NSH Heritage Grant Program

 

Heritage Grant categories:

Heritage Planning

  • Includes preparation of a new or updated Statement of Significance or Heritage Conservation and Maintenance plan, or both.

  • Award value of up to $500 based on 50% of project costs.

Heritage Conservation

  • Includes repair and restoration to heritage property, or maintenance of designated heritage trees.

  • Award value of up to $500 based on 50% of project costs.

Award Application Period and Deadline

  • Application Deadline: Closed for 2023 Grant. Next deadline: December 31, 2024

  • Adjudication Period: Closed for 2023 Grant. Next adjudication: January 1 -January 31, 2025

  • Public Announcement: February 2025 (heritage week)

  • A total of two grants of $500 each will be awarded each year

Eligibility

To qualify for grant funding, you must be a current member of North Shore Heritage Preservation Society and your property must meet at least one of the following requirements:

Be listed on one of the following municipal registers or inventories:

If your property is not identified as one of these heritage resources, you can still be considered for grant funding if you provide a Statement of Significance from a registered heritage professional which identifies that the property has heritage character and value.

Grant conditions

  • You must be the property owner (provide Property Tax statement), or a tenant with the property owner’s permission to submit a grant application

  • Any conservation or restoration work must be done with appropriate permits and comply with applicable by-laws

  • The work should have been completed in the calendar year prior to your grant application (January 1 - December 31, 2023) or within one year of submitting your grant application (by December 31, 2024)

  • NSH board members are not eligible

  • You will be required to submit photos and itemized paid invoices for eligible costs upon project completion to receive grant funding.

Applicants are encouraged to:

  • Provide at least two quotes for the work.

  • Consider using individuals or companies experienced with heritage restoration work

Application Process

Please complete this Application Form and email the form and relevant documents below to info@northshoreheritage.net

Please be sure you have digital copies of these support documents ready to submit with your application, if applicable:

  • Detailed estimate of costs or itemized paid invoice

  • 'Before' photos of the property or building

  • ‘After’ photos of the property or building, if the work is already completed

  • Statement of Significance (if your house is not the Heritage Register or any of the inventories)

  • Property owner's written permission to submit a grant application (if you are a tenant)

Adjudication

  • North Shore Heritage intends to award heritage grants annually.

  • Applications will be assessed by an adjudication committee which will be a sub-committee of the NSH board.

  • Each application shall be assessed on its own merits relative to other applications and the grant funds available.

  • The adjudication committee reserves the ability to recommend funding an application in whole or in part.

  • There is no obligation to approve a grant for any application.

  • To enable a greater number of properties or applicants to benefit from heritage grant funding, those who have not previously received heritage grant funding from NSH will be given priority consideration during application evaluation if the application requirements and criteria are met.

Grant Disbursement Conditions

  • Only direct out-of-pocket costs which, in NSH’s opinion are properly and reasonably incurred and paid by a recipient for an approved project, may be treated as eligible costs.

  • Grant funds will be disbursed after project completion. Project completion will be determined by NSH as evidenced by submission of itemized paid invoices or receipts, photographs showing finished project (as applicable), and final documents (as applicable).

  • Upon grant approval, if the owner fails to complete the approved work within the required time frame, comply with the required bylaws, secure the required permits, or pass required municipal inspections, the grant may be rescinded in whole or in part. Requests to extend time frames for approved grants must be made in writing and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Heritage Planning Projects

Grants for Heritage Planning Projects will be considered as follows:

  • The property does not already have a Statement of Significance and/or a Heritage Conservation and Maintenance Plan (as applicable).

  • Updates to an existing Statement of Significance/Conservation and Maintenance Plan may be considered if there have been significant changes to the property that warrant an update to the document(s).

  • The Statement of Significance must be developed by a designated heritage professional and must include:

    • Brief description of the place.

    • Identification of the key heritage values.

    • List of its principal character-defining elements

  • Heritage Conservation and Maintenance Plans must be developed by a designated heritage professional and must include:

    • Reference to the Statement of Significance.

    • Condition assessment.

    • Conservation guidelines and best practices applicable to the property.

    • Conservation recommendations and maintenance activities applicable to the property.

    • Images of the site and features as applicable (e.g. exterior architectural detail).

Restoration Projects

Eligible costs include:

  • Material and labour costs.

  • Preparation of design or building plans for executed projects (i.e. physical conservation work must be fully executed by the time an applicant submits for reimbursement at the end of a project). Reimbursed costs for design or plans may not exceed 50% of the grant.

Ineligible work and costs:

  • Replacement of elements that are not in keeping with the property’s historic character (e.g. replacing wood siding with vinyl siding).

  • Regular cleaning or maintenance (e.g. window washing).

  • Preparation of design or building plans alone (i.e. without executed physical conservation work).

  • Permit fees or legal costs.

  • Landscaping (exceptions: Designated Heritage Trees, or if the landscape feature is described in the Heritage Register, or is a character-defining element described in a Statement of Significance).

  • Recipient’s labour costs relating to services delivered directly by the recipient, employees of the recipient, or of a corporation owned and controlled by the recipient.

  • Recipient’s employee wages and benefits, overhead costs and other direct or indirect operating, maintenance and administrative costs incurred by the recipient.

  • Provincial sales tax and the Goods and Services Tax for which the recipient or a third party is eligible for a tax rebate and any other costs eligible for rebates.

Priority will be given to applications for the following work:

  • Repairs that conserve original exterior character-defining elements (e.g. original windows and window frames, doors, chimneys, masonry on house or historic stone walls, porches, siding, trim, shingles).

  • Restoration that focuses on bringing a structure’s exterior back to a specific period of its history (e.g. repainting with original or historic period-appropriate colours, rebuilding heritage-equivalent wood windows where the originals have been lost, reconstruction of missing exterior elements that are based on evidence of the original design, such as photographs, drawings, or surviving physical remnants).

  • Rehabilitation that ensures continued use of the heritage structure (e.g. building envelope and structural preservation such as reroofing, foundation repair or renewal, and sensitive and sustainable retrofits to improve energy use such as adding storm windows for historic windows). Work should respect the heritage value and character-defining elements.

  • Work that meets the intent of the current version of the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.

  • Pruning or trimming of Designated Heritage Trees in order to maintain the health and aesthetics of the tree. Work must be done by a qualified arborist.

  • Repairs or restoration of building interiors may be considered for buildings where the exterior is already in good condition and where the character-defining elements are defined in a Statement of Significance prepared by a heritage professional

 

 

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