Heritage conservation creates waves at city council

By Stephanie Di Bartolo, Special to B-cause.
With files from Kyle Sutherland.

“We are asking you to please reconsider the destruction of the Southside of Colborne Street.”

This was the appeal of almost every delegation speaking at Brantford City Council Monday night.

Members of the Brantford Heritage Committee, along with concerned residents of the city, stood by one another as they brought forth their pleas to restore the buildings lining Colborne’s Southside, instead of completely demolishing them. The Committee reminded Mayor Hancock and city councilors of the significance these buildings have and the irreversible damage that would be done to the city if the buildings were demolished.
According to Heritage Committee Executive Cindy MacDonald Krueger, “heritage districts are a viable economic strategy that spearheads new investment, creates increases in tax revenues, creates designations for the tourism industry and stimulates business development.”

“People want to live in historic buildings,” she said. “[And] people want to work in buildings with architectural character.”

Stephanie Barber, who has been devoted to heritage designation since the age of 16, pointed out the successful restoration of historical buildings on Brant Avenue and drew parallels between these buildings and the ones on Colborne Street currently facing destruction.

Others, including Lisa Marie Jenson, shared the same opinion. Jenson was brought to tears as she lamented that the Colborne Street buildings were not being used to their full potential. She pitched the idea to council of making Colborne Street into a historic retail district full of boutiques and cafes, keeping the original buildings.

Jenson spoke of the story these buildings tell about Brantford and how the backs of these buildings were designed by the native tribes so that they could transport their goods from the river to these buildings. She mentioned that tearing down something that represents such an important part in Brantford’s history would be dreadful to the residents.

Lisa Wood, also a member of the Brantford Heritage Committee, informed the room of the economic benefits that these buildings would have if they were to be restored, rather than torn down.

She explained that historic preservation would result in tourism. People would come to Brantford to hear about the history of the native tribes and it would therefore create an economic boom in the city. With Brantford being only a small drive from Toronto, tourists would be drawn to it and want to see the actual buildings that these natives built as they settled in Brantford.

Applause filled the room following each of her points.

At several points throughout the evening, the point was made that both Brantford’s City Council, as well as the Heritage Committee are working toward the same goal: improving the city’s downtown core.

As the meeting drew to a close, Coun. John Sless announced he would bring forth a resolution to exempt five properties directly across from Harmony Square from demolition.

“It doesn’t cost us anything to keep those buildings up for a while to see if there are any ideas to reuse them…and it doesn’t hold anything up,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to see if there are investors who are prepared to give them a new purpose.”

The resolution will be debated at next week's city council.