The Rand Estate has officially been declared a property of cultural heritage value or interest in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The notice of intention to designate the property started during the previous council’s term, Lord Mayor Betty Disero said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We’ve spent all term trying to finalize the notice of designation that was sent out by the previous council,” Disero said.

“We are just finalizing what they started and, yes, it was a long journey to get there.”

Two bylaws were passed by council on Monday: one each for 200 John St. and 588 Charlotte St. declared the properties as being of cultural heritage value.

“It’s one more issue that’s off our plate this term. We continue to move forward. It was just something that needed to be done,” Disero said.

The designation protects the property in two ways, she said.

“First of all, we’ve now identified and labelled, for lack of a better word at this point, what we believe to be heritage features on the Rand Estate and what we as a community need to protect,” she said.

“The second thing is it sets out a process for any changes, if there are any requested changes to the Rand Estate as it sits today.”