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  • About

    About

    • What We Do
    • Advocacy
    • Heritage Update
    • Plans and Reports
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Sponsors
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
  • Events & Activities

    Events & Activities

    • 2022 Conference
    • BC Heritage Awards
    • Heritage Week
    • Dates to Know
  • Learning Centre

    Learning Centre

    • ICH: Creating a Community-Based Inventory
    • Climate Adaptation: Making a Case
    • Climate Adaptation: Framework and Implementation
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Setting the Bar: A Reconciliation Guide for Heritage
    • A Guide to Making a Case for Heritage
    • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
    • Webinars On-Demand
    • Other Heritage Education Programs
  • Cultural Maps

    Cultural Maps

    • Submerged Heritage Resources
    • Columbia Basin Region Heritage Places
    • Francophone Historic Places Map
    • Chinese Canadian Historic Places Map
    • Japanese Canadian Historic Places
    • South Asian Canadian Map
    • War Monuments and Memorials Map
    • Mapping Heritage
  • Resources

    Resources

    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Conservation in BC Reports
    • Definitions and Heritage FAQs
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Heritage Real Estate
    • State of Heritage: Provincial Roundtables
    • Indigenous Cultural Heritage
    • Local Government: Library of Source Documents
    • Racism: Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail
    • Heritage Quick Studies
    • Other Tools, Publications, Guides
  • Heritage Legacy Fund

    Heritage Legacy Fund

    • Who Benefits?
    • Past Grant Recipients
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
  • Job Board

    Job Board

    • Job Hunting Resources
    • Job Postings
    • Submit a Job
  • Contact
  • ICH: Creating a Community-Based Inventory
  • Climate Adaptation: Making a Case
  • Climate Adaptation: Framework and Implementation
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage
  • Setting the Bar: A Reconciliation Guide for Heritage
    • 1. Setting the Bar: Heritage and Reconciliation Pledge
    • 2. Setting the Bar: Acknowledging Land and People
    • 3. Setting the Bar: Celebrating Days of Recognition and Commemoration
    • 4. Setting the Bar: With a Commitment to Learn
    • 5. Setting the Bar: Committing to Strategic Organizational Diversity
    • 6. Setting the Bar: Mission-Making Room for Reconciliation
    • 7. Setting the Bar: Possession, Interpretation, Repatriation and Cultural Care
    • 8. Setting the Bar: Shared Decision Making
    • 9. Setting the Bar: Statements of Significance and other heritage planning documents
    • 10. Setting the Bar: Heritage Conservation Tools, Local Government Act
  • A Guide to Making a Case for Heritage
  • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
  • Webinars On-Demand
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Other Heritage Education Programs
  • Learning Centre
  • Heritage Designation: A Resource Guide

Heritage Designation: Reasons for Designation

The designation of property is a principal tool that local governments have in order to provide long-term protection of our built heritage resources for future generations.

Through the designation process, the local government can:

  • Recognize the importance of a property to the local community;
  • Protect the property’s heritage value;
  • Encourage good stewardship, conservation, and appropriate management;
  • Protect from demolition; restrict demolition by passing appropriate zoning and/or other bylaws;
  • Ensure changes to the property respect its heritage value; review additions, alterations or demolition requests for heritage properties;
  • Promote knowledge and understanding about the property, and increase public recognition and awareness of heritage in general;
  • Guide change and planning for a vibrant community that includes heritage; creating a legacy for future generations;
  • Retain a community’s character and sense of place and identity;
  • Maintain a record of properties that have cultural or heritage value;
  • Add designated properties to the BC Register of Historic Places and possibly the Canadian Register of Historic places.

To help guide change, it is important to first identify the places in the community that have cultural heritage value. Then it is possible to protect local heritage properties while planning for change.

For the individual property owner, benefits can be found in the incentives that may be offered by the local government. Examples can include:

  • Guidance on good heritage conservation practices from the local government’s planning department;
  • Plaque to recognise the importance of a property;
  • Access to grants for restoration work;
  • Tax refunds and abatements;

The Province of BC proposes the following benefits for conserving our heritage:

  • An attractive province: We’re proud of our well-kept, diverse and sustainable communities—we know that tourists like it, too.
  • It’s the green choice: Reusing buildings means less new construction—less wasted energy and materials and fewer harmful emissions. It also preserves green spaces and farmland.
  • Promotes a sense of well-being: Conserving our heritage connects us to our past and strengthens our sense of self, our sense of community and our ability to shape our future.
  • Revitalizes our communities: Converting old buildings into restaurants, shops and offices generates income and keeps them trendy and vibrant, too!
  • Gives the economy a boost: Heritage buildings generate jobs during rehabilitation and draw tourists and commercial activity long afterwards.

(source and source and source and source)

 


Did you find the answer to your question? If not, let us know and we will help you find the information you need.
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.
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As an organization of provincial scope, Heritage BC recognizes that its members, and the local history and heritage they seek to preserve, occupy the lands and territories of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage BC asks its members and everyone working in the heritage sector to reflect on the places where they reside and work, and to respect the diversity of cultures and experiences that form the richness of our provincial heritage.