Addressing the Housing Consultant Report

Knowlton is being treated by the consultants as just another Quebec small town. Knowlton is the most exceptional United Empire Loyalist town in the entire Townships. It is this elegance and style that brings people to visit and enjoy the charming bucolic setting.

What has been built over the last 75 years has not been successful in maintaining the character of Knowlton. Much of it should have been built elsewhere.

Housing policies need to be linked to a firm footing of how the Town sees itself. The success of Knowlton relies of its ‘specialness’. It is this component that is lacking in the work of the consultants. Knowlton is not just another Quebec small town.

Housing policy needs to start with how to manage change and hold on to unique identity. Grow the Town and enhance the housing stock, but do not dilute its character. The presentation by the consultants puts forth a lot of assertions without backing them up with data. Some statistics relate to province-wide averages. This fails to take into consideration the unique positioning of Knowlton. It would be very instructive to compare Knowlton to other similarly positioned communities and not to province-wide averages. Some Quebec towns that could be compared are Saint Sauveur, Magog, Tadoussac and Mont Tremblant.

The presentation suggests that the housing policy “preserve the Town’s bucolic rural character”. It then proceeds to talk about increased density and multi-family housing. The two are not compatible. Nowhere in “the Town’s Vision” does it mention how new housing products should be controlled or moderated to enhance Knowlton and its image.

In the presentation an image of a small flat roofed house is shown on the ‘diversify page’. What does this image have to do with the Knowlton aesthetic? A flat roof box?

I have no problem with creating new types of dwelling units nor with any new reconfiguration of how they are grouped. I have no problem with buildings expressing their built era. Growth, new ideas and adaptation are healthy. My only concern is how they enhance what Knowlton is now and positioned to be in the future. Below are some Housing design guidelines that could be used to manage change and enhance the Knowlton aesthetic at the same time.

• main floor to not be more that 30 inches above the outside of the house

• no basement windows on the street side
• horizontal siding of not more that 4 inches
• vertical format windows
• no exposed outside staircases
• multi-dwelling buildings to have individual unit front doors inside the main building front door.
• steeply pitched roofs
• encourage verandahs by not counting their site coverage footprint 

• discourage raised decks by including their footprint in site coverage 

• landscape plans to be submitted with all permit applications
• wherever possible, driveways, curb crossings and parking to the side of the property frontage
• driveway entrances to be defined by built elements near the front property line. Separate road-to-driveway zones – now ill-defined.
• create a guideline for driveways to limit their width

Angus Culley, retired architect.