Council directs staff to cost a heritage conservation district study for more than 300 Roseland properties

What Council decided

Burlington Council approved a motion from Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte on September 29, 2026, directing the Director of Community Planning to research the budget required for a heritage conservation district study covering more than 300 properties in the Roseland neighbourhood and report back in Q1 2027.

The motion was first presented at the Committee of the Whole on September 14 as COW-20-26 and ratified by Council on September 29. It carries no immediate financial commitment — the report will give Council the cost estimate and scope it needs to decide whether to proceed.

What a heritage conservation district means

Under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, a municipality can designate a heritage conservation district after completing a study that identifies heritage attributes and assesses the area's cultural heritage value. Once designated, alterations, demolitions and new development within the district are guided by a heritage conservation district plan and reviewed against that plan before permits are issued.

Burlington designated its first heritage conservation district — the Burlington Avenue and Ontario Street HCD — by By-law 08-2026 on March 2, 2026. That district covers 33 properties. The Roseland study would assess more than 300, making it roughly ten times the scale.

Community engagement so far

Heritage Planner Chloe Richer held a community meeting in Roseland on June 9, 2026. The motion memo says the majority of attendees expressed interest in continuing the process of exploring a heritage conservation district. She reported the community's interest to the Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee on June 10.

The Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee reviewed the item at a virtual special meeting on August 12, 2026, where staff noted that Councillor Stolte planned to bring the motion to Council in September.

Why the motion cites the Province

The motion memo notes that heritage conservation is a Provincial interest identified in both the Planning Act and the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024. It also references recent Official Plan amendments that support ground-oriented intensification while carrying forward lessons from the former Character Area policies. The memo frames heritage conservation as complementary to those intensification goals, not in conflict with them.