Resident input wanted for Heritage Designation Strategy in Kawartha Lakes

The City of Kawartha Lakes is developing a new heritage designation strategy to help guide its protection of built heritage assets across the municipality.

Kawartha Lakes, and its predecessor municipalities, have protected properties through heritage designation under the Ontario Heritage Act since the Act was passed in 1975. There are over 120 individually designated heritage properties in the municipality, which represent just a small number of the important historic structures and locations. These buildings and places help tell our story, are points of pride for residents, and attract visitors to the region.

Over the past five years, the provincial government has made a significant number of changes to how we protect heritage properties and has recommended that municipalities complete strategies for how they designate properties. Kawartha Lakes is currently in the process of creating a strategy to help guide how we identify and protect the properties that are important to our residents, while also fulfilling our legislative obligations.

We are looking for resident input on this strategy and there are three ways to get involved:

• Visit our Jump In page to learn more about the project, keep up to date on milestones, and complete our public survey.
• Complete a paper survey at one of our municipal service centres or at our Development Service Hub at 180 Kent Street West in Lindsay.
• Attend one of our public information sessions to learn more about the project from staff and to provide your input.
  • January 21, 2026 at the Fenelon Falls Library (19 Market Street), 4pm to 6pm
  • January 22, 2026 at Lindsay City Hall (26 Francis Street), 6pm to 8pm

The public survey closes on January 29, 2026.

For further information on the new Heritage Designation Strategy, please visit the Kawartha Lakes website or contact Emily Turner, Economic Development Officer – Heritage Planning. To stay up to date on Economic Development news, visit the Facebook page.

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