Ottawa explores heritage district designation for Kanata neighbourhood

Kanata’s Beaverbrook neighbourhood could soon get a heritage designation. CTV’s Camille Wilson speaks with residents in the area.

The City of Ottawa is exploring designating the Kanata neighbourhood of Beaverbrook as a Heritage Conservation District.

The Built Heritage Committee directed staff last month to undertake a study and prepare a Heritage Conservation District plan for Kanata’s oldest neighbourhood, which was established by developer Bill Teron in the early 1960s.

“We were really pleased, certainly as an office, but as a community to see that. We’ve been waiting quite a long time. What staff will do now is, they will look at the entire area and all of its unique qualities and characteristics,” said Coun. Cathy Curry.

Curry says the heritage study observes the look and feel of the neighbourhood.

Teron designed Beaverbrook for families, creating a unique design reflecting nature, hedges as fences, open space with banks, doctors, the library, the fire station, and everything people need in the centre of the community.

“Beaverbrook was to be looked at, and then the province did their study, and then we did the feasibility study and now we are doing the (heritage conservation district) study. That’s sometimes how these things have to go,” said Curry.

Teron’s hope was for everyone to stay in the community, raise families and grow old without needing to leave the neighbourhood. According to staff, the majority of Beaverbrook was developed between 1964 and 1971.

Doug and Doreen Cass were the very first residents to move onto Tiffany Crescent in 1964, one of the first streets in Beaverbrook. They remember when Teron took hold of the rural property.

“It’s been wonderful living here. I think it’s 61 years and we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t like it,” Doreen said.

The couple raised their children in their Beaverbrook home and still reside on Tiffany Crescent.

“It was an experience and we’ve never left,” says Doug.

Doug and Doreen say they believe their neighbourhood is worth preserving and should be recognized as a heritage neighbourhood.

“I guess when you grow with it, you don’t think of that you are part of history,” said Doug.

Curry says preserving the neighbourhood entails keeping the character, like the light posts, light globes, hedges as fences, street signs and natural spaces.

Twenty-one Ottawa neighbourhoods have already been designated heritage conservation districts, including the ByWard Market, New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe Park.

The Ontario Heritage Act allows municipalities to designate areas as a Heritage Conservation District, which is intended to recognize and conserve an area’s distinct history, character, and sense of place by managing change within its boundaries.

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