Heritage amendment adds teeth to act
The Municipality of Digby’s heritage advisor is welcoming an amendment to the Heritage Property Act. Rob Hersey says the amendment, which was introduced today, will provide added protection for municipal heritage properties while the entire act is under review.
“This amendment will give the act more teeth,” he said.
At the moment, the owner of municipally registered heritage properties must apply to the municipality for permission to demolish or substantially alter the exterior of a building.
The application is reviewed by a heritage advisory committee, with municipal council making a final decision. When a request is denied, the owner must wait one year before altering or demolishing the property without approval.
The amendment will extend that waiting period from one to two years and will be in effect until September 1, 2009.
There are 26 registered heritage properties in the Municipality of Digby. Hersey said he doesn’t think the amendment will affect those since there are no applications for substantial changes.
The Heritage Property Act allows for properties to be registered with the municipality, the province, or both. Applications to alter or demolish a provincially registered heritage property are made to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage following a review by the Advisory Council on Heritage Property, and cabinet makes the final binding decision.
There are about 269 provincially registered and 1,500 municipally registered heritage properties in Nova Scotia.
A full review of the Heritage Property Act is expected to be complete in the fall 2009.
