Item - 2019.PB3.3

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends to the Toronto and East York Community Council that:  

1. City Council include the following 14 properties on Belmont Street on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register:

28 Belmont Street

38 Belmont Street

40 Belmont Street

42 Belmont Street

44 Belmont Street

46 Belmont Street

48 Belmont Street

50 Belmont Street

52 Belmont Street

66 Belmont Street

68 Belmont Street

70 Belmont Street

72 Belmont Street

74 Belmont Street

This report recommends that City Council include 14 properties identified in Recommendation 1 of this report on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register. The subject properties are located in the Yorkville neighbourhood, on the north side of Belmont Street, and contain a two and a half-storey detached house-form building completed by 1873 and 13 two-storey row houses that were completed between 1881 and 1886.

The houses on Belmont Street have their origin in the century-long brickmaking industry of Toronto. Brickyards spread north to Yorkville in 1835, and gained prominence to the extent that a brick mould is featured in the Yorkville coat of arms.

The properties at 40, 42, 46 & 48 Belmont Street were nominated for inclusion on the City's Heritage Register at the same time as the community's nomination for a Heritage Conservation District study in 2015.

In 2016 City Council authorized the Belmont-Hillsboro Heritage Conservation District (HCD) study and it is included the City Planning Division's Work Program, however, it is on hold awaiting prioritization.  A HCD study does not preclude Council from listing properties on the City's Heritage Register or designating individual properties in the study area under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

In August 2018, the Committee of Adjustment deferred consideration of an application seeking variances to permit alterations and additions to the property at 40 Belmont Street pending a report from Heritage Preservation Services regarding the site's potential heritage value. This application was recently withdrawn by the property owner.

Following research and evaluation, it has been determined that the 14 properties at 28, 38-52 and 66-74 Belmont Street meet Ontario Regulation 9/06, the criteria prescribed for municipal designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, which the City of Toronto also applies when evaluating properties for its Heritage Register.

Properties on the Heritage Register will be conserved and maintained in accordance with the Official Plan Heritage Policies.