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Toronto is home to a variety of architectural styles - from the Brutalist Robarts Library 'Peacock', to the stately Victorian homes that populate the Annex, to the glass and steel behemoths that line King. All of them help to map how our Toronto has grown and changed from its establishment as the town of York in the 18th Century to one largest cities in North America. Our buildings are part of the that story and it is important that the significant ones are preserved to continue to tell it.
Heritage Preservation Services (HPS) is a leader in the mission to preserve and cherish the development of Toronto. One of the ways that HPS achieves this is through feedback and ideas from Torontonians themselves, including through citizen positions on the Toronto Preservation Board, or on one of four Community Preservation Panels. On Wednesday, the HPS announced that they are recruiting volunteers to participate on the Toronto Preservation Board and for Community Preservation Panels for the new term starting in January 2015.
The board has 14 seats, three of which are allotted to City Councillors, and meets a minimum of 10 times each year. The preservation panels, one in each of the city's four districts—Etobicoke-York, North York, Scarborough and Toronto-East York—consists of 15 members along with a maximum of two City Councillors. The length of commitment for a position on the board or panel is 4 years, coinciding with the City Council term, with this one ending in November 2018.
Eligible candidates for the board must be residents of Toronto, 18 years of age or older and posses "a special interest or knowledge that will assist the board in fulfilling its responsibilities, such as expertise in architecture, archeology, planning, landscape architecture, local history, natural heritage, land development, and/or law." The eligibility requirements are the same for the Community Preservation panels, except that instead of having a "special interest or knowledge" they must posses skills or have an interest in heritage, research, architecture, planning or engineering.
The deadline to apply for positions on either the board or one of the panels is Friday October 31 at 4 PM. If this appeals to you, more information and access to the application form is at www.toronto.ca/heritage-preservation.
