Oil Heritage Study

The Village of Oil Springs and the Township of Enniskillen, in partnership with the County of Lambton, have undertaken a study which will help the notable areas within their municipalities achieve the status of an Ontario Heritage Conservation District.  This designation is achieved through Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act and would preserve heritage structures and industrial archeological sites.

To achieve this goal, the municipalities have worked with local landowners and local historians to produce research and a draft report.   Consultants, including representatives from MHBC Planning, Historica Research Limited and George Robb Architect, have undertaken a comprehensive inventory of the scale and scope of the resources.

Oil Heritage Conservation District DRAFT Plan
A Public Meeting will be held on September 14, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Oil Springs Youth Centre to present the draft documents and receive public comments.  The documents are available for viewing below.  Questions regarding any of the documents can be directed to:

Dave Posliff, Manager of Planning and Development Services dave.posliff@county-lambton.on.ca 519 845-0809, ext. 5342

Robert Tremain, Supervisor-Curator, Lambton County Museums robert.tremain@county-lambton.on.ca 519 243-2564

Oil_Heritage_Conservation_District_Plan.pdf

Conservation_District_Study_Appendix.pdf

Conservation_District_Study_Text.pdf

Oil Heritage District Steering Committee
The Oil Heritage District Steering Committee have been meeting regularly to review the Consultants' research and discuss potential guidelines for consideration by the public and by Lambton County Council. Members include:

Name	Title	email address
April James	General Manager, County of Lambton Cultural Services Division	april.james@county-lambton.on.ca
Betty Lou Snetselaar		njnbj@sympatico.ca
Charles Fairbank		fairban1@bellnet.ca
Charles Fisher	Revenue Development Officer, County of Lambton	charles.fisher@county-lambton.on.ca
Christine Poland	Clerk-Treasurer, Village of Oil Springs	oilsprings@ciaccess.com
Connie Bell	Supervisor, Oil Museum of Canada	connie.bell@county-lambton.on.ca
Dave Posliff	Manager, County of Lambton Planning & Development Services Department	dave.posliff@county-lambton.on.ca
Dawn-Marie Gates		dawnmarie.gates@county-lambton.on.ca
Duncan McTavish	Administrator - Clerk, Township of Enniskillen	dmctavish@enniskillen.ca
Gordon Perry	Mayor, Village of Oil Springs	gordon.perry@county-lambton.on.ca
Martin Dillon		martyd@ebtech.net
Mary-Pat Gleeson		mpgleeson9@sympatico.ca
Robert Cochrane		cairnlins@viamail.ca
Robert Tremain	Supervisor-Curator, Lambton County Museums	robert.tremain@county-lambton.on.ca
Ruth Kernohan		rukern@xcelco.on.ca

Advisory (non-voting) Members:

Wendy Shearer

Darren Winger

Christopher Andrae

Paul King

Ron Dale

Minutes from the committee meetings are listed below.

April_2_08.pdf

May_28_08.pdf

July_22_08.pdf

December_15_08.pdf

February_24_09.pdf

May_11_09.pdf

June_16_09.pdf

August_4_09.pdf

Community Meeting - May 11_09
A Community Meeting was held on May 11, 2009 at the Oil Springs Youth Centre.   At this meeting, consultants explained the research undertaken to date.    The following maps were presented for discussion at the meeting, and show three options for defining potential Heritage Conservation District boundaries.

The first map, "Limits of Oil Pool", shows a boundary based on the natural limit of the underground resource pool on which the industry was based.  All successful wells were located within this boundary.

Limits_of_Oil_Pool.pdf

The second map, "Potential Heritage Area", shows the same oil pool boundary, but uses property lines as the boundaries because they are more visible on the ground and are easier to define.

Oil_Springs_Potential_Heritage_Area.pdf

The third map, "Potential Contributing and Sequential Heritage Areas", includes the potential district as defined on the second map, but would add other areas that have either contributed directly to the significance of the Oil Springs field (Plank Road, Oil City and the Wyoming railhead), or followed as a further development of the industry (Petrolia).

Potential_Contributing_and_Sequential_Heritage_Areas.pdf