Committee nervously approves demolition/rebuild of Sandwich heritage home

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The city’s heritage committee took an apprehensive step Monday, when it recommended approving — for the first time — the demolition and replacement of one of the many boarded-up houses in the Sandwich Heritage Conservation District.

“Even though I despise having to make this decision and I despise the fact there are property owners out there who are using demolition by neglect as a strategy, we need to do better. And I firmly believe this is the right decision with the right property and the right owners,” Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt said as he made a motion that would allow local businessmen Cameron Crowder and Sean Lavin to tear down a severely deteriorated house on Indian Road and build in its place a replica based on a 1958 photo.

The heritage district was created more than a decade ago to prevent mass demolitions in the neighbourhood, as the Ambassador Bridge was buying up around 130 houses in the area as part of its expansion plans. Streets became filled with boarded-up homes left to rot. Since that time, the city hasn’t allowed a demolition within the district except for emergency situations where the building was unsafe.

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I would state this house is already in a state of demolition

The committee was wary Monday of setting a precedent by approving the Crowder/Lavin demolition, but was told by administration that demolition applications would still be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

And the Crowder/Lavin application was an exceptional case — a house so far gone that the new owners said renovation was not a viable option.

The 1920 “vernacular foursquare” house, whose front porch and most other heritage features are long gone, is past saving and is missing almost all of its heritage features, Crowder said.

“We’re in a different situation here. There’s no heritage left in this building, other than some brick and the corner of the foundation.”

He called the bridge company the “elephant in the room.” Everyone’s afraid that if the city allows this project to proceed, the bridge will come forward with demolition plans for its many properties in the west end, he said.

In fact, bridge president Dan Stamper told the Star last week that the bridge wants to do something similar with about 30 boarded-up homes it owns in the area (many of its other boarded-up homes which fell within the government-approved boundary for its second span project are already demolished). Holt said when he read about the bridge’s plans, he had “huge” concerns, “because that would attack the sustainability and integrity of a heritage conservation district.”

But he felt reassured by deputy planner Michael Cooke who said approving the Crowder/Lavin demolition wouldn’t set a precedent for the bridge.

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“This is a very difficult decision for me personally, I’m sitting here in a 1921 four-square…. I adore these neighbourhoods,” said Holt, speaking virtually from his Walkerville home. He said he became convinced after speaking several times with Lavin. “I really firmly believe that Sean’s heart is in the right place, and he wants to do the right thing for that property.”

The committee’s recommendation still must be endorsed by council. Crowder and Lavin bought the dilapidated property late last year with a plan to convert it into a duplex for students. They soon discovered it was beyond saving, according to Crowder. They hired as a heritage expert Jason Grossi, a local architect who’s done multiple restorations of heritage properties, including the city’s John Muir library branch on Mill Street. Grossi said when he examined this house, he was crestfallen.

“I would state this house is already in a state of demolition. It’s actually quite disappointing,” he told the committee.

The building has been vacant since 2009. It was purchased by another businessman who took off the porch without permission and ended up abandoning the project, the committee was told. The new owners want to make the new duplex look very close to what it looked like in a 1958 photo.

“The owners are trying very hard to complement the heritage conservation district and follow the guidelines,” said their architect Anthony Gyemi. “They are mating the existing as close as possible.” The only difference is the basement in a new structure will be higher to allow two students to live there safely and legally, he said.

“They’re actually reusing the building for what it was intended for. This building has always been a duplex and the intention is to bring it back as a duplex.”

bcross@postmedia.com