As Grimsby town hall looks to the future with a new council, heritage campaigners are encouraging incoming councillors to look to the past and preserve the town's character as it grows.
In Wayne Mullins' eyes, for too long, Grimsby has not stepped up to protect heritage, even though it is steeped in history.
“(It has) the worst track record of actually protecting heritage compared to its age,” the president of the Grimsby Historical Society said.
But now, as the new council comes in, heritage advocates from the SaveMainStreet group and Grimsby Historical Society want to see a strong council finish up the work of the last term, to review a heritage conservation district (HCD) proposal along Main Street East, and to strengthen protections for individual properties.
The HCD for Main Street East is a long-running dream of heritage advocates. According to Mullins, the HCD study has been in the works for four years.
Ruxandra Bucataru, action co-ordinator with SaveMainStreet, said it would help preserve neighbourhoods rather than just protecting individual properties. It would help to preserve the trees, the views and the character of neighbourhoods, which she said is as important as individual buildings.
It would also save heritage buildings, such as the Grout Nelles house, from being swallowed up by large condo buildings, which is SaveMainStreet cofounder Ron Schroder’s concern as the area intensifies.
“We’re going to lots more units … You’ll have museum pieces stuck behind these modern monstrosities,” he said.
It is hoped that the HCD study will be reviewed in 2023.
The other tool in an incoming council’s arsenal would be the ability to place more heritage properties on the heritage list and work to upgrade designations from ‘properties of interest’ to heritage designations.
Under heritage designation, any alterations that aren’t maintenance must be approved by council.
In September, Bianca Verrechia, heritage planner at the town, said that 140 properties were added to the municipal heritage register in March 2021, and in April and May 2022, 175 properties were added.
Mullins said that the additions were a good start and wanted to see the list solidified over the next term of council.
At the end of the day, Mullins just wants strong action from the council to help preserve heritage.
“We’ve never had a strong council that would stand up and protect Grimsby’s heritage,” he said, noting that individual councillors have done so, but not the majority.
Of course, Grimsby has to grow as the population increases in Niagara, and the SaveMainStreet group insists that they’re not opposed to development, but they just want the right development to fit in with the atmosphere of the town.
But Olia Jurychuk, ex-member of the Heritage Advisory Committee for Grimsby, said that the current frameworks are not fit for purpose.
“The current official planning and zoning bylaws are not doing what they need to do to be celebrating and protecting established neighbourhoods in the context of the provincially mandated growth projections that are being force-fed on the municipalities,” she said.
Mayor Jeff Jordan, who was re-elected Monday night, said he's looking forward to updating the town's official plan once the new regional plan is approved by the province.
"Now we can remodel our official plan that tightens it up, puts heritage at the forefront and holds developers to a much higher standard," he said.
For Bucataru, although a growing community is a positive thing, that growth must be handled with heritage in mind.
“We love this community, and we want to have it grow, but it’s important to preserve the things that people cherish here,” said Bucataru.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” said Bucataru.
– With files from Luke Edwards
Chris Pickles is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter at Niagara This Week. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the government of Canada.
