You know, it’s shit like this, and land owners like Ashok Sood (who FYI, owns Champion Products Corp) who don’t give a rat’s ass about Windsor or our history, who make this City and undesirable place to live. Assholes and incompetence is the reason there is a giant hole in the historic heart of Walker Road in old Walkerville.
The historic Seagrave Building on Walker Road (which was featured here and here), was built around 1905, and in this building the first motorized fire trucks in Canada were built.
The city fucked up once again. This building was listed on the Heritage Inventory, and as such it should by law be afforded a 60 day waiting period before a demolition permit is issued. Guess what? It wasn’t. Some moron at City Hall issued the permit without batting an eye.
The same thing happened in November 2006 with the Walker Farm Manager’s house.
Following the Walker Farm House fiasco, I raised a stink and I received this reply:
Please note that the Ontario Heritage Act has been amended so that
properties that are considered for heritage designation must give Council
60 days notice of the intention to designate. After intention is given,
Council must make a decision whether to designate the building or allow
demolition.
Here is the relevant portion of the Ontario Heritage Act – See Section
27(3) – for the 60 day delay part.
Restriction on demolition, etc. If property included in the register under subsection (1.2) has not been
designated under section 29, the owner of the property shall not demolish
or remove a building or structure on the property or permit the demolition
or removal of the building or structure unless the owner gives the council
of the municipality at least 60 days notice in writing of the owner’s
intention to demolish or remove the building or structure or to permit the
demolition or removal of the building or structure. 2006, c. 11, Sched. B,
s. 11 (2).*We have unfortunately issued a demolition permit without following this
procedure. In the future, please ensure that if a building is considered
for heritage designation, that (the heritage planner) be notified and, under no
circumstances, issue the permit unless Council approves the demolition.
…*
Good to see that the city can’t even follow it’s own policies.
I have honestly had it up to here with the City and their piss poor job of doing anything.
The Mayor of Monmouth summed it up better than I ever could in his excellent post here.
No advance warning at all. It was obviously done on the hush. There is one exception to this. Rick Gruber who is the area Building Inspector rushed out today to halt the demolition because even though there was a permit to raise the building, there was no permit to close Walker Road. In fact, the sidewalk is the only thing which separates the building from Walker Road. Witnesses said that a man riding a bike almost got clocked by falling bricks. Four thirty rolled around. Quittin time for city employees and Jones fired up the beast and started tearing the old girl down. Right in the middle of rush hour. One reason…They rented the rig from Amicone for a tight time window and the clock was ticking. Within two hours the building was really history. Ashok Sood who owns that property along with most of the 8 and 900 blocks of Walker Road stood on the opposite side of Walker to witness his planned demolition. He is planning to attract a “Big Box” operation on the East Side of Walker.
– Mayor of Monmouth
You know what? Fuck you, and fuck your big box. Enjoy your vacant lot, and rest assured that I will fight any attempt by you to redevelop your holdings for big box use.
Special thanks for the photo above to Chris Edwards, who went back after me and caught the demise on camera.
His series of photos can be found here: http://walkerville.com/seagraves/
This is unacceptable, and fucking pathetic. Whoever issued this permit in contravention of the Ontario Heritage Act should lose their fucking job.
I’ll keep everyone posted if I learn anything.
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View Comments
JB - No one forced the owner to buy a vacant building. and not do anything with it either.
There is a respoinsiblity to the community and rsidents that comes from owning property, it doesn't exist soley for slumlords to play games with.
History is very important, and the majority of the people with the power (finacially and/or politically) in this city don't care. More than the loss of the building, it's the fact that the city failed to follow thier own policies on this demolition that irks many. The permit was illegally issued, and the fact that there will likely be no repercussions, is what is so frustrating. If I did something as incompetent in my job, I would lose it.
JB - If you're sure of that, I'd tell you that you're surely wrong.
What I can't understand is why Mr. Sood originally purchased the Seagrave building because he "loved it" but didn't have any money to renovate it and yet still expected prospective tenants to line up and move right in; which to me makes absolutely no business sense. He must have expected to sink "some" money into it and it's not like Champion Paper and Polybag is going bankrupt any time soon. Furthermore, Mr Sood knows his properties that he owns on Walker Rd are a)designated as heritage buildings and b) his properties border a neighborhood in Windsor that is nothing but heritage buildings and yet it never dawned on him that this building, with its history of which he was aware, might have a heritage designation in its future for which monies are, in fact, available for renovation?
Halberstadt comments on his blog about this
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9957&Itemid=87
What i dont unserstand is all this anger towards the owner who aparently followed the rules by applying for a permit (which was approved) to tear down the building. From what I can see is he is looking to develop a run down part of the block and honestly why are people critisizing a person who is willing to invest in our city when so many people are running away from investing here. Any development in the area can only help with the creation of jobs and eventual economic development in an area that from what i can see needs some help. Yes perserving history is important to the city but honestly there was no talk on this site about this building or its importance to the city before hand so lets put our anger towards the right people..those in the local government who made the error and not the person who seems to be willing to invest in our city during some of its hardest times.
"Yes perserving history is important to the city but honestly there was no talk on this site about this building or its importance to the city before hand"
Au Contraire. This building has been featured on this site not once but twice in the past.
http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=103
http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=427
Additionally, rules were not followed. The site was not secured. And I don't see any indication there will be any 'investment' made on this land either.
I forgot to mention the historical significance of this building has also been covered extensively by the folks at Walkerville Times. You can visit their website and enter "Seagrave" on the internal site search and find out that this building's importance is not something that came about just recently because it is a pile of bricks. We've all been tuned in on that for a long time.
CT - The ower is not looking to develop the block. In the Newspaper story on Friday
Remember that quote 10 years from now when it's still a vacant lot.
What has most people upset is not the actural demolition, but how it happened. There are rules in place the city is aware that prevents hasty demolition of a heritage building. If all the rules had been followed, then nobody on this site would have a leg to stand on. But the city didn't follow them, and they allowed this to happen.
JB we do so much for no recognition and no pay. We can't buy all of the buildings that are heritage in this city. So we try to make people aware of what they have with no cost to them.
Do you not agree that a property owner has a moral right to keep their properties in the best shape as well as secure for the community that they are in; In this case a heirtage community? Do you not agree that land owners don't just buy a property and instead usually sink some money into them? Has Mr. Sood done any of the above?
CT lets be honest why would possible go on the propertyy where seagraves was?a tim hortons maybe?It will probably remain a vacant lot and wont bring jobs here like you think it would
paul - Maybe CT is the moron at City Hall who actually issued the permit? Maybe he's down here trying to save his neck :)