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Saito House Heritage Protection Initiative

This page was last reviewed on October 25, 2025.

The Village is working towards long-term heritage protection of the Saito House, a privately owned residence located within Coal Creek Historic Park.

The Saito House is a surviving representative of the dozens of rural miner cottages which once filled Cumberland’s Japanese, Chinese and Black town sites from the 1890s to the 1960s. It is an enduring record of the Japanese Canadian community as the last standing building of former No. 1 Japanese Town Site following the forced removal in 1942.

While the structure itself is privately owned, the land it sits on is Village-owned parkland. This arrangement presents challenges for the long-term preservation and maintenance of the home, particularly for the private owner, who does not own the underlying land.

This unique private ownership situation was inherited by the Village in 2002 when the Village was gifted the land that forms Coal Creek Historic Park.

The Village’s Preservation Efforts

The Village recognizes the heritage value of the Saito House and is actively working to support its preservation. A key part of this effort is to enable the owner of the house to have tenure over the land. By creating a new lot through subdivision, which would include the privately owned house and its immediate yard, the Village could sell or lease the land to the owner of the house. This would make it possible for a future homeowner to secure a mortgage and incentivize future investment in upkeep, something currently limited by the land ownership structure.

To support the creation of a new lot, the proposed new 2025 Official Community Plan (OCP) includes the following policy updates:

From the Heritage Conservation Section (Section 7.4.3):

Facilitate the preservation of the Saito House in Coal Creek Historic Park through the creation of a separate lot containing the house and yard, a heritage conservation covenant, and heritage designation.

From the Parks and Greenways Policies Section (Section 9.2.4 – Policy 6):

Within Coal Creek Historic Park, subdivision for the purpose of creating a residential lot to preserve the Saito House is permitted.

Formalizing residential use of a to-be-created lot is also being proposed as part of the 2025 Zoning Bylaw update project.

Ensuring Heritage Protection

One of the conditions of any potential subdivision is the registration of a new heritage covenant for preservation and maintenance to formally protect the heritage value of the Saito House as defined in the 2018 Saito House Statement of Significance.

As of 2025, no heritage protection is currently in place specific to the house, making this initiative an important step forward in ensuring the house’s long-term conservation.

What is Happening Now?

In the fall of 2025 work on the project is occurring in the revisions and updates to the Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw, both anticipated to be adopted by the end of 2025.

What Else is Happening as Part of the Initiative?

Additional work in process in 2025 and planned for 2026 and beyond includes:

  • Modification of the existing Covenant registered against the parent parcel (Coal Creek Historic Park) to enable future subdivision;
  • Development and registration of a new section 219 Land Title Act covenant for the preservation and maintenance of the Saito House property (the “Heritage Covenant”) as a condition of subdivision;
  • Lot Subdivision, including resolving lot servicing (storm, water and wastewater services – including modernizing the on site wastewater system) and obtaining applicable Development Permits;
  • Development of a new Statutory Right of Way and Land Title Act Section 219 Covenant to allow for public access on the Wellington Colliery Trail across the north side of the property;

This process would include public reports to Council, including referral of the draft Heritage Covenant to the Heritage Committee, as well as consideration of Development Permits required for subdivision.

As of fall 2025, there is no publicly available information about private ownership of the Saito House, including the potential for transfer of ownership between private owners. Public notification on the website and in the newspaper would be provided of any future lease or sale of the land by Village.

This initiative is specific to the Saito House and reflects the Village’s desire to see the home retained, protected, and maintained as a key part of our local heritage.

Additional background information:

  • The Village has been engaging with the private owner of the Saito residence since 2002 in an effort to resolve issues related to this unique ownership structure, with no sustainable resolution achieved to date. In the meantime, limited maintenance and investment in the Saito House has occurred.
  • At the time of the donation of Coal Creek Historic Park to the Village in 2002, a covenant was registered on the property to protect the park’s heritage and ecological values. While this covenant protects the diverse heritage and ecological values of the Park, it presents obstacles in preserving the heritage values specific to the Saito House; this includes restricting solutions that could otherwise resolve land tenure issues and facilitate investment in the maintenance and improvements to the house.
  • The Village has considered purchasing the house. However this option was not pursued due to factors including, but not limited to:
    • the upfront costs of purchase of the house;
    • the significant investment in maintenance and improvements required to modernize the structure and building systems (per a Building Condition Assessment Report commissioned in 2022);
    • the operational challenges of the Village owning and renting a residential property;
      significant costs and Village resources required to convert the house to an alternative use/occupancy;
    • the rural location and security considerations,
    • and other priority projects in the Village, including other facility capital investment needs and the limited resources available.
  • The 2014 Coal Creek Historic Park Master Plan acknowledges that, due to the special circumstances and complexity of the issue, the resolution of the Saito House ownership was not within the scope of the plan, but was to continue to be considered as a concurrent process. See page 16 and 17 for more information.
  • Additional background information can be found at the following pages:
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