Item - 2024.PB24.1

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:

1. City Council include 81 Isabella Street (including entrance address 83 Isabella Street) on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register in accordance with the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion) attached as Attachment 1 to the report (October 17, 2024) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

Lindsay Parsons, Assistant Planner, Policy and Research, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on 81 Isabella Street - Inclusion on the Heritage Register

This report recommends that City Council include 81 Isabella Street (including entrance address 83 Isabella Street) on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register for its cultural heritage value and interest according to the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion) found in Attachment 1.

The subject property at 81 Isabella Street is located on the south side of Isabella Street between Church Street and Jarvis Street in the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood. It contains an early-20th century brick apartment building, known as The Merlan, designed by architect Norman Alexander Armstrong and constructed in 1927. A location map and current photograph of the property are found in Attachment 1.

The property recommended for inclusion on the City’s Heritage Register has been researched and evaluated by staff using the criteria prescribed in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and meets one or more of the provincial criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest and is believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest.

On January 1, 2023, amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act (the Act) through the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) came into effect. Under the Act, as amended, a municipal heritage register may include properties that have not been designated but Council believes to be of “cultural heritage value or interest", and that meet one or more of the provincial criteria for determining whether they are of cultural heritage value or interest. The Act now also limits listing to a period of two years.

As of January 1, 2023, should a property be subject to an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and/or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application, properties must be listed on the heritage register prior to Part IV designation and before the occurrence of a prescribed event. A prescribed event is a point of time when the application for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and/or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application has been deemed complete and the City Clerk provides notice of that complete application to the public in accordance with the Planning Act. 

The listing of non-designated properties on the municipal heritage register under the Act also extends interim protection from demolition and provides an opportunity for City Council to determine whether the property warrants conservation through designation under the Act should a development or demolition application be submitted.

Properties on the Heritage Register will be conserved and maintained in accordance with the Official Plan Heritage Policies. Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) are required for development applications that affect listed properties.