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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 12 Gordon honoured for ensuring history is preserved by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff It was the character of the neighbourhood that brought him to Oakville and nearly 40 years later, George Gordon is still working to preserve the town's heritage. A member of the town's first heritage committee, the Local Architects Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC), formed in 1976, Gordon played a key role in Oakville's first designated heritage district, the area south of Lakeshore between Navy and Allan streets. Today, he continues to work with the Town of Oakville on heritage projects. For his efforts, Gordon has been awarded the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement. His knowledge is an asset "His knowledge and the history of how things have changed in the past 30-40 years is such an asset," said Sue Schappert, a heritage planner with the Town of Oakville. "George is always willing to help out with a site visit and he's an active participant on our committee. He can remember dealing with some of the properties 20 years ago." Oakville now has four designated conservation districts as well as 150 individual properties outside those areas. Not everyone was in favour of the first to educate residents why it was important. "It was a hard fight. We were starting from scratch. There wasn't a lot of knowledge about preservation," he said. "We had to convince the residents it would be to their benefit to protect the heritage of the area." Gordon said the establishment of that initial 24-square block heritage area is still his proudest accomplishment. "If we hadn't stepped up, I don't know how much of that would be left," he said. "It would be all big, ugly stone homes." Notable achievements Among some of the notable achievements Gordon played a role in was the establishment of three other heritage districts, including the downtown, and restricting the height of a downtown condominium to half the proposed 20-storey height. While he recognizes that change is inevitable, he said an effort must be made to maintain elements of the past. "Not every old building is worth preserving," he said, "but if there's enough historical value and interest, it should be." Nowhere has that been more important than downtown. "It all reflects an era of Oakville, that (the Town) is preserving the best it can," he said. "There's a lot of history in the town." · M i r a g e H a r d w o o d Oakville's George Gordon was a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement last week. Presenting him with his award were, (left) the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and (right) Maria Topalovich, board member of Ontario Heritage Trust. | photo by Tessa Buchan, courtesy of the Ontario Heritage Trust heritage district, which controls the design and style of house that can be built as well as the modifications that can be made to the exterior of existing houses, when it was first proposed. The committee was concerned about older houses being bought, demolished and then replaced with large homes. Gordon said a key role of the committee was K a r a s t a n A r e a R u g s Peerless Carpeting · Buyers Edge Guarantee · 200 Store Buying Power Certified Auto Glass Technicians with 22 years of experience All windshield,door & back glass in stock Persian We pay up to 100% of insurance Deductible · We deal directly with your Insurance Company · Life time Warranty against leaks · Stone chip repairs · Free Mobile Service · Free Pickup & Drop OFF d rs n this a Mentio dshield wipe in w e dels e o r F m t d and ge s to most make an Applie BesT QuAlITy. BesT servICe. BesT PrICes! AmAzing DeAls on BroADloom up to DIAMOND PLATINUM Rugs · 1/2 PrICe Any Carpet style $ Peerless · Berber · Twist · Plush · Shag · Textured Berber Installed with underpad 2.99 InsTAllATIon & underPAd InCluded! Carpeting /sq.ft. · 200 281 Speers Road Oakville ON 905.339.0339 1.855.339.0339 www.speersautoglass.ca n El iza be ye th cr W of ay tR d $ AREA RUGS 99 5' X 8' StARtinG At nEw kARAStAn SmARt StRAnd AREA RUGS opeN SuNDAYS SuperStore Store Buying Ke Following locations only: 228 KInG sT. e. Hamilton 905-546-1921 · P e r s i a n R u g s Power rr St ee Qu Sp ee r sR rv al Dr oa d Do . W 125 Cross Avenue, (across from Oakville Go Station) oakville 905.849.4472 M i r a g e H a rd w o o d · K a r a s t a n C a r p e t i n g