Toronto Heritage Survey Phase One and Heritage Planning Process Update

This report summarizes the accomplishments of Phase One to date, including revisions to Heritage Planning processes related to the implementation of Bill 108. The projected deliverables of Phase One were identified in the City-Wide Heritage Survey Feasibility Study report's recommendations and Attachment 3: Phase One Work Plan (2019-2022). A phased approach to the survey was recommended due to the importance of establishing clear and consistent business practices, communications, and survey and engagement methods prior to scaling up to a city-wide program. Since the launch of Phase One, City Planning has: co-developed, with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, the Economic Development and Culture Division and the Indigenous Affairs Office, an Indigenous Heritage Engagement Project; supported greater equity and inclusion in City Planning engagement practices; shaped processes, work flows, and methodologies across the Heritage Planning unit and throughout the City Planning Division to achieve early, efficient, and systematic review of properties to determine if they do, or do not, have cultural heritage value; achieved greater transparency and predictability for the public and development review through the prompt inclusion of identified properties on the Heritage Register; and contributed to new development and growth plans that conserve cultural heritage resources and the sense of place they define or support. Progress within Phase One has largely been the result of a strategic approach that has tested city-wide survey methodologies within the existing study work program, supported by staff across the City Planning Division. In delivering the Toronto Heritage Survey, City Planning is not only identifying properties of heritage interest and clearing the vast majority of others of heritage concern, the Division is advancing the implementation of Toronto's Official Plan vision and the strategic priorities of Toronto's Corporate Strategic Plan, 2019, including implementation of the Toronto Office of Recovery and Rebuild recommendations. To this end, the Toronto Heritage Survey and the City Planning Division's Study Work Program have been responsive to emerging issues and priorities facing the city to ensure that everyone can benefit from and share the rewards and advantages of living in Toronto. The Toronto Heritage Survey's key goals remain especially relevant today and for the future of the city. More work remains to be done before Phase One can be completed. This report identifies key next steps and proposes a Staff Report in the third quarter of 2023 to summarize the results of Phase One and recommend next phases of the Toronto Heritage Survey.