City of Regina to update heritage holding bylaw

Regina's heritage holding bylaw is getting an overhaul.

The holding bylaw is essentially a list of potential heritage properties, createdin 1989 and updated many times since.

Its officialtitle is a mouthful:It's the Bylaw of the City of Regina to Deny a Permit for the Alteration or Demolition of Properties that the Council of the City of Regina may wish to Designate as Municipal Heritage Properties.

It's been at the centre of a number of disputes about whether homes or other properties with historical value are going to be demolished or saved.

As things stand now, if a property is on this list, it does not have protection like officially designated heritage properties do.

FredSearle, acting director of planning and development services for the City of Regina, said his department hasspent a lot of time creating incentives for property owners and thatthis work updating the holding bylaw is long overdue.

"The city hasn't really gone back and had a thorough review of that list and looked atsome additions that would represent a good cross-section of history," he said.

The new proposed system would operate in what's called a thematic framework, so the buildings selected would fulfil historical themes and be throughout the city.

Searle said that the process that the city employs right now to evaluate heritage propertiesneeds to be more "current andcontemporary."

"The work that's being undertaken, it's really to ensure that our heritage program is consistent and aligned with the policiesin our official community plan," he said.

"This is an important piece of that work."

The report went to committee this week and is set to go before council at the end of March.