City of Toronto wins National Heritage Award (News Release)

David Juliusson has forwarded the following message:

News Release

November 20, 2013

City of Toronto wins National Heritage Award

The City of Toronto has received the Award of Excellence for outstanding achievement in heritage planning and policy for the City Planning Division’s Official Plan Amendment 199: “Official Plan Heritage Policies.” The award was given by the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP) which honours the work of CAHP members.

The CAHP recently announced its 2013 awards for the Conservation of Heritage Value through Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration, Planning and Communication. The City of Toronto is proud to be one of five recipients of the award of excellence. The award was presented at the Heritage Canada Foundation’s annual Conference which was held this year in Ottawa.

“I am consistently impressed by the work done by our City Planning Division staff, and am proud of their recent recognition by the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals,” said Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore), Chair of the Planning and Growth Management Committee. “This award is proof once again that the City’s Planning Division staff continue to punch above their weight class.”

City Planning Division staff, along with multiple stakeholders, created a policy document that will provide clarity, leadership and stewardship for the City’s heritage resources into the future.

“These new Official Plan heritage policies are the result of feedback from the public and the work of many stakeholders who came together to share thoughts and provide input,” said Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s Chief Planner. “We all want Toronto to be a city that is a great place to live, work, invest and play, and the Official Plan policies will help to set out the vision for where and how Toronto will grow through to the year 2031.”

According to the awards jury, the new Official Plan heritage policies created through the Official Plan Review, were found to exemplify the principles described by the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.

The jury comments also commended the new Official Plan heritage policies for the process (including the extensive and widely attended consultation process) as well as the result. The policies were praised for recognizing the importance of protecting cultural landscapes and re-instating detailed requirements for views protection and definitions of adjacency. The new policies were also applauded for bringing the Toronto Official Plan into better conformance of the cultural heritage policies of the province and the nation.

More information on the Official Plan Review and the new heritage policies is available at http://www.toronto.ca/opreview/docsandinfo.htm.

[The message was forwarded from a message from]:

Geoff Kettel
Community Connector, Advocate and Consultant
“There are places I remember, all my life
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain”
John Lennon, 1965

[End of forwarded text]

Comment

This message is a source of inspiration for me. Good work warrants commendation and celebration.