MHPP Projects
MHPP provides a range of heritage planning tools to suit municipal needs. Communities of different sizes and compositions will require different strategies to address their heritage needs. For example, largely rural municipal districts or counties may have resources spread out over a larger area than is the case in towns, villages, or large urban centres. Strategies for heritage conservation may have greater impact in some areas than others.
Survey
For municipalities planning to protect their historic resources, a key first step is identifying what buildings, structures, landscapes, and places could contribute to their local heritage. A municipal heritage survey is a community-based project that gathers information about potential historic resources within your jurisdiction.
Photographs are taken and basic information regarding a site’s architecture, age and history are recorded using standardized survey forms (available from the Provincial Heritage Survey Program. In the case of municipalities where no heritage programs currently exist, a survey is most often the best place to begin. Gathering this baseline can help a municipality understand what types of potential historic resources it has, what location and context they are in, and what the scope of its overall heritage program should be. A professional heritage consultant is often engaged to facilitate the survey process, ensuring all the elements are completed according to timelines.
A municipal heritage survey provides an excellent opportunity to involve community volunteers to help find and document potential resources. A comprehensive survey ensures that important, but perhaps lesser known, resources do not “fall through the cracks,” but are identified for possible protection as potential historic resources. The survey acts not only as a catalyst to a strong heritage program and can also be useful in other municipal planning activities at the municipal level.
Inventory
Often, the best second step in growing a strong heritage program is to create a municipal heritage inventory. An inventory is a filtered list of a municipality’s significant historic places. This is prepared by evaluating the surveyed places using specific criteria to evaluate their significance and integrity. Resources that meet the criteria graduate to an inventory of historic places.
The process of creating an inventory from a survey is specialized work and normally requires the expertise of a heritage professional such as a qualified historian, experienced heritage architect or heritage consultant. Alberta Culture and Community Spirit has established criteria for evaluating the significance of historic resources. A final inventory document will often include a range of valuable information such as: original context papers on a municipality’s history, relevant architectural styles, draft Statements of Significance, preliminary integrity assessments, and other evaluative statements or further recommendations.
A thorough inventory of significant places greatly enhances the understanding of their significance, and preparedness to legally protect them through designation as Municipal Historic Resources. Places that have been fully evaluated through an inventory are often referred to as “designation-ready.” Whether or not a municipality decides to pursue protection through designation, inventories serve as a valuable tool in understanding the significance of a municipality’s local heritage.
Management plan
Increasingly, municipalities are recognizing the value of protecting their heritage. But how does the stewardship of historic places relate to the other issues and processes involved in municipal governance? A municipal heritage management plan is a document that assists and guides a municipality’s stewardship of its historic resources. Tailored to the unique needs of a municipality, a heritage management plan can be effectively incorporated at a variety of phases in the program. A management plan can capture policy, guidelines, incentives, and strategy for implementation according to your local requirements.
Creating a heritage management plan generally is a collaborative process involving many stakeholders. Support from the Mayor, Council, and municipal staff is essential for the plan’s development and implementation. Participation from a broad range of municipal departments such as planning, infrastructure, parks and recreation, and economic development enhance the management plan’s applicability and scope. Preparation of a management plan is specialized work and normally requires the expertise of a heritage professional. It functions as a strategic tool to guide practices for heritage planning and conservation in a municipality.
Designation and mandatory documentation
Municipalities in Alberta are empowered by the Historical Resources Act to designate historic places through the passage of a local bylaw that legally protects designated resources from demolition or alterations which takes away from its heritage value. As a municipality develops a mature heritage management program, a municipal register of designated Municipal Historic Resources is often created. A municipal register of historic places consists of all those places that have been legally protected through a bylaw of Council. Once designated as Municipal Historic Resources, these places become eligible for listing on both the Alberta Register of Historic Places and the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
The online, searchable registers showcase a municipality’s historic places worldwide. In addition to designation, basic mandatory documentation is required for listing on these registers. The key element in the mandatory documentation is the Statement of Significance which consists of three parts: a description of the historic place, a statement of the place’s heritage value, and the place’s character-defining elements. Once listed, owners can apply for conservation funding through the Alberta Historic Resources Foundation.
For information on creating local designations please see the designation section.