Official Plan Policy:

The Windsor Official Plan states “Council will recognize Windsor’s heritage resources by: Designating individual buildings, structures, sites and landscapes as heritage properties under the Ontario Heritage Act.” (9.3.3.1(a))

The Plan includes protection (9.3.4.1). “Council will protect heritage resources by: (c) Requiring that, prior to approval of any alteration, partial demolition, removal or change in use of a designated heritage property, the applicant demonstrate that the proposal will not adversely impact the heritage significance of the property …”

The Windsor Official Plan includes (9.3.6.1.), “Council will manage heritage resources by: (e) providing support and encouragement to organizations and individuals who undertake the conservation of heritage resources by private means”.

Risk Analysis:

The risk of taking no action for this property is the potential loss of the heritage attributes due to age and water intrusion.

For the Built Heritage Fund, no City funds will be expended until the project is determined by the Chief Building Official if checks on building code compliance is required, and by Planning Services Staff to be completed according to good heritage practices. Conditions of this determination may include provision of detailed technical information, such as specifications of the material and conservation techniques employed, to ensure that the conservation work is heritage appropriate, prior to disbursement of the funds.

Financial Matters:

The Community Heritage Fund is usually used for heritage fund requests. However, the balance of that fund is too low to accommodate the funds requested. The applicant was therefore asked to apply for heritage funding from the Built Heritage Fund, which is generally reserved for special projects on designated heritage properties. The Built Heritage Fund has no specific guideline except that the Ontario Heritage Act allows grants to be provided only to designated properties.

The Church received quotes from other companies and provided two of them to the City from NB Property Restorations and TCI Titan Group. The quote received from the former was substantially lower (half of amount of other quote(s)). Although NB Property Restorations appears to be based in Moncton, New Brunswick, Father Chadi has informed City staff that “Our diocese (St Maron Diocese) is familiar with this company as they provided services to churches prior to St. Peter’s. They use contractors and sub contractors all over Ontario. Their prices are extremely competitive and they give us a break on so many costs because we are a charitable organization. Yes we received other quotes and the prices were extremely high and above budget. Like I mentioned before, NB Property Restorations is a company that donates a lot of the labour because we are a charitable organization and their quotes are extremely low compared to others.” In addition, the Church representative, Father Chadi, has an architecture and construction background and experience and has informed staff that since he is