Heritage Conservation Areas: Sample Enabling Bylaw

With minor alterations, this sample bylaw was prepared by Lidstone, Young, Anderson for Heritage Conservation: A Technical Manual for Local Governments, 1995.)

TITLE

1. This Bylaw may be cited as “_______”.

AMENDMENT

2. Bylaw No. _____, being the Official Community Plan of the _____, is amended by:

a) Deleting sections _______

b) Adding the following text:

“HERITAGE CONSERVATION AREA”

1. 1. Designation

The area shown outlined in heavy black line on Schedule Eight attached to and forming pan of this Bylaw is designated as a heritage conservation area.

1. 2. Justification

The area designated in this section was developed with commercial uses in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a period in which land use and development patterns were permitted to evolve almost entirely to serve the needs of automobile transportation. The conservation of the commercial buildings and automobile-related facilities in the area will preserve a regionally unique example of this continent­wide phenomenon, including particularly. important examples of commercial architecture and urban design catering to automobile-oriented uses.

1. 3. Objectives

The objectives of the designation of the heritage conservation area are to ensure that

a) The buildings, structures, land and features listed in Schedule Nine attached to and forming part of this bylaw are neither demolished nor altered or, maintained in any way that is not consistent with their original design, function or appearance, and that

b) Buildings that are constructed in the area are designed, constructed and maintained so as not to detract from the appearance and overall effect of the buildings, structures, land and features listed in Schedule Nine and so as to reinforce the pervasive automobile orientation that was originally established in the area.

1. 4. Guidelines

Heritage alteration permits authorizing the subdivision of land, or the construction or alteration of buildings or structures, must be issued in accordance with the following guidelines:

[insert architectural guidelines]

1. 5. Exemptions from Permit Requirements

A heritage alteration permit is not required for

a) the construction of a commercial building on the cast side of _______ Street if the building is separated from the street by a paved automobile parking area accommodating at least one vehicle for every 5 square metres of floor area in the building. and every part of the parking area is clearly visible from the travelled portion of the street;

b) the construction of a commercial building anywhere in the heritage conservation area if the building is designed to be occupied solely by a business providing a service to persons seated in automobiles, including without limiting the generality of the foregoing drive-in restaurants, drive­ in banks, drive-in laundries, automatic car washes, full service gasoline stations and drive-in-automobile engine oil change services;

c) the use of a site as a drive-in motion picture theatre; or

d) an alteration to a building within the heritage conservation area that does not affect  the  appearance of the  building when viewed from street level at any point on the travelled portion of a fronting or flanking street,  and  that does not result in a reduction in the number or size of automobile parking spaces provided on the building

1. 6. Protected Heritage Property

The buildings, structures, land and features listed on Schedule Nine are protected heritage property.

1. 7. Essential Features and Characteristics

The features or characteristics that contribute to the heritage value and character of the area are the following:

a) provision of automobile parking facilities between the principal building and the street;

b) Absence of landscaping from the site, except for plastic or fibreglass replicas of plant specimens not indigenous to British Columbia;

c) use of signage extending above the roofline of commercial buildings and constructed entirely of plywood or consisting entirely of inflatable replicas of goods sold at retail on the premises; and

d) use of concrete block single-storey construction with tar and gravel roofing, with building surfaces facing the street being either unpainted or painted with primary colours only,” and

c) adding to the Bylaw as Schedules Eight and Nine the map and list of properties attached to this Bylaw as Schedules A and B.

SCHEDULE A: to include Heritage Conservation Area boundaries

SCHEDULE B: to include names, land and features to be included in the HCA designation.

This guide provides an overview of Community Heritage Commissions through research and commentary. Application of this heritage conservation tool is not prescriptive, as it can be adapted to each situation. Local governments and regional districts wanting to implement the heritage conservation tools should seek legal counsel as required.

SPECIAL NOTE: It is intended this guide will develop through community input. If you have best practices and case studies that would benefit this guide, please contact Heritage BC. Additionally, please contact us if you have questions or are seeking advice.