Centre Wellington and property owners Ben and Henriette Gansekoele have come to a temporary agreement to gather more information before deciding on the heritage status of the home at 240 Provost Lane in Fergus.
Last week a recommendation was made by both the township planning department and the Centre Wellington heritage committee to place an official heritage designation on the property.
However, after considerable discussion, Centre Wellington councillors deferred the recommendation and agreed to let staff work with the landowners to gather more information before a decision is made.
On Jan. 26, Centre Wellington’s managing director of planning and development Brett Salmon provided a follow-up to that discussion.
Salmon said the owners agreed with council’s decision to defer the matter, but requested that a final decision be made by council no later than the meeting of April 27.
“Our demolition control by-law requires council approval of the demolition of this building,” Salmon explained.
But council’s decision can be appealed via the Ontario Municipal Board at any time since a decision was not made within 30 days from the initial application.
“We do not expect the owner to file such an appeal. In addition, the Heritage Act requires the owner to give 60 days’ notice to demolish the structure since it is on the Heritage Register, which the owner has done,” Salmon said.
He added the owners agreed to provide access to the building. Salmon said the township has retained a structural engineer to inspect the building and that preliminary inspection was completed on Jan. 22 in conjunction with the township’s chief building official.
Salmon had only a cursory look at the inspection report but said a full report would be presented to council by April 27, “but we’d love to have it sooner and we’ll do what we can to bring it back sooner.”
Councillor Kirk McElwain said he understood there was some work done removing some of the siding.
Salmon said the owners had removed the aluminum siding and a few of the other boards and interior sheathing in selected locations. “What was underneath was not in good shape,” Salmon said. As a result, the board removal was stopped and the boards replaced.
Councillor Mary Lloyd said one of the ideas discussed last week was the possibility of engaging the Wellington County Archives and Museum.
Salmon said from the staff point of view, the structural condition is the first thing that needs to be addressed.
Councillor Don Fisher asked whether the structural engineer retained by the township will be doing any material removal to examine the structure … “or will they be supervising someone else doing that?”
Salmon said there is already some openings the engineer was able to access. He said no decision has been made whether to formally request the engineer to undertake more of an inspect to get more information.
“So there is no real action we are required to take at this point,” Linton said.
Salmon said the main intent of his presentation was to let council know the owners had consented to the deferral.
Councillor Fred Morris asked whether the engineer’s report would also include an approximation of how much of the material is reusable.
Salmon did not know.
“We contacted [the engineer] to do a very preliminary inspection to see what kind of condition the building is in,” said Salmon, who reserved judgement on the amount of additional work required.
When questioned at the end of the council meeting regarding costs for both the heritage consultant involved in the heritage designation application and the structural engineer retained by the township, Salmon said the information would be forthcoming.
Salmon explained the township retained, and will pay for, the heritage consultant. He anticipated the same would hold true for the structural engineer as it was the township that had requested the service.
