Some of Toronto's most historic buildings may be at risk of demolition as clock ticks: advocates
Housing act allows until Jan. 1, 2027 to give full heritage designation, but some say it's a losing battle
Almost all 3,600 listed heritage properties in Toronto — including several national historic sites, and the Gibraltar Point lighthouse — are about to lose their protection against demolition and redevelopment, because of a section in the province's More Homes Built Faster Act, heritage experts say.
The act, passed in 2022 to ease the housing crunch, gives municipalities until Jan. 1, 2027 to upgrade all properties on their heritage lists to full heritage designation, which protects the structures against arbitrary demolition.
Any properties not upgraded by then must be dropped from the heritage register, the new legislation states, and give up all protection against development.
Heritage experts warn that only a handful of the city's 3,600 listed heritage buildings can be given full designation by the end of this year, since each property requires months of research, culminating in its own bylaw, which needs to be passed by city council.
The Toronto and East York Community Preservation Panel is one of the city agencies working against the clock to get properties moved to full designation before the deadline.
"Why are they doing this? We need housing, but we don't need to destroy all the important heritage buildings in the city in order to do (it)," said Ed Jackson, a member of the panel.
Of the at-risk properties, five are national historic sites, including Billy Bishop Airport, and University College, city staff say.
Since the early 1970s, the city has compiled a registry of properties that it believes are culturally or historically significant. Once a site is identified, it's put on the heritage registry list, city staff explained to CBC Toronto, which means an owner must give the city 60 days notice before tearing it down.
Once listed, a site is then considered for full heritage designation, which means an owner can't alter or demolish it without going through several steps, including getting clearance from the local community council, the Toronto Preservation Board and ultimately city council.
Some have been listed for more than 50 years
But over the years, staff say, many of those listed properties have simply been left on the list and never considered for promotion to full designation, partly because there's little appetite on the part of developers to build on the site or because other properties on the list are considered to be in more urgent need of promotion.
Some properties have been on the list for more than 50 years, staff told CBC Toronto.
Originally, the province had given municipalities until Jan. 1, 2025 to upgrade their heritage registries but extended that deadline to Jan. 1, 2027 after pressure from municipal heritage researchers.
About 140 properties are considered to be high priority, almost all of them in Toronto and East York. They include places like St. Paul's Basilica on Power Street and the Gibraltar Point lighthouse on Hanlan’s Point.
Aside from the 3,600 listed properties, the city also has 1,595 properties that are already designated heritage sites and not affected by the legislation. Another 7,390 buildings are protected because they lie within the city's heritage conservation districts.
Of the currently listed buildings, Michael McClelland, a heritage specialist with ERA architects, predicted only 30 or 40 can be saved by the deadline, because that's roughly the number of properties city staff can process in a year. That list was longer, but staff have been chipping away at it since 2022, McClelland said.
The heritage measures in the act were introduced because some felt that municipalities were listing too many buildings — sometimes entire neighbourhoods — just to curtail development, said McClelland.
Province to 'continue to monitor' impact of change
Kirstin Jensen, vice-president of the Ontario Home Builders Association, told CBC Toronto in a statement the new rules are a good step forward.
"Ontario's heritage framework has too often been used as a blunt instrument to stop redevelopment altogether,” she wrote, “rather than as a thoughtful tool to protect buildings that truly warrant preservation."
McClelland says that because municipalities simply don't have the staff to investigate and move all properties from listed to designated status by Dec. 31, the province should put a second grace period in place.
In an email to CBC Toronto, a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which oversees the province's heritage rules, reiterated that one extension has already been granted, but added the province "will continue to monitor the impact of this change" on heritage properties.
The city's heritage registrar, Paul Maka says there is room for optimism.
The city will keep records of the formerly listed properties available on its website, so "property owners can continue to celebrate this history going forward.
"They're not necessarily gone forever. They'll still be known as important properties."
