The District of Lake Country has started a value-based heritage management approach.
A heritage values workshop report recognizes that the age of a site is not its most valuable asset. Instead, it is what a place says about the social, spiritual and cultural values of a community at a particular time which should be conserved.
As part of the process, the district and the Lake Country Heritage and Cultural Society held a workshop facilitated by provincial Heritage Branch staff.
“The focus of the workshop was to gather local knowledge about what major factors and processes influenced the District of Lake Country’s heritage resources and make it the vibrant community it is today,” said Steve Schaffrick, director of community and customer services.
“With a wide variety of community stakeholders participating in the workshop, the district gained a better understanding of what parts of the community people value most.”
The one‐day workshop brought community stakeholders together to identify heritage values and begin to identify historic places and what should be conserved. From there, decisions can be made on how to best conserve places that the community identifies as embodying heritage values and how to respond to these values in planning for the future development of the district.
This is the first step towards the development of a heritage conservation program for Lake Country. The district, along with the society, will now be working on a list of key sites that will be presented to council for further action and identification.
“The workshop inspired some great discussion on community identity,” said Shannon Jorgenson, with the Lake Country Heritage and Cultural Society.
“It was a terrific opportunity to celebrate the things that make Lake Country unique.”
A copy of the heritage values workshop report and photos of the workshop event are available at www.okanaganway.ca/municipal by clicking on the quick link for heritage.