Town of Wolfville Municipal Planning Strategy As Approved by PSPAC January 21 & February 11, 1999

3.5.10 Residential Architectural Guidelines

The Town of Wolfville has a rich inventory of residential architectural heritage which enhances the Town's natural beauty and makes it an attractive place in which to live and visit.

Development that has not been sympathetic to this architectural heritage has prompted the Town to develop a manual of Residential Architectural Guidelines to encourage more appropriate development in areas of Town with substantial built heritage. The Guidelines are intended to preserve this built heritage, and ensure that future development enhances it. Council engaged the firm Robert Parker & Associates to prepare these guidelines which were adopted by Council on March 18, 1996.

The Introduction to the Guidelines provides further background to their adoption as follows:

"The New England Planters first came to the Wolfville area in 1760 following the expulsion of the Acadians. Their first settlement was known as Upper Horton, and subsequently as Mud Creek, in reference to the silted waters resulting from tidal action in the Bay of Fundy. In 1830, the community changed its come to Wolfville in honour of the prominent DeWolfe family. The Town was incorporated in 1893 and today is recognized as an important cultural and educational centre within the heartland of the Annapolis Valley.

The Town has a building heritage which is rich and diverse with a number of distinctive architectural styles in evidence. Many residents of Wolfville, people from the Maritimes and others from farther afield, are knowledgeable about the architecture of Wolfville and speak of its significance. Many of the houses within the residential areas of the Town were originally erected before the turn of the century and are recognized throughout Atlantic Canada as some to the fines examples of their kind. A good number are registered heritage properties and the Wolfville Heritage Advisory Committee has actively promoted the architectural heritage. It has also been instrumental in helping to formulate the Residential Architectural Guidelines.

Wolfville has been fortunate, in that until recently, most of the houses which were built in the older parts of the Town were of an architectural style which was sympathetic to its neighbours and the streetscape. Indeed, the Classic Revival style is the dominant architectural style for houses in the Town, and as a collection, is unparalleled in Atlantic Canada.

During the last few years there have been examples of new, infill residential development within the older, more traditional parts of Town which have not been designed to compliment their neighbours or the streetscape. There have also been examples of renovations and alterations to the facades of existing houses which have been less than sensitive to the original architecture of the house. Unfortunately, the practice of changing windows, removing porches and verandas and eliminating decorative trim work on some houses has denuded and diminished the beauty of the original house.

Because of these factors and a concern that new houses and alterations to existing houses should enhance the streetscape and architectural heritage of the Town, the Town of Wolfville has established streetscape and architectural guidelines for portions of the Town.

The guidelines which follow are intended to accomplish a number of objectives:

Conserve and enhance the architectural heritage of the Town;

Promote quality of growth and good design;

Conserve the important architectural elements of a structure;

Allow new development to fit the context of its neighbourhood;

Maintain cultural pride in the Town and community;

Recognize that the lifestyles of residents are shaped to a degree by the design of the streetscape and houses;

Promote the tourism potential of the Town's architecture and the economic spin offs."

Development in areas of the Town which are dominated by older houses of classic architectural styles, will be controlled by the Residential Architectural Guidelines. The Residential Architectural Guidelines Control Area is shown on Schedule B, Residential Architectural Guidelines Control Area (see the Town's Land Use By-Law). This area is made up of portions of land which are zoned Residential R-1, R-1A, R-2/4, R8, and Institutional 1-1 and 1-2. To implement the Residential Architectural Guidelines all significant development within the Control Area will be required to follow the development agreement procedure for approval.

Significant development will include:

* Construction of new residential buildings in excess of 95 square metres in total floor area;

* Additions to existing residential buildings that exceed 10% of the existing building floor area and are visible from the street adjacent to the property;

* Construction of new accessory buildings in excess of 20 square metres in floor area where the accessory building is visible from the street adjacent to the property;

* Additions to existing accessory buildings in excess of 10 square metres in floor area, where the accessory building is visible from the street adjacent to the property.

The Residential Architectural Guidelines will be used as a guide by Council, in addition to the criteria of Implementation Policy 10 of the Municipal Planning Strategy, when evaluating significant development, as outlined above, in the control area.

Also, provisions will be placed in the Land Use By-Law to require that additions or renovations of existing buildings in the control area use the same style of roof as the existing building and also use the same style of windows and doors as those that predominate the existing building.

Development projects not controlled by the development agreement process or Land Use By-Law requirements are encouraged to follow the recommendations of the guidelines.

Residential Policy 25

It shall be the intention of Council, in the Residential Architectural Guidelines control area as shown on Schedule B, Residential Architectural Guidelines Control Area in the Land Use By-Law, to consider the following developments by a development agreement:

1. Construction of new residential buildings in excess of 95 square metres in total floor area;

2. Additions to existing residential buildings that exceed 10% of the existing building floor area, and that are visible from the street adjacent to the property;

3. Construction o new accessory buildings in excess of 20 square metres in f floor area where the accessory building is visible from the street adjacent to the property;

4. Additions to existing accessory buildings in excess of 10 square metres in floor area, where the accessory building is visible from the street adjacent to the property.

Residential Policy 26

It shall be the intention of Council, in addition to the requirements of Implementation Policy 10, to evaluate all development agreements proposals pursuant to Residential Policy 25, for consistency with the Town of Wolfville Residential Architectural Guidelines, adopted by resolution of Town Council on March 18, 1996.

Residential Policy 27

It shall be the intention of Council to set out provisions in the Land Use By-Law to regulate roof lines and the styles of windows and doors that are used in the alteration or additions to existing buildings in the Residential Architectural Guidelines Control Area.

Atlantic Planners Institute

This page and all contents are produced by the Atlantic Planners Institute, an affiliate of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

This document was last modified on June 1, 2000.