ERIN – Save for some minor wording changes in a town bylaw, the Ontario Land Tribunal has dismissed a case attempting to stop a heritage designation for a Hillsburgh building.
Located at 92 Trafalgar Road in downtown Hillsburgh, the 19th-century building served as the village’s town hall until 1959.
It held the community’s first library, served as a wartime dance hall, and was the centre of community parties and milestones.
Now, it’s primarily a cannabis shop, and an engineer says it’s structurally unsafe despite being reinforced.
It made a list of 58 buildings for which the town sought heritage protection in 2023, on the heels of the More Homes Built Faster Act.
The provincial legislation implemented a 2025 deadline for municipalities to secure heritage designations on buildings – or they would be booted from heritage inventory lists.
Stanislaus Goveas, the owner of the property, appealed the town’s move to designate the 1887 two-storey Italianate structure.
He claimed the town didn’t notify him and failed to prove the building met heritage criteria.
But the tribunal said Goveas failed to serve the town with an objection notice, which is enough to remove his right to appeal the town’s move.
The tribunal relented, according to its Aug. 7 decision, in part because Erin and Goveas wanted to proceed with the hearing back in March.
The property had changed hands several times and was already altered, Goveas told the tribunal, adding the building has “structural issues” and is “temporarily stabilized.”
Structural engineer Samir Vyas, testifying on behalf of Goveas at the two-day hearing, said that during a November 2024 visit he found the building to be unsafe with “alarming vibrations.”
Vyas said it needs to be fixed or demolished, but the tribunal said structural issues weren’t pertinent.
“The tribunal is not making any finding of fact regarding the structural integrity of [the building], which has no relevance to this appeal,” tribunal member Félix Lavoie said in the decision.
The town has not answered questions from the Advertiser about the building’s safety.
The tribunal found that evidence from the town’s witness, cultural heritage expert Amy Barnes, supported the building’s heritage value.
Barnes, a project manager with Archaeological Research Associates, the company hired by the town to prepare its heritage research reports, said the building contributes to the streetscape’s historic 19th-century character.
Barnes said the building has civic, social and recreational value in the community, revising an earlier opinion that the building held value because of governmental association and school use.
It’s that minor change the tribunal ordered to be reflected in Erin’s bylaw.
“In all other respects, the tribunal orders the appeal is dismissed,” Lavoie said.
The tribunal found the town had provided notice to Goveas, and said no evidence disputed the building’s heritage value.
Goveas had plans to demolish the building, along with another on the same lot to make room for modern offices, he told the Advertiser.
But Goveas said he’s now stuck with an unstable building requiring a lot of work to maintain.
“I’ve owned it for 10 years now, so if things don’t work out, you just sell it and move on,” he said.
“Where’s the small-town charm if it’s all brand new?” town councillor and long-time heritage committee member Jamie Cheyne said.
He agrees there’s a need for commercial office buildings, but told the Advertiser downtown Hillsburgh isn’t the place to start.
“Ripping down something old because you want to make money doesn’t always jive,” Cheyne said.
“It’s nice to know that just because you want to, doesn’t mean you can.”
He called the tribunal’s decision a “win” for the town.
