Item - 2022.PB36.15

The Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning, recommends that:

1. City Council approve the grant awards for the 2022 Toronto Heritage Grant Program for the following 20 heritage properties, to assist grant recipients in funding the scope of conservation work generally described in Attachment 1 of this report.

241 Blythwood Road

145 Clouston Avenue

116 Crescent Road

36 Geneva Avenue

57 George Street (Weston)

438 Gerrard Street East

440 Gerrard Street East

442 Gerrard Street East

444 Gerrard Street East

446 Gerrard Street East

44 Glen Road

60 Lowther Avenue

80 Madison Avenue

175 Madison Avenue

129 Mount Pleasant Road

43 Salisbury Avenue

41-45 Spadina Road

20 Wellesley Avenue

56 Wellesley Street East

432 Wellesley Street East

2. City Council direct that the use of the grant awards outlined in Recommendation 1 of this report be limited to only the conservation work approved by the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and that the issuing of the grant award be subject to the grant recipient satisfying all conditions as set out in the Letter of Understanding between the City and the grant recipient.

3. City Council, notwithstanding the established selection process, approve a grant award for the 2022 Toronto Heritage Grant Program for 220 Robert Street, to assist the recipient in funding the scope of conservation work generally described in 2022 Toronto Heritage Grant Award: 220 Robert Street Scope of Work and Grant Award as generally described Attachment 2 to the supplementary report (July 8, 2022) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

Tamara Anson-Cartwright, Program Manager, Neil Mackay, Assistant Planner, Amir Nissan, Assistant Planner, and Daniel deMoissac, Planner, Heritage Preservation, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on 2022 Toronto Heritage Grant Awards.

This report recommends the approval of twenty grants totalling $317,000.00 under the Toronto Heritage Grant Program. The recommended recipients will generate approximately $1,175,000.00 in private investment for work to conserve irreplaceable cultural heritage resources that contribute to the City's social and economic prosperity by defining our unique sense of place.

The Toronto Heritage Grant Program provides matching grant funds for eligible heritage conservation work on residential properties or tax-exempt properties in the City of Toronto designated under Part IV or V of the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). Applicants may receive a grant once every five years for up to 50% of the cost of eligible conservation work. Owners of house form buildings may receive up to $10,000.00 or if replacing an entire cedar or slate roof assembly, up to $20,000.00 every ten years.

Owners of non-house form buildings and any tax-exempt properties including house form buildings may be eligible for a grant equivalent to 50% of the cost of eligible conservation work, with no maximum limit.

The Toronto Heritage Grant Program has a budget of $317,000.00 in the City Planning 2022 Operating Budget and is administered by Heritage Planning, City Planning.

The properties that have been recommended for a grant award vary in size and location across Toronto. The majority of the grant recipients are residential properties located in Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs), including properties located within the Blythwood Road, Cabbagetown South and Cabbagetown North, South Rosedale and Madison Avenue (West Annex) HCDs. In addition, there are a few notable Part IV-designated properties benefitting from heritage grants this year, including the Paul Kane house, St. John's Cemetery on the Humber (Denison Family Burial Grounds) in Weston, and the recently designated Spadina Gardens Apartments located in the Annex.

Due to the high demand for funding assistance which far exceeded the program budget, both relating to the volume of applications and the large scale of restoration projects, four applications are not being recommended for a grant award. These owners may wish to apply to the 2023 Grant Program should they consider deferring all or a portion of their project relating to the eligible conservation work e.g. stained glass. Heritage Planning staff will offer to assist owners should they wish to reapply in November for the 2023 program.

This supplementary report recommends the approval of an additional grant award under the Toronto Heritage Grant Program to the owner of a residential house-form property located at 220 Robert Street in the Harbord Village Heritage Conservation District.  

The July 5, 2022 report, '2022 Heritage Grant Awards' report was presented as new business at the July 11, 2022 meeting of the Toronto Preservation Board. City staff advised the Board that a grant application regarding the property located at 220 Robert Street was mistakenly not brought forward for evaluation by the Grant Selection Committee and requested this eligible project also be considered for a grant award.    

On November 16, 2021, the home owners of the semi-detached Bay-and-Gable house at 220 Robert Street, designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, submitted an application to the Toronto Heritage Grant Program to restore the 1886 slate roof and match the original black, green, and red slate shingles ornamental pattern. The slate roof restoration project is estimated to cost approximately $48,000.00.

City staff have reviewed the application for completeness and eligibility. Staff have prepared a grant application Summary - 220 Robert Street (Attachment 1) to further advise the Toronto Preservation Board on the eligibility of the subject property and the proposed scope of work.

Staff are of the opinion that the proposed work is conservation work and is an eligible project and that the application is in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the Toronto Heritage Grant program. The program funds designated house form properties 50% of the cost of eligible conservation work, up to $10,000.00 every 5 years or up to $20,000.00 for slate roof assemblies every 10 years. Staff recommend a grant award as generally described in 2022 Toronto Heritage Grant Award:  220 Robert Street Scope of Work and Grant Award (Attachment 2).

If this additional grant award is adopted by Council, the revised recommended grants award will total $337,000.00 and the recipients will generate approximately $1,225,000.00 in private investment for work to conserve irreplaceable cultural heritage resources that contribute to the City's social and economic prosperity by defining our unique sense of place.