By Pepper Parr
September 18th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
David Barker explained to Council on Tuesday that “It is certainly a meaningful amount of money to receive back, and shows appreciation of the additional expense that comes with owning and maintaining a Heritage property.
His concern was with the process used to administer the program that can best be described as cumbersome and antiquated.
The program Barker was describing are the funds paid to property owners that have a home that has been designated as a heritage property and for which the owner has applied for an annual grant offered by the city.
David Barker wants to get his Heritage property rebate faster.
A property owner has to apply for the funds, which once approved, are paid out annually, which in Barker’s case amounts to about $2000 per year. There does not seem to be an end date – it just keeps being paid out.
Heritage property owners are required to execute the same covenant by which the owner agrees and commits to maintain the property to the city’s requirements, apart from the obvious benefit of reducing the annual tax burden.
“For me at least, and I believe for other beneficiaries, the heritage tax rebate acts as a savings account, which matures in July or thereabouts each year, each year, I get the benefit of an in hand amount of $2,000 roughly. The amount comes in very handy to help manage annual house maintenance costs, such as outside painting, deck staining, which arise in the spring and summer seasons.
“It is a most welcome annual lump sum to receive. The staff report being considered by council and on the agenda, as I believe, a consent item has been produced by staff with the sole goal of improving delivery of the program.
“There is a section entitled engagement. Under that section, staff commits to engage with Heritage property owners to advise them of the changes to be implemented in the method of payment of the rebate. It does not mention any engagement as regards to improving the actual annual process. It is extremely notable that staff have not engaged in any way with Heritage property owners.
“This report is not primarily for the benefit of the Heritage property owner, but for the benefit of city staff. It is my contention receiving the rebate in the form of a credit to the Heritage property owner’s tax account will not be welcomed by the Heritage property owners. I believe, like me, Heritage property owners would prefer a lump sum payment.
“I pay my tax bill each year through the city provided monthly payment plan. The city already has all my banking details. There is absolutely no reason why the city could not pay the rebate through the electronic transfer to the same financial institution from which it takes my monthly tax instalment.
“Why it takes five months to process the rebate each year is incomprehensible. I note staff the staff report does not in any meaningful way enunciate what improvements will be made to reduce substantially the five month time period it takes to get to process the issuance of a physical cheque.”
Barker house on Lakeshore that benefited from a Heritage improvement grant – paid annually.
At this point Mayor Meed Ward advises Barker that his five minutes of speaking time is up. She invites Barker to submit his speaking notes. The Mayor then asks her Council members if they have any questions for Barker.
Councillor Bentivegna starts be telling Barker,” I learn something every day when I’m here. Have you had the opportunity to discuss this with staff, or actually the Heritage Advisory Committee?
Barker tells Bentivegna that he made a delegation to the Heritage Advisory Committee and that they had not been informed or approach by staff in any way, shape or form. They received the by law amendment, and were asked just to be aware of it. There was no discussion. In my delegation, I asked the Heritage committee to send a resolution to council asking that this amendment be put on hold, sent back to staff, and for staff to discuss it with Heritage Committee and to engage Heritage property owners.
Bentivegna followed up with: “The staff report just deals with the mechanism by which we issue the rebates. Are there other concerns?
Barker: “It would be helpful if staff discussed it with the Heritage Advisory Committee. I don’t think the heritage advisory committee knows. I believe there’s only one Heritage property owner on the committee, so the rest of the committee will be totally unaware of the process. I think it’d be helpful for them to understand it.
“I don’t understand why it takes five months I get a notice from staff in January to file my application by end of February, and then I don’t get a rebate until July or August.
“I don’t know the entire process, staff does it. What about electronic transfer?”
Mayor Meed Ward asks if anyone had questions for staff. “I’m interested in hearing from staff around the engagement that was done on this item and to give staff a chance to respond to some of the comments and whether there is any interest in doing a review of the whole program and how we might streamline it further. Curt Benson, Commissioner of Development and Growth Management which oversees Heritage site matters.
Curt Benson: Commissioner of Development and Growth Management for Burlington. Benson was part of the Regional Planning Team.
Benson explains that “As a part of the overall change to provide efficiencies, we’re moving quite quickly and quite broadly to digital platforms, and improving service delivery through digital means and moving away from those, those paper based processes. There was not any significant engagement done with the community. Should Council direct staff to go back and do engagement? We’d be happy to implement that direction. The one caution is, however, the more people we ask the more opinions and specific requests come forward in terms of how we process these things? What I’m told by staff is that the five month lag time from the application to cutting the cheque happened this year because of the implementation of some new software. It’s not expected to happen going forward. That rebate is going to be provided in real time.
Mayor Meed Ward then tells Council “I proactively reached out to the Integrity Commissioner to determine if I would have a conflict of interest in this topic – the response I received was, No, I don’t, because I have an interest in common with other community members who have property who benefit from this property rebate.
Mayor Meed Ward on the front porch of her home preparing to do a web cast during the pandemic.
The Mayor’s home was designated as a Heritage property and she too receives the annual grant. The Mayor did not say how much her grant was but that she had no problem with the process.
“I’m just happy for it to be a seamless take it off the final tax bill, and that’s fine for me. I’d love to get electronic transfer that has been suggested by staff. , I think actually is a really good one. I support the bylaw as is as a Heritage property owner.
“I very much appreciate the rebate, because property heritage properties do cost more to keep up and to renovate, and that’s the incentive we want to provide is share that cost a little bit.”
Councillor Sharman: I have a question with respect to recognizing your comments that we are in the process of updating all of our systems to improve our efficiency and effectiveness. In the course of time, could you send us a memo and put in the council information package as to how you see that unveiling or unraveling, and just give us an update on the when you see that manifested,
Benson: We’d be happy to do that.
The Mayor then turns to the Clerk and asks for a recorded vote.
That vote carries.
The item that was debated was originally on the Consent Agenda.
I’m finding myself wandering into the weeds on this, For the record, I don’t want to be designated, I want to be left alone, this is our home, not the Cities; I’m not, as has been assumed, a proud owner of a heritage property, I’m someone who lives in a great location the price of which is living in an old property; I don’t know how to make this any planer, but there are many more properties and areas that have a greater significance to heritage than where we live, as in the previous studied business district but they were given a pass?
If that is not going to be the case I want the city to share the costs and not try to strong-arm there way into something that over time and a lot of hard work has become a more desirable area for the reasons I have previously outlined, close to school close to amenities.
David, first of all, let me apologize for misconstruing your comment regarding the mayor and for totally misunderstanding your position as regards to your property being designated.
As mentioned before, I have been the owner of a designated property for over 30 years. I can assure you the city has never ever strong-armed me or try to strong-arm me on any matter in relation to my property. Quite the contrary. Both regards to my property and other heritage properties the city has been very reluctant to push owners to do anything at all. I know this for facts having seen it firsthand manifested at the Heritage Advisory Committee. Personally, I wish the city was more proactive, but it has a history of being reactive. That is why we have lost quite a number of heritage properties over the years through demolition and development. The City twiddled it thumbs so to speak. Now, rightfully in my opinion, the city is finally starting to be proactive. But the result of that proactivity will not hamper the homeowner.
When it comes to ownership of a property with heritage attributes, whether or not those attributes rise to level of being worthy of designation, we as owners are actually also temporary custodians of historical monuments.
I now clearly understand your position. My offer to speak to you by phone should you wish still remains. I wish you well
I knew we would have to get there eventually David B. Differences on how we see certain things but can have the same outcome in the end, you with a living passion for preserving our city heritage, me with a desire to live in a town where shops and amenities are close by, actually the same reasons as the original owners had who built the house in the first place, except the house is a lot older now and requires much more maintenance; The gentrification as it’s called, in recent years of this area brings in people with deep pockets who can afford to spend eye-watering amounts of money on these properties and when asked why? It’s for the experience of that buzz that living downtown offers, walking around the neighbourhood or walking to the pub, shopping locally, seeing and talking to people that, for economic reasons, they would not have met in their previous comfortable neighbourhoods.
Some people who move here get permission to demolish a tired, old, but not very interesting property and build something ultra-modern with lots of glass. Some I like and some not so much, there are some modern, more traditional builds that I love backing onto laneways with separate apartment-over-garage configurations, I also quite like the tall buildings as long as they are not at the expense of a community experience, i.e. the diversity in the downtown vibe, and with higher rents for stores and people, you will eventually lose the diversity that you moved here to experience and you should have stayed in the suburbs, heritage is much more socially complicated than preserving old buildings.
(PS, we were gabbing so much we’ve dropped to page 2.) catch you later.
David, there’s a misconception that having a property designated puts enormous restrictions upon the homeowner. That is totally incorrect and is misinformation. My property has been designated since 1995. During that time I have converted it from a two-story with loft to a full three story. I put on a full extension at the back. I’ve received four Heritage grants and I receive the annual tax rebate. If you have any interest in having your property designated and receiving these financial benefits I would be more than happy to talk to you about it. My phone number is 905-681-3702. Feel free to text me or give me a call.
The caption underneath the picture of the porch of my house in this article says that there’s a Heritage Grant paid annually. I’d like to correct that statement. It is a heritage tax rebate that is paid annually. The Heritage tax rebate is equal to 40% of the homeowners annual tax bill and is paid annually without any property specific criteria needing to be met.
Heritage grants are also available to be applied for on a case by case basis by a designated Heritage property owner to provide financial assistance towards costs incurred for certain types of property maintenance.
The maintenance must be either for the direct preservation of a heritage attribute or for the general preservation of the property. As examples- the porch of my property is classified as being a heritage attribute. The installation of a sump pump and weeping tiles to eliminate water seeping up through the basement floor due to the extraordinary high level of Lake Ontario qualified for a grant because the water threatened the integrity of the foundations. The rules as to what general maintenance qualifies for a grant are very much open to interpretation. As mentioned the installation of a sump pump and weeping tiles was approved because the foundations were at risk and so the building itself was also at risk. Yet shingling the roof was not approved, even though not repairing the roof also put the building at risk.
Over the course of the 30 years ownership of this beautiful property I have received 4 grants. The grant is equal to 25% of the total cost of the eligible maintenance work.
I hope this brings some understanding of the tax rebate and grant programs.
Now as to my delegation to Council I sent by email the following to each member of Council in relation to the lack of engagement by City Staff and to the deliberately misleading statement by Curt Benson, responding to a question from the Mayor.
“I certainly don’t want to be seen as flogging a dead horse. However, I do feel it is most important to make sure that members of council truly understand what did or did not take place on this matter prior to today’s vote to amend the Heritage tax rebate bylaw.
After my presentation and questions asked of me by members of Council, questions were posed to staff member Curt (I don’t recall his last name).
I believe it was the Mayor who asked Curt if he had received any feedback on this matter from any other owners of designated heritage properties. Curt said he had not. That was an honest & truthful though completely disingenuous answer to the question posed. It is not surprising that he had not heard from any other heritage property owner. Why’s that? Well the first public exposure of the proposed bylaw change was when it appeared as an information item on the September 11th meeting agenda of the Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee. So it was impossible for any property owner to have knowledge of the proposed change and so raise a question with staff. Staff did not broadly publish to residents the proposed change.
The City is big on engagement. But on this matter there was absolutely no engagement whatsoever with residents or the Advisory Committee!
Thank you & have a good evening!”
The City talks big on engagement. They don’t walk the talk.
David B, I know you were commenting on how you are funded, and I know I used your comment to highlight something else, but we are facing the same problems when dealing with a city that has a problem with ‘follow through’ we are also looking at this through different lenses, I totally get and support the reasoning behind peoples love of heritage in all it’s forms; and I am mindful of the fact that I have a property that gives visitors to this area some pleasure in our history while reminding the curious that owning one is a lot of hard work; This home was purchased for its location, not its charm it was close to a school and other amenities it also is not in suburbia, it has been well maintained over the years and I am glad to live downtown in such a unique location, but the fact is, in the real world everything has an asset value, in this case, the value is in the land, that asset value is for my family to benefit from and I expect the city to be invested in that ideal through streetscaping as in removing overhead power and communications lines installing lantern style street lights with hanging baskets, heritage street signs, no street parking at any time, no heavy vehicles allowed better sidewalks better tree maintenance also tax and maintenance funding, that’s what other jurisdictions do, after all, it’s the residents that have done all the heavy lifting to this point.
I forgot to ask, do you know if the Mayor self-designated?
Editor’s note: Yes
I’m not sure what you mean by “self-Designated”.
The mayor’s property is designated heritage.
She could not have been able to proclaim it designated of her own accord.
The Ontario Heritage Act clearly states what process must be undertaken by a municipality for a property to be designated as heritage. One of the main parts of the entire process Is that a heritage assessment must be undertaken, usually by a third party heritage consultant. In my case that was undertaken my ARA. The cost of the heritage assessment is approximately $5,000. That cost is generally borne by the municipality. I say generally because I don’t think there has been an instance where a resident has actually requested their property be designated. The process in the past has always been initiated by the City.
The Heritage Burlington Advisory committee has in the past mind-bogglingly suggested the property owner pay the cost of the assessment report.
In 2023 the Heritage, Burlington Advisory Committee had approximately $200,000 in its segregated account set aside for use by Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee as it deemed fit. If the municipality rather than the advisory committee determines to designate a property heritage, the cost of the assessment would come from the general City pocket not from the advisory Committee’s account. If a property owner determines they would like to have their property designated and approached the City to do so (I don’t think that has ever happened) that cost would likely be taken from the Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee’s account.
If you think your property might qualify for designation I would recommend you speak with the Heritage Planner at City Hall seeking her opinion as to whether it might in fact meet the criteria. The financial benefits are well worth it. And there is in my opinion little if any downside.
Chloe Richer MCIP RPP, CAHP
Senior Planner, Heritage
Community Planning
(905) 335-7600 ext.7427
Chloe.Richer@burlington.ca
If the City does in fact designate your entire neighbourhood as heritage, you will likely see improvements to the streetscape you seek. Though the bearing of power and phone lines is a non-starter. Way too costly.
Does this help?
That’s very interesting, do you also know if the Mayor’s house is of any significant heritage value, an example of unique Architectural interest, a famous person who lived at this address, a considerable age, an historic landmark, or even in original condition? Or was it just for the tax break?
I do not know the answers to all but one of your questions. I do not know the street address so cannot investigate for myself. If you had it you could Google it &/or through the Heritage Burlington site check the Heritage Register. The Editor might have that address but may not wish to publish it for fear of wackos.
In order to receive designated status a property MUST meet certain criteria set out in the Ontario Heritage Act. The criteria will determine if the property has any and enough social, historic, cultural or other heritage attributes to make it worthy of heritage designation status.
During my time on the Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee (beginning 01/01/2019) and since then as a follower of its activities I have not seen any property connected with the Mayor presented for Heritage Designation or discussed by the committee for any reason. To imply any impropriety by the Mayor without substantiation is in my opinion wrong.
Jeez David, I wasn’t implying any impropriety, I was just surprised that the Mayor would need any financial assistance but was also encouraged that the Mayor is taking the same view as myself if the city wants heritage the city will have to pay for it, in my case I want a lot more than a tax break, I’ve never asked for designation or money because that would come at a price that I was not willing to pay, that has changed I’m now being forced into this by the city and in my mind that does come at a price, but now you’re saying you were on the committee and her property is not designated? Oh well, still doesn’t change my thinking on the matter.
Very interesting, our home along with others is part of the latest ‘heritage district study’ undertaken by COB, David Barker is correct in the fact that these homes are very heavy on maintenance, currently we carry all the costs for this property’s upkeep as is our choice, we have also felt a certain responsibility to make sure the property is well groomed as there is a lot of foot traffic in the area and we want the old girl to look her best; I must admit to being a bit miffed now that the city comes along and wants to force us to be some kind of tourist asset to be managed, protected and shared if you want to share then you have to share the costs not just the structural but also the monthly maintenance costs COB also has to improve the streetscape to make this a desirable area to invest in so our property values are not affected if they can’t do that then don’t do anything.
Once again staff fails to engage this is getting to be a theme.
The 85 IT people are obviously all too busy with bleeding edge technology to fix the routine stuff. The search of the City website is ludicrous. Coby isn’t much help but maybe it is still learning. Why not just get Google to index the site?