High River's Heritage Advisory Board is looking to make preserving the town's past through its buildings second nature.

Kyle Jantzen appeared before council Monday and talked about putting in parameters that would encourage the preservation of those types of structures.

"It's a much more progressive approach, it's not just about saying 'No you can't destroy this old building' or something like that, it's actually about putting in parameters around changes or potential demolition of historic buildings, but then also looking towards policies or measures that can be undertaken to promote the preservation of these kinds of buildings, " Jantzen says. "So tax incentives or other things like that which then approach the whole situation as if these properties are an asset, which they are."

He says heritage buildings are important for tourism, for business development, like the film industry, and this type of historic town centre attracts businesses and families to the area.

The advisory board has done a lot of work over the six years, taking inventory of heritage properties all over the town, historic designations of homes and historic signs in the downtown area, as well as an oral history project.

Kyle Jantzen at the Town Farm house

Jantzen says the Town's new Land Use Bylaw includes a mandate, a Heritage or Historic Management Plan.

Council agreed to have administration include the group in 2018 budget discussions towards coming up with a Heritage Management Plan.