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Banff reserve fund topped up to help save heritage buildings

“Our built heritage is well loved within the community and there’s always a feeling of angst when we lose that."
20160926 Banff Heritage Sites 0006
The historic power substation by the Old Banff Cemetery, which will be redeveloped into a columbarium. RMO FILE PHOTO
BANFF – Banff plans to top up its savings account to put more money away to help with heritage preservation.

Currently, $15,000 is transferred into a diminishing heritage reserve each year, but council recently agreed to put in another $20,000 a year in 2020-22. Another $40,000 has been set aside for 2021 to create a heritage master plan.

The change, however, was done during service review and won't become officially approved until the final budget is deliberated and voted on by council. 

“Our built heritage is well loved within the community and there’s always a feeling of angst when we lose that,” said Darren Enns, the Town of Banff’s planning and development director.

“It’s also part of our key marketing advantage as a destination. There are people who come here to the see the past and they expect that built landscape is a part of that.”

As part of council’s 2019-22 strategic plan, there’s a goal to increase the number of protected municipal historic resources from 13 to 17.

Currently, 13 of the 46 approved B&B properties are listed on Banff’s heritage inventory. Only one – Abegweit, also known as the Crosby Residence – has legal municipal designation.

This year, the Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation’s MacKenzie Residence was designated a municipal heritage resource, getting a $50,000 matching grant from the Town’s heritage reserve to help with restoration and rehabilitation costs of the 1945 building.

Three other of the historical foundation’s properties have been previously designated: Beaver Lodge, Tanglewood and the Eleanor Luxton Residence.

“We’re really, really hopeful that we can see some development permit applications which involve heritage designation coming forward in the New Year,” said Enns.

The heritage reserve, used primarily to give financial incentives associated with municipal resource designation, is diminishing and sits at a 10-year low. The present balance is $150,0000, but $100,000 has already been set aside for projects like the MacKenzie Residence and the historic power substation.

At service review, council topped up the $15,000 annual transfer to the heritage reserve by another $20,000 for a total of $35,000.

“This is just trying to fill a gap, quite frankly, for the next couple of years and try to respond when someone comes in with a plan to save a building and that we have some cash to respond,” said Enns.

“I don’t want to present a dire situation that we’re going to lose homes because of this. The reality is if you don’t raise this and we get oversubscribed, we would likely be in front of you anyways to ask for money from a different source.”

Councillor Peter Poole, council’s representative on Banff Heritage Corporation, said he’s reluctant to raise taxes, but added that topping up the reserve was a small incentive to help with heritage preservation.

“We’d only be chipping in a small bit to maintain the overall stock of heritage,” he said, adding this contribution may have more community value than, say, spending $100,000 on widening a sidewalk.

Topping up the heritage reserve got the full support of Coun. Corrie DiManno.

“When we raise things up to be in our strategic priority plan, we have to put some money behind these goals,” she said.

“I read recently that a vision of a town is found in its budget and I think this is one of those things that speaks directly to that.”

Meanwhile, the heritage master plan will come up with a series of tactics to help save heritage. The $40,000 has been set aside for 2021 to begin this work.

Enns said Banff has tools in place now to help preserve heritage, such as voluntary designations and grant funding.

“These are the tip of iceberg when it comes to heritage protection,” he said. “The master plan, I expect, would help flush out other tactics.”

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