Town, diocese reach concensus on church's heritage designation

by Keely Grasser

Apr 02, 2008

KEARNEY — The Town of Kearney and the Diocese of Peterborough have struck a tentative agreement over the heritage designation of St. Patrick’s Church, according to mayor Jeff Johnston.

“I think we would be moving toward heritage status for various aspects of the church,” Johnston said, referring to the result of a recent meeting between the diocese’s vicar-general and the town.

This could, he said, prevent the matter from going to a Ministry of Culture-overseen hearing into whether the church should be designated, scheduled to be held in Kearney on April 22. The ministry’s conservation review board holds a hearing when there is opposition that can’t be worked out regarding a town’s intent to designate.

Last year, the town moved toward passing a bylaw that would designate the century-old Catholic church as a heritage building. However, during a mandatory public input period, three oppositions were forwarded to the town — one from the parish priest, one from the diocese and one from former town clerk Elwood Varty.

The church, in later presentations, argued that a heritage designation could put unwanted financial pressures on an already money-strapped situation.

“They were opposed primarily because they (the parish and diocese) were afraid…that the municipality would impose upon them some minimum maintenance requirements,” Johnston said. “We reassured them that’s not the case.”

The church would be protected from any possible future minimum property standards regulations put in force by the town, Johnston said.

Heritage designation will protect the church from demolition, but does not force an owner into restoration, although Johnston said he “hopes they will do that.”

He said the designation would also help the church be eligible for grants for upgrades.

However, Johnston stressed that this agreement was tentative.

“What we have to do now is sit down and work out the details,” he said.

When the final agreement is reached, Johnson said that, “probably by the end of the day, it will be legalized…Also I think the church would feel comfortable having a legalized statement.”

The town and opposition to the church’s heritage designation have been meeting for months in anticipation of the April 22 meeting, where a conservation review board would hear evidence and give a recommendation to the town as to whether they should designate the building through bylaw or not. The board’s recommendation would be non-binding.

Asked why a consensus was never reached before, Johnston said, “I’m not really sure. I think it took a while for the real message to get through. There was a lot of misinformation floating around.”

Johnston said the parties have written the Ministry of Culture to let it know that a possible resolution has been found. They have had no response yet.

However, a truce between the town and diocese and parish may not prevent a hearing from going forth.

Varty’s opposition still stands.

When contacted by the Almaguin News, Varty said he hadn’t heard of any agreement, nor could he comment on what he will do regarding his opposition.