into community and artist spaces, barns becoming restaurants, and more as inspiration. Housing is one more opportunity where heritage buildings (designated or undesignated) can adapt to meet our community needs.
In Conclusion
The changes in Provincial legislation respond to a serious need in communities across BC, reminding us that housing is a core element of a vibrant community. Our heritage advocacy in the face of these bills must also uphold the goal of supporting growing communities. In leveraging heritage as a tool for managing change, we can champion both resilience and growth. Heritage conservation and stewardship has always required hard work from its advocates, and today, amidst pressing societal challenges, we are more than equipped to find solutions.
Questions:
If you have questions or comments please direct them to Imogen Goldie, Heritage Planner and Heritage Grants Coordinator, [email protected].