It's looking more like the city will indeed be studying whether Briarcliffe, the 60s-era east Ottawa community we blogged about last week, is deserving of a heritage designation.

The city's planning committee gave the study its blessing this morning, writes the Ottawa Citizen, after residents advocated for the designation:

The eight-hectare district was developed in the 1960s by a group of like-minded people who had a collective vision of houses set in nature. Residents have asked the city to designate it as a heritage conservation district under the Ontario Heritage Act in order to protect the character of the neighbourhood.

If designated, the area would be the first heritage conservation district in Ottawa and potentially Ontario representing the time period, the staff report says.

Before the planning committee meeting, new Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan talked to Carleton University student Natalie Whidden about the neighbourhood's history. An MA student in the university's Canadian Studies department, Whidden co-authored an in-depth study into the neighbourhood, and she told Bresnahan that Briarcliffe was deserving of a designation despite being only half a century old.

Listen to Natalie Whidden's interview on CBC's Ottawa Morning by clicking the image.

As Whidden says, the designation would create a "set of guidelines for appropriate change" that would require citizens to get approval from the city before making any external changes to their home. Internal changes, however, would still be in the hands of the homeowners, she says.

The recommendation will now go to council on Dec. 14 for final approval.

Image via Google Street View