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Three Properties Recommended for Heritage Designation - 22 Sep 26

Oakville · September 23, 2026

Okay, good morning everybody. I'd like to call this meeting of Heritage Oakville to order and to welcome everybody here on this slightly cool fall morning. Um, and welcome everybody who's watching live stream uh from home uh on the town uh website or the town YouTube channel. And I would remind people who are doing that that if they go to the town website, they can download the agenda and other materials that we're using for our meeting today, which might make it easier for them to follow along with what we're doing. Uh delegates are are welcome to our meetings either in person or virtually, but all delegates must register by noon on the business day prior to the day of the meeting. And there's an easy way to do that online. Again, going back to that town about agendas and meetings on the town website and you can easily register and let staff know that you're coming and if it's going to be virtual, they can make the necessary arrangements for that to happen. Um, I'll remind everybody again that we are an advisory committee and any recommendations to council that we might make today will go to the council meeting on September the 28th at 6:30 p.m. Do we have any declarations of pecunary interest from anyone today? No. Do we have any regrets, Madam Secretary? >> Yes. Carrie, Emma, Bob, and Councelor Longo are regrets. >> Okay. Thank you. But we do have quorum. So that's good. So the next item on the agenda is the confirmation of the minutes of our last meeting. These have been circulated. Are there any comments? Would you like to Thank you, Russ, for giving me a motion to approve the minutes of circulated. Um any further discussion on that motion? Anyone opposed to that motion? Thank you. The minutes are approved. Uh the next item on our agenda is our uh discussion item 4.1 which is notice of intention to designate multiple properties and Kristen uh you're on for that. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Good morning everyone. Uh this should be a pretty easy meeting this morning. Uh we're bringing forward some designations as part of our designation project uh under notices of intention to designate. So the the three properties we're bringing forward today are 14 Timberlane or the William and Lucy Spears House, 176 Chisum Street or the Blackwood House, and the Hixon Morton Stone silo that's at 3275 Rebecca Street. So staff have completed a cultural heritage evaluation report for each property which are attached in the appendices and have worked with the property owners on these designations and the recommendation today is to designate them under part four of the Ontario Heritage Act. So, I will briefly kind of go over each of the properties. It's been a while since we got to do one of these. Uh, so hopefully this will be interesting for everybody. Uh, so 14 Timberlane is located on the west side of Timberlane, uh, just east of West Street, uh, near Lake Ontario. It is a circa 1920s Dutch colonial revival style house. A few things to note about the property is that staff have been working with the owners over the past several years uh, and they are actually doing renovations on the property. So, the designation uh, is happening once those are complete. Uh, this includes a new addition on the south elevation and also a new front porch as it was determined during work. This was not historic. And I will also note that stucco was initially thought to be the original cladding, but again during work it was determined there was horizontal wood siding previously. So the owners have reinstated that and this will be updated on the official final notice of intention to designate. So in terms of evaluating uh the home's heritage value according to Ontario regulation 906 criteria, it does meet uh design physical, historical, associative, and contextual criteria. Again, it is a representative example of a 1920s Dutch colonial revival style house. Uh this style um identified mostly by its gamrel roof was popular throughout parts of North America and common in early 20th century suburbs. It was also equally popular uh for wealthy cottage areas which this neighborhood was initially created for. Uh it became more common in the inter war period as mail order cataloges made the style more accessible. However, after these renovations that the owners are doing, the house will still contain its heritage attributes that contribute to the heritage value of this style such as the intersecting gamble roof, the siding, and the multi-pane windows. The house has uh cultural heritage value because it is directly associated with William and Lucy Spears who are members of a were were members of a prominent Bronny family who had the house constructed. Uh William Spears developed this residential neighborhood known as Missaga Heights in the early 20th century as Bronny was becoming known as more of a kind of summer resort area. The Spears were prominent uh community-minded Bronny citizens. And finally, the house has contextual value. It is physically, functionally, visually, and historically linked to this historical historic, sorry, residential neighborhood. The house remains one of the original historic buildings in the Missaga Heights subdivision. As I noted, it was developed in the early 1900s, and this area is identified through its medium to largesiz lots. It has a variety of homes built during the early 20th century and there's lots of um kind of natural grading of the lots into the street with few curbs and sidewalks and large mature trees with views to the lake. So, while the area has developed over time, the subject house does continue to play a role in linking the area to its past as a kind of a more modest recreational area. And so you can see it's kind of a construction zone right now, so getting more up-to-date photos is a little tricky, but you can see that they've added this south edition based on the um photos that are in the cultural heritage evaluation report. I will also note that the north elevation remains uh there's no new additions or anything like that on that. Oh, and some street views. Next is the Blackwood House, which is located on the west side of Chism Street between Bond and Head Streets. And this property contains a circa 1860 one-story frame Oakville vernacular cottage. And again, staff have been working with the owners who, as you can see, are finishing up a rear edition. Um, but there is nothing on the exterior of the original house that will be changing. In terms of 906 criteria, it meets several. Uh, it has design and physical value as one of these representative examples of an Oakville vernacular frame cottage built with influences from the Regency style. This was a modest and simplified adaptation that became popular in Ontario in the mid 1800s. And elements of this design that this house has includes its symmetrical facade, the rectangular massing with the gently sloped hip roof, the front door surround the um wooden multi-pane transom windows, its fenestration and multi-paneed wood windows. It has a historical value. It is associated with the theme of the mid-19th century industrial and residential development of this area. Located west of Oakville Harbor, this was first developed in the mid to late 1800s and houses were originally built to support the rise in industrial development along this side of the harbor, including uh industries like the shipyard and the tannery complex. The property remains as one of the earliest working-class houses uh built in this development and contributes to the value of the neighborhood. The property is also associated with Christopher Armstrong, one of the owners of the Marlet and Armstrong tannery, uh, who did live here for a time um, before he was running that business. And in terms of contextual value, the house is important in defining, supporting, and maintaining the character of this neighborhood. Most of the homes in the area are more modest in size and design and again were built to house that local working class. Uh, the streetscape consists of mature trees and moderate to small lots. Um, and again, many of these houses are from early days of the settlement of the town. The subject house, while modest, is one of the older ones in the neighborhood, and its presence adds to that historical character. It is physically, functionally, visually, and historically linked to its surroundings, and continues to stand on its original location. And here are just some photos of some of those elements we just discussed about the design and physical value, the door, uh, the front facade, uh, and that transom window, as well as some of the multi-pane windows we can see. and a somewhat blurry street view. Okay. And finally, uh we have the Hixon Morton Stone Silo. So, this is located on the southeast corner of the property at 3275 Rebecca Street, uh the Suncor property. Uh the silo is associated with the farming that previously occurred here. Uh there's also the Mortyn farmhouse near the creek, uh which was used by Suncor as an office. So that farmhouse was also reviewed as part of this designation, but it was determined to not have enough heritage value to designate it as it has been altered significantly over time. So at this time it's not being considered for designation, but the silo is. And if you look at the cultural heritage evaluation report, you'll see more of those um contextual images showing the location of the silo and its connection to the creek as well. In terms of the 906 criteria, the silo has physical value as a rare and unique example of a stone silo in Oakville being built of local river shale, lakesstone, and field stone. Stone silos uh were rare across southwestern Ontario, and very few examples remain. Importantly, this is the only stone silo remaining in Oakville. So this is what we would consider a vernacular structure and builders would have used whatever materials were local and free which explains the use of the stone likely from Bronny Creek as well as the area. The structures uh attributes include its massing and shape with an arched doorway, the stone construction and its location with within with proximity to Bronny Creek. Uh in terms of historical and associative value, the silo is associated with the Hixon and Mortyn families, both prominent families in the area. Joseph Hixon was the first settler who owned the land and operated a sawmill on Bronny Creek. Uh the Hixon family farmed the property from the 1830s to 1904 and it was then associated with the Mortens, a significant mariner and farmer family in the area as well who farmed the property in the early 1900s. So at this point it's undetermined which family built the silo, but it is associated with both of their farms and hence the name. Outside of the silo, in terms of the 906 criteria, this property does have potential to yield information about indigenous history on the territory, most notably the Missagas of the Credit First Nation, who had recurring camps in the area, as noted on maps, and a fishing spot in the nearby Bronny Creek near Rebecca Street. So, the property does have high archaeological potential as well, and also archaeological finds related to the former mill and work, which have been noted previously. And finally, for contextual value, the silo is physically and historically linked to its surroundings. Uh it was again part of other farm buildings on the site, but is the only remaining historical agricultural remnant from any of the four historic lots that the property now occupies. It continues to stand in its original location and serves as a reminder of the former farmstead that operated here from the 1830s to the 1950s and is again linked to that agricultural history of Bronny. And just some photos, a close-up there kind of showing some of those stones. It has been kind of um reordered over time to make sure it doesn't fall over. So that's also part of its history. And then just kind of a contextual aerial showing the silo in yellow, the farmhouse in orange, which we are not uh designating. And then kind of the creek and its proximity to those as well. So in conclusion, these three properties physical, historical, and contextual associations establish the structures as significant built heritage resources in Oakville that staff believe merit designation under part four of the Ontario Heritage Act. And a staff report on this matter will be presented to planning and development council or council in late November or early December depending on election timelines for the notices and then a passing of the bylaw after that. So staff recommendation is that a notice of intention to designate be issued under section 29 part 4 of the Ontario Heritage Act for 14 Timberlane, 176 Chism Street, and 3275 Rebecca Street. So that's it for me and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Good. Thank you, Kristen. Always nice to read the the stories and the histories there. Uh with respect to the silo, um when we were out on our site visit and we we had a look at it, um the there has been some remortaring done. Now, do we know if it was all lime mortar that was used or if there's cement in there, which if it's left there untreated will over time damage the stone and cause the building to degrade. >> Um through you, Mr. care. I would assume that there is cement in there and not just lime mortar just given the the long history of the silo and the ownership of it. Um so it would be something for us to monitor and make sure that if we see kind of degradation or the owners notice it that in the future it would be hopefully a lime mortar used but at this point I'm not sure how much is which. So it's just something to keep an eye on unfortunately. Yeah. >> Yeah. Because it will degrade by itself if it just sits there with the cement. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Anyway, good. Right. Any questions of Kristen? Nope. Good. Well, that's lovely. And I don't see any. Oh, I do see a hand, Jonathan. Sorry, I saw your hand. >> No, just uh just want to answer your next question. Happy to move it. Great. Great to uh have a couple Bronny properties there and uh certainly that silo is very interesting, unique uh from seeing it firsthand on the the site visit. So, uh happy to move it. Chair. >> Good. Thank you. So the the the motion to accept the staff recommendation has been made by councelor Mcnes. Any further discussion on that? Anyone opposed to that motion? Seeing none, the motion is carried and that will go to council um at its council meeting. I've been asked to remind everybody on September the 28th at 6:30 p.m. Good. So the next item on our agenda is information items and there are none. And the date and time of our next meeting is October the 20th, 2026 in the council chamber as usual and virtually. Um the meeting then could be adjourned. Jerry has just given me a motion to adjourn the meeting. Thank you. Nobody's opposed to that. Thank you as usual everybody for the gift of your time this morning.