Goderich’s newest proposed heritage conservation district will have to wait at least a few more weeks before being approved by council.
Town planner Dwayne Evans presented a report to councillors at the June 9 meeting.
He was looking for approval of three by-laws tied to the district.
There are currently two heritage conservation districts in downtown Goderich for the Square and West Street.
The proposed new one encompasses all the remaining properties bounded by Victoria, Nelson, Waterloo and Elgin streets with the exceptions of 56 Kingston St. (the Royal Canadian Legion branch), 44 North St. and 83 Colborne/62 Waterloo St.
Evans said there has been public meetings, public workshops and one-on-one interviews with property owners in the proposed area.
“It’s been an open and transparent process,” Evans said.
He told councillors that staff and the Heritage committee have received requests to be excluded.
Evans said once the by-laws are approved, there would be notifications send out via newspaper advertising and registered mail.
There is then a 20-day appeal process, if an appeal was made, then it would go to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) which would make the final decision.
Deputy Mayor John Grace put forward a motion to have the by-laws tabled until the next meeting for clarification purposes, which was passed.
Coun. Jim Donnelly said the idea of this proposed heritage conservation district has been in front of council for a year and they were given a 296-page report to read through.
“People should have time to think about it,” he said, adding that he believes the by-laws are “defective” in nature.