The following editorial appeared in the October 17 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Council has moved wisely and relatively quickly in approving heritage funding for two landmark buildings in the city core ravaged by a devastating Good Friday fire.
It’s clear the current proposal to turn the Gummer and Victoria buildings into one commercial complex may well not have proceeded without this promise of a $1.3-million cash injection, to be made over 10 years after the renovations are complete. And it’s equally clear that the ambitious plans by the developer will go a long way toward the much-needed revitalization of downtown.
The money comes from a fund established earlier this year that has very specific parameters related to heritage preservation, and will be replenished through the higher taxes property owners will pay when the renovations are complete. If such a fund had been in place over the past quarter century, who knows how much of this city’s distinctive downtown architectural history would have been preserved.
This heritage fund was launched with the Gummer-Victoria buildings redevelopment in mind, and how successful that project is will no doubt colour the future of the program. With plans to turn the mid-19th-century buildings into a large office complex with a larger array of tenants, this project promises to be the kind of boost businesses in the Douglas Street neighbourhood have been yearning for.
As mentioned here earlier, we’re concerned that the $205,000 a year the city is putting into the fund may fall well short of expectations, and council should seriously start thinking of such future contingencies. The fact that the Gummer-Victoria funding was approved without discussion Monday night may hint that councillors are already thinking along these lines.
In light of the faith council has now shown in the importance of downtown heritage preservation, we wonder if Councillor Ian Findlay’s recent musings about turning Douglas Street into a pedestrian-only walkway may just have been given new momentum.