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 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 Plan
The Oil Heritage Conservation District Plan was adopted by Lambton County Council on November 24, 2010.  The final plan is posted below.  Questions regarding any of the documents can be directed to:

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

Robert Tremain General Manager, Cultural Services robert.tremain@county-lambton.on.ca 519 845-0809, ext. 5236

Conservation_District_Plan.pdf

Conservation_District_Study_Appendix.pdf

Conservation_District_Study_Text.pdf

Heritage_Conservation_District_Feasibility_Study_for_the_Town_of_Petrolia.pdf

Sept_14_2010_Public_Meeting.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
Betty Lou Snetselaar	Lambton County Historical Society
Charles Fairbank	Fairbank Oil Properties
Christine Poland	Clerk-Treasurer, Village of Oil Springs	oilsprings@ciaccess.com
Connie Bell	Supervisor, Oil Museum of Canada
Dave Posliff	Manager, County of Lambton Planning & Development Services Department	dave.posliff@county-lambton.on.ca
Dawn-Marie Gates	Oil Springs Heritage Advisory Committee
Duncan McTavish	Administrator - Clerk, Township of Enniskillen	dmctavish@enniskillen.ca
Gordon Perry	Oil Springs	gordandmargaretperry@ciaccess.com
Martin Dillon	Petrolia Heritage Committee
Mary-Pat Gleeson	Councillor, Town of Petrolia
Robert Tremain	General Manager, Cultural Services	robert.tremain@county-lambton.on.ca
Ruth Kernohan	Lambton County Historical Society

Advisory (non-voting) Members:

Wendy Shearer, MHBC Planning

Darren Winger, Ministry of Culture

Christopher Andrae, Golder Associates

Paul King, Ministry of Culture

Ron Dale, Parks Canada

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