Heritage advocates are hopeful second time’s a charm for the Queen’s Park neighbourhood.
Queen’s Park resident Kathleen Langstroth hopes New Westminster will follow the lead of cities like Port Moody, Abbotsford, Victoria and Kelowna and create a conservation area in her neighbourhood. She noted there are nearly 60 conservation areas across B.C.
“The misconception is that when you say ‘heritage’ people think you are talking about the big, grand, old houses. Heritage is the cottages and the bungalows, and the 40s houses and the mid-century modern houses. Those are the houses that need to be saved,” said Langstroth, who has restored three houses in the city. “The neighbourhood is made up of diverse housing stock – in size, in age.”
Steve Norman, vice president of the Queen’s Park Residents’ Association, said houses in his neighbourhood represent about 110 years of the city’s history.
“People will say, ‘It’s only 50 years old, why are you bothering to save it?’ Well, if it’s 50 years old, in 50 years old it will be 100 years old and you might think it is wonderful at that point. It never gets to be 100 years old if you blast it out of here now,” he said. “Once they are gone, they’re gone. You can’t get them back.”
A conservation area, stressed Norman, doesn’t mean houses in the neighbourhood can’t ever be demolished.
“The main reason for a conservation area is demolitions aren’t automatic,” he explained. “They must go through a process and city council can say no, and there are no repercussions to them saying no. Under the current law, if somebody comes along and they dare to say no, they can be sued.”
Norman said a conservation area also gives residents some clarity on what can happen in their neighbourhood – and what it could look like.
“It’s like the weather – you can’t control it, but a conservation area does keep the weather a little bit under control. Your barometer is not going to swing wildly on you,” he said. “We are looking for something with a little more certainty for the neighbourhood.”
The plan being considered by city council could include different levels of protection for homes in the neighbourhood, taking into account factors such as their age, design and severity of changes being proposed. Those details are still being developed.
“Every house is important,” Norman said. “It’s like an ingredient in a pie. You take out the sugar and you don’t have a pie anymore.”
Norman said there are some misunderstandings in the community about conservation areas. He said they only apply to the outside of homes so owners can make whatever changes they want inside and they don’t affect the zoning of a property.
“Whatever rights you have with your zoning and adding on, it’s all still there,” he said. “It’s just that it’s got to go through a hoop where somebody says, that’s an appropriate design or that’s not.”
Suggestions that a conservation area would negatively affect property values are unfounded, Norman said, as research shows just “the exact opposite” occurs. He said houses in conservation areas increase in value and tend to react slower when there is a downturn in the market.
On Monday, city council directed staff to create a first drafts of a conservation area policy and design guidelines.
Britney Quail, a planning analyst with the city, said it won’t be a “one-size-fits-all” plan for the neighbourhood. Staff will present council with a few options for its consideration.
If a conservation area is approved, when new homes are built in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood, they would be subject to mandatory design guidelines.
Jackie Teed, the city’s acting director of development services, said design guidelines would be mandatory because builders won’t use them if they’re optional. She stressed that all homeowners would still have the right to apply for demolitions, but they may need to seek council’s approval.
According to Langstroth, about 30 houses in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood have been demolished in the past decade.
“Some people are coming in here, they love the neighbourhood and they love the streetscape and trees, but the first thing they want to do is take down the house and build something new,” she said. “When you come into a neighbourhood, I think you have to respect what is there and you have to take your time to look at it and see how the neighbourhood is affected by what you take down.”
Norman was involved in a previous attempt to create a conservation area in Queen’s Park in the 1990s, not long after the province enacted legislation allowing the creation of conservation areas. He said the council of the day “wasn’t keen on doing it” so the city ended up with a set of guidelines that remain in use today.
“I am more hopeful now than I was in the ‘90s about it, much more hopeful,” he said. “I think the city council has some people who are really concerned about the heritage issue and are wanting it to happen.”
What is a heritage conservation area?
A conservation area is a distinct and identifiable neighbourhood, characterized by its historic values, that is identified in the city’s official community plan for heritage conservation purposes.
What’s the purpose?
Preserving the retention of heritage assets in a community and ensuring that new development is respectful of a neighbourhood’s existing character.
Are they common?
Britney Quail, a planning analyst with the city, says there are about 20 conservation areas in the Lower Mainland.
Why Queen’s Park?
A delegation of residents appeared before council in May 2013 to express concern about the loss of heritage assets in the neighbourhood and the appropriateness of replacement homes. The city established a working group to consider the creation of a conservation area and that group recommended the city explore the establishment of a conservation area for the Queen’s Park neighbourhood.
Is there much support for a conservation area in Queen’s Park?
Of the 106 people who attended two public open houses, 76 per cent supported the establishment of a conservation area, while 13 per cent indicated moderate support and 11 per cent didn’t support the idea.
What are the classifications of houses in the neighbourhood?
The 600 properties in Queen’s Park come in a variety of styles: pre-Colonial era (pre 1900); boom time (1900 to 1929); wartime (1930 to 1949); postmodern (1950 to 1975); and contemporary (1976 to present.)
What’s happening now?
While the city works on the development of a conservation area, a one-year heritage control period is in place and property owners must get council’s approval for a heritage alteration permit in order to demolish homes built before Dec. 31, 1996. To date, the city has received and considered five demolition applications: 215 Manitoba St. (approved); 105 College Crt. (opposed); 222 Fifth Ave. (opposed); 412 Third St. – a house destroyed by fire (approved); and 326 Arbutus St. (approved.)
What’s next?
Staff will create a draft conservation area policy and design guidelines for council’s consideration in late February. That will be followed by another round of public consultation in March, a report back to council in April and a public hearing in May.
