Everything You Need to Know About Heritage in Calgary
Heritage conservation is a critical piece of sustainable city building. It benefits economic development, environmental sustainability, and quality of life for Calgarians. Calgary has a rich and meaningful history, and we strive to be inclusive of cultural, social, Indigenous, natural, and built heritage.
In Calgary, we currently have nearly 900 historic resources listed on the Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. Last year we reached our 100th Municipal Historic Resource Designation. Interest is Calgary’s diverse heritage continues to grow, as demonstrated by increasing designation and increasing engagement with heritage programs and communications.
In Alberta, municipal heritage designation (legal protection) is regulated by the provincial Alberta Historic Resources Act. Section 28 (1) of the Act requires the municipality to compensate owners of statutorily designated municipal historic resources to for “the decrease in economic value”. Property owners themselves are responsible for choosing to designate to protect the long-term historic legacy of their property.
INVENTORY OF EVALUATED HISTORIC RESOURCES
The Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources is a database that lists historic resources in Calgary. It is maintained by Heritage Calgary on behalf of the City of Calgary.
The Inventory includes only those historic resources that have been fully evaluated by Heritage Calgary – not every “aged” property has enough integrity to be considered a historic resource.
Evaluations are based on a rigorous framework and a set of predetermined criteria approved by City Council. We issue contracts to independent researchers who conduct the evaluations and provide expert research and analysis of historic properties.
To be listed on the Inventory a resource must be at least 25 years old and meet one or more of the following values:
Activity
Event
Institution
Person/people
Style
Design
Construction
Landmark
Symbolic
Calgary Historic Resource Evaluation System Handbook. 2021.
MUNICIPAL HISTORIC RESOURCE (MHR) DESIGNATION
In Alberta, municipal heritage designation is regulated by the provincial Alberta Historical Resources Act and requires City Council to pass a designation Bylaw to formally adopt a historic home as an MHR.
To qualify for MHR designation, a property must already be on the Inventory of Historic Resources.
Municipal heritage designation:
Prevents a historic resource from being demolished and requires Heritage Planning approval for alterations to historic elements
Does not affect the ability to sell or purchase property
Does not affect activities in a building or on the property
Allows the owner to retain all rights to the individual enjoyment of their property
The designation process is a collaborative discussion between the property owner and the department of Heritage Planning at The City of Calgary. The process is straightforward and flexible, allowing for negotiation about what should be considered a “historic element” of the property.
INCENTIVES
Incentive programs are available to owners of designated properties. The property owner agrees to legally protect their heritage resource in exchange for access to these programs.
Municipal Grants
The City of Calgary Historic Resource Conservation Grant is administered by The City of Calgary. The grant program reserve is $500,000 per year and was increased by Council to $1.5 million per year for 2021 and 2022 on November 26, 2020. Of the funding, $500,000 is reserved for residential properties (including single-family homes and apartment buildings), and $1 million is reserved for non-residential properties (such as warehouses and institutional buildings) and. The increase in funding will support conservation work on non-residential historic resources. Non-residential historic resources are typically multi-storey buildings with more complex conservation needs that require more funds to complete.
Applicants are eligible to receive up to 15% of the assessed value of the property up to 50% of the approved project cost, to a maximum of $125,000 per Municipal Historic Resource.
Grant funding will be cost-shared, providing matching project funding for up to 50% of the total approved project costs, up to the maximum eligible amount specified by the grant program.
Applicants will be eligible to receive approval once every five years, but the total grant amount cannot exceed 15% of the assessed value of the property (at the time of each application) over a period of 15 years, except for special circumstances approved by Council.
Provincial Grants
The Heritage Preservation Partnership Program assists owners of designated heritage properties with the costs associated with restoration and maintenance. These programs must be applied for through the province. Municipal Historic Resources are eligible for a maximum matching grant of $50,000 per property.
Planning & Development Incentives
Planning incentives are policy-based tools to help make conservation of Historic Resources a viable option for property owners in the context of redevelopment. Depending on the location and guiding policy, owners may be able to sell unused density through a Density Transfer Program, gain additional saleable density through re-zoning, or receive support for projects involving relaxations or alternative solutions that include the protection of a Historic Resource.
NEW HERITAGE PLANNING TOOLS
In July 2020, Council approved a suite of new heritage planning tools. The tools are intended to be used in a layer approach, so additional protections can be layered on top of each other as applicable.
The three new heritage planning tools are as follows:
Layer 1 – The Incentivization Tool
Applicable to block faces with up to 24% identified Heritage Assets, this tool broadly incentivizes heritage conservation by offering additional development potential to properties that retain a heritage asset on site. Some proposed incentives include: removal of parking minimum standards; minor infill such as: backyard suites; and additional, context-appropriate live/work unit uses. These incentives do not restrict or inhibit development, and are implemented through an amendment to Land Use Bylaw.
Layer 2 – Heritage Guideline Areas
Applicable to block faces with 25-50% identified Heritage Assets, this policy tool works hand-in-hand with the Heritage Guideline Areas identified in Local Area Plans. This tool makes all land uses (other than those that are encouraged by the Layer 1 – Incentivization tool) within a Heritage Guideline Area discretionary uses, meaning a Development Permit will be required to make changes. Land uses within Heritage Guideline Areas will also be subject to locally-specific heritage design guidelines to ensure recognition of locally-specific heritage form elements.
Layer 3 – Direct Control Heritage Areas
Applicable to block faces with up to 50%+ identified Heritage Assets, this tool incentivizes heritage conservation in areas with the highest concentration of Heritage Assets. It allows for residents to request the creation of Direct Control Heritage Areas through the creation of a Direct Control bylaw. This will allow for even more specific architectural controls and limited redevelopment potential. A Direct Control Heritage Area is a unique set of Land Use District (zoning) rules for all properties in a defined area. While heritage areas have been established in other Canadian cities, this will be the first time that Direct Control Heritage Areas are created in Calgary.
FUTURE CONSERVATION TOOLS AND INCENTIVES WORK
At the direction of Council, The City is currently working on new policy tools and financial incentives to support heritage conservation. This includes additional grant funding for designated non-residential heritage resources, continued development of a proposed residential heritage tax credit program, and phased implementation of residential heritage area policies throughout 2021-2023.
City Administration has been asked to return to the Priorities & Finance Committee no later than Q1 2022 with the residential tax credit financial incentive package for consideration in the 2023-2026 budget deliberations
Residential Tax Credit
The residential tax credit would provide owners of protected buildings with an annual credit on their municipal property tax levy for up to 15 years equal to 75 percent of each year’s municipal property taxes. An alternative mechanism to a tax credit would be the creation of a residential heritage tax sub-class for designated sites with an associated lower tax rate. Through cross-departmental consultation, Administration determined that a residential tax credit would achieve the same benefit with lower administrative costs and risk. The proposed tax credit has been refined since April (moving from a tax-back grant system) to achieve additional benefits as opposed to a differential tax class. As the City tax systems are upgraded, future opportunities for a differential tax class should be revisited.
The tax credit program is proposed to be capped at $50,000 per property and does not require an owner to perform restoration or rehabilitation work. The program incentivizes property owners to designate by providing unrestricted, easily-accessed property tax savings to better balance the economic trade-off between conserving or redeveloping a heritage resource.
A summary of the financial incentive analyses and explored alternatives can be found here.