Heritage master plan: Milton’s History

NRU
Nov. 2016
Leah Wong

Over the last 15 years the Town of Milton has grown significantly—from a population of 31,000 to more than 100,000. With the influx of new residents, local heritage advocates want to ensure that the town’s history is preserved and shared with everyone.

A heritage master plan, prepared by an ad hoc task force, was presented to committee of the whole last week. The task force, comprising volunteer representatives from Heritage Milton, the Milton Historical Society and the Nasagiweya Historical Society, was formed by council in 2013 to prepare the plan.

Milton is home to beautiful churches and historical buildings originating from when the town was the county seat in the 1850s, but few residents know the significance of these buildings, task force chair and Milton Historical Society town and regional liaison Nancy Cuttle told NRU.

“Looking at the population figures, three out of every four people have lived here for less than 5 to 10 years,” said Cuttle. “We have a new, booming population that is very multicultural and knows almost nothing about our history.”

Milton planning and development commissioner Barbara Koopmans told NRU that staff is working to identify opportunities to implement the task force’s recommendations \through ongoing planning projects. For example, staff will consider the designation of a Downtown Heritage Conservation District through the in-progress Downtown Study.

“What we’re trying to do is achieve the objectives of the provincial policy direction as well as retain important cultural heritage elements that are part of the town and the town’s fabric,” said Koopmans. She added that preserving Milton’s heritage allows future generations to appreciate the history of the town. “Heritage attributes of a lot of areas of old Milton are quite important and should be appropriately respected and conserved as development proceeds.”

While developers have been required to preserve some significant properties in new subdivisions, Cuttle said the task force is concerned about maintaining Milton’s historic downtown.

“It’s a beautiful little downtown and like every little downtown it needs a plan on how to survive,” said Cuttle. “That, to me, is the most important part of the heritage master plan, just to know where you are going.”

The task force also recommended that the town’s list of heritage properties be updated and ranked to prioritize significant properties.

Koopmans said the list fl ags heritage properties where staff need to undertake more detailed research about their signifi cance when development is proposed nearby. But Koopmans said, not all the properties should remain on the list.

“It gives us the ability to make a conscious decision as to whether or not they really do need to be preserved.”

The list presently contains more than 1,100 properties. While the task force said it is missing some significant properties, it suggested that reducing the list by removing properties with little cultural significance would increase the public’s appreciation of the town’s heritage buildings.

“We need to hone the list down... We want to make sure we preserve the right stuff,” said Cuttle. “We need a plan that says, okay this is what matters to our town and this is what is significant.”

Now that the master plan has been presented to committee the task force has been disbanded. However, Cuttle said members of the task force are committed to promoting heritage in the town through its local historical societies.

Cuttle’s next project is to compile historical documents to tell the story of Milton’s founder Jasper Martin, a local entrepreneur that owned a significant portion of the town.

“There are stories there that need to be told and there are stories that are relevant to [residents] today,” said Cuttle.