The town of Halton Hills is a layered landscape of small and large urban settlements and crossroads communities, rural agricultural landscapes, river valleys and hills, with the Niagara Escarpment running through its northwestern corner. Nestled between the urban municipalities of Milton to the south and Brampton to the east, Halton Hills is a town on the cusp of change, much of it centred on the communities of Georgetown and Acton.

In 2021, ERA was retained by the Town of Halton Hills to develop a Cultural Heritage Strategy that would guide the municipal heritage program. Working closely with the Town’s Manager of Heritage Planning and an interdepartmental team of municipal staff, we developed a Strategy that would integrate heritage conservation holistically into the management of a range of municipal portfolios, from planning to economic development to climate change resiliency.

The Strategy was developed over two phases: an information-gathering phase resulting in an Existing Conditions Report (December 2021), and a Strategy development phase resulting in the final Halton Hills Cultural Heritage Strategy. Both phases involved substantial engagement with local stakeholders, including a Steering Committee, a multidisciplinary working group from a range of local sectors, and online engagement using the Let’s Talk Halton Hills platform. The Strategy was further developed in collaboration with partners at the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

The Halton Hills Cultural Heritage Strategy guides the conservation of tangible and intangible heritage in Halton Hills. It includes 32 recommendations organized under seven categories, including the conservation of individual built resources and the conservation of character areas. The Strategy identifies and provides recommendations for heritage planning challenges specific to Halton Hills, including the management of farmsteads within urban expansion areas, and historic settlements in river-valley floodplains.

The Halton Hills Cultural Heritage Strategy is informed by a cultural landscape approach, recognizing heritage conservation as one municipal objective that permeates and overlaps with the delivery of many other municipal services intended to meet contemporary community needs. The Cultural Heritage Strategy outlines the ways Halton Hills’ built fabric, landscapes, and intangible practices and stories can be integrated into the ongoing development and evolution of great places throughout Halton Hills.