Downtown Georgetown Planning Study

Downtown Georgetown is one of the growth centres identified within the amalgamated municipality of Halton Hills. The downtown core has a compact commercial main street flanked by a mature residential neighbourhood to the west and former industrial sites in creek valley to the east. The downtown has retained many important buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries and has rich associations with the development of the town’s economy and culture. The planning study goal was to prepare a Secondary Plan that accommodates the anticipated development while conserving and enhancing the downtown’s physical character and economy. Bray Heritage was the consulting team’s heritage planner responsible for the Heritage Conservation Strategy, one of the technical reports informing the Secondary Plan. The firm’s scope of work included site analysis, historical research, an inventory and evaluation of existing and potential cultural heritage resources, and recommendations for heritage conservation policies and guidelines. Important components of the heritage study were the identification of character areas within the study area and the evaluation of buildings, landscapes and areas of archaeological potential within each character area. The character areas and their identified cultural heritage resources were then used to inform development options and were incorporated in the final, preferred, option that was the basis for the Secondary Plan. The heritage study also provided the Town with a review of available heritage conservation policy tools for potential application within municipal planning policies. The final report contained a heritage conservation strategy and key directions within that strategy. Carl Bray was involved in all phases of the study, including the public consultation process and preparation of development options.