A Cultural Heritage Master Plan is underway. It seeks to identify and protect the County’s historically significant landscapes and built heritage in the face of rapid development. 

The most wide-ranging report on heritage conservation the County has undertaken, the Plan is the first such brief in over a decade. It encourages the County to make heritage central to its cultural and economic development, through partnerships with heritage organizations and the private sector, and to highlight the unique built and natural features for locals and tourists. 

WSP Consultants was retained by the County in January 2024, and is in the third phase of a four-phase process to deliver the final Plan. The company’s Kanika Kaushal and Heidy Schopf reported on the plan to the Built and Cultural Advisory Committee earlier this month.

The guiding vision is to “conserve the unique heritage character of the broader landscape and support the prosperity of the people who live, work, and care for the County.”

That means looking as far back as the Paleo Period, and charting the history of Indigenous land use and settler colonialism to contextualize the industries and practices that shaped both the physical landscape and cultural life of the County.

The document will allow planners to meaningfully  work heritage conservation into future strategy, economic development, education, and culture.

Identifying cultural heritage landmarks is a key part of the work. “This is a shining part of the County,” said Ms. Schopf.

The County’s resources fall into two categories. Built Heritage refers to structures, buildings, and monuments that contribute heritage value or interest to a community. Cultural Heritage Landscapes are geographic points that create a sense of shared history. 

The planners are now seeking further feedback from Indigenous communities, the public, and key stakeholders, following a first round of public engagement in the second half of 2024. They also gathered community feedback at an open house last October. 

The County’s Have Your Say Portal features over fifty comments identifying possible Cultural Heritage Landscapes on an interactive map. 

“There were a lot of themes that surfaced as part of the research and that became the basis for the identification of potential Landscapes,” Ms. Kaushal noted. 

The ten historical themes are Indigenous landscapes, transportation routes, agriculture, fishing, military, cultural and natural heritage interplay, historical communities, industries, lighthouses, and shipbuilding. 

The report lists potential Cultural Heritage Landscapes in each category, while noting “some sites are a crossover.”

For example, Wellers Bay is a case study for the evolution of human activity in the County. The report notes that it was a “vital waterway for seasonal migration, trade, and conflict routes for the Anishinibek and Haudenosaunee Peoples.” Sulpician missionary priests passed through, and the bay was named by the Loyalist Industrialist Asa Weller. It was used for bombing target practice during the Second World War. 

“We focused on sites that reflect, not just historic associations, but have design value, and contextual value.” Ms. Kaushal noted. 

A point of public feedback in the report notes, “the Master Plan should avoid pinpointing on a map, instead identify boundaries, this will help protect things like viewscapes.”

Heritage boundaries widen with historical understanding. The entire County, for example, is considered traditional hunting territory by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. 

The recommendations in this draft include further engagement with Indigenous Nations, retaining a dedicated municipal Heritage Planner, and strengthening land-use policies to conserve CHLs in the face of development. 

“Development pressure is a threat to heritage property,” Ms. Schopf said, while also noting that “heritage conservation and development can co-exist.”

Adaptive-reuse of built heritage is one way the report recommends pursuing.

Heritage Committee member Janice Gibbins noted that she would like the report to centre adaptive reuse more, and wondered if the County could incentivize developers to go that route. 

”Perhaps the county can come up with an award for an adaptive reuse of a building,” she suggested. 

Built heritage has been under threat since Ontario’s Bill 23 weakened protection under the Ontario Heritage Act. Municipalities kept a register of properties designated under the OHA, and non-designated properties listed for their heritage value. 

The new legislation first placed a two-year timeline on municipalities to designated listed properties, then extended it to January 1, 2027. Any property not designated by that time will be de-listed and ineligible for the registry for five years. 

WSP is watching listed properties closely. “The municipality has roughly 200 listed properties,” Ms. Kaushel noted. 

The draft report recommends that the municipality work closely with the BACHAC’s Heritage Designation Working Group to prioritize designating sites of high historical value that may be facing development pressure. 

A second public open house will be scheduled for this fall. The feedback gathered will inform the final Master Plan, to be presented at Council.  

Lighthouses

The Bay of Quinte region was once home to 45 lighthouses that contributed to navigation in the Great Lakes Region. Of those, only nine still stand, and six of them are in Prince Edward County.

“These Lighthouses are the last physical remains of our once very important marine heritage,” said lighthouse historian Marc Seguin.

Two of the remaining lighthouses are designated under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, but that doesn’t mean they are being properly maintained. 

Scotch Bonnet Lighthouse, which has a heritage designation, is owned by Canadian Wildlife Service, which is responsible for its conservation.

“Unfortunately the Canadian Wildlife Service hasn’t been following those guidelines,” said Mr. Seguin. 

“It’s really just in ruins right now, nevertheless it was designated as a heritage lighthouse under the terms of the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act.”

Prince Edward Point Lighthouse, also designated under the Act, is owned by Parks Canada. 

“They have followed the guidelines but to a very minimal extent,” Mr. Seguin said. 

The lighthouses at Point Petre, False Duck, and Main Duck island are all still active aids to navigation. 

Mr. Seguin’s advocacy group, Save Our Lighthouses, nominated them for heritage designation to no avail.

The Phase Three Report on the Cultural Heritage Master Plan from WSP Consultants lists several other lighthouses and marine heritage structures that deserve attention, including the Wellers Bay Range Lighthouse, the Salmon Point Lighthouse, the Consecon Lifesaving Station, and the Wellington Lifesaving Station. 

The historic Pleasant Point Lighthouse collapsed into disrepair and was never restored. 

Public comments on the plan suggest designating the remaining lighthouses, but the process isn’t always straightforward. 

In 2018, Council voted against designating the Salmon Point Lighthouse under the Ontario Heritage Act, worried its owners were unwilling to pay the costs to restore the structure. 

Salmon Point is “one of the most iconic lighthouses in the County,” said Mr. Seguin. “It’s amazing it’s still standing.”  

Heritage Landscapes

The natural features of the County profoundly shaped the culture and industries that formed here, and the reverse is also true.

The Cultural Heritage Master Plan Phase Three Report, in development from WSP Consultants, notes the County’s island character has shaped transportation, commerce, and recreation.

The waterways were trade and migration routes for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Fishing, agriculture, and shipbuilding were all touched by them.

The shoreline features are some of the most uniquely varied landscapes in the County. 

As Tom Cruikshank notes in The Settler’s Dream, the shorelines range from “wind-blown and wave washed sandbars to vertical limestone cliffs.”

“United Empire Loyalists were the first settlers to substantially change the landscape of the County,” the report notes. 

The draft identifies Sandbanks, Lake on the Mountain, Delhi Park, the Warings Creek Watershed, Little Bluff, Prince Edward Bird Point Observatory, and Grimmon’s Woods as potential Cultural Heritage Landscapes to be included in the final plan. 

Many of these sites are already protected from over-development by various regulations at the municipal and provincial level. Sandbanks and Lake on the Mountain are provincial parks and amendments to their use are legislated to protect natural and cultural heritage. 

Still, the province continues to introduce legislation that weakens regulation on development. Bill 139 limited the jurisdiction of Conservation Authorities, who regulate areas such as Little Bluff.

Councillor John Hirsch suggests that WSP consider including a discussion of using the Natural Core Area designation in the Official Plan as a tool to limit development on culturally significant land.

“Natural Core Areas cover about a third of the County,” he noted. “They have the benefit of prohibiting major development where an OP amendment is required.”  

Historic Communities

The Cultural Heritage Master Planners suggest that regulations governing the conservation of the County’s historical communities should be standardized and strengthened. 

Townships in the County were independently governed for about a century before amalgamation. During this time, each township developed its own character and distinct industries. 

The grand homes of Bloomfield are connected to the prosperous barley days and canning boom, while the limestone-rich soil of Hillier is the foundation of the County’s wine industry.

Ameliasburgh Heritage Village, Cherry Valley United Church, Glenwood Cemetery, Black River Chapel, and South Bay United Church are all noted as possible Cultural Heritage Landscapes in the report. 

Picton and Wellington are the only townships in the County to have neighbourhoods designated under the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). As such, they have their own Heritage Conservation District Plans. Any alteration to features protected by designation requires a permit from the Built and Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee. 

The committee, and municipalities across Ontario, are in a mad dash to designate listed heritage buildings before they are moved from the registry on January 1, 2027.

Public comments on the project suggest designating additional heritage districts can strengthen conservation even in the face of weak provincial policy. 

The whole municipality is regulated by the conservation language in the Official Plan. WSP recommends that the OP be updated to include the best practices outlined in the Ontario Heritage Act.

It further suggests developing standardized Terms of Reference for “Heritage Impact Assessments, Heritage Conservation Plans, and Heritage Documentation and Salvage Plans.”

In the words of Tom Cruikshank, thoughtful development has “an intangible sense of cohesiveness.”