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.
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
View Comments
James and I will swing by after the G.L.U.E. meeting. I'll see if someone can announce it at tonights downtown residents meeting
Where the hell was Eddie the boyscout while this was happening? Is it my imagination, or has our mayor and council gone AWOL anytime an important issue like closing after-hours clubs downtown, curbing the spread of vandalism and rowdy behaviour or preventing the demolition of historic buildings crops up? The deliberate silence and willful neglect that characterized civic leadership in this city makes me ill. Chris Holt for mayor!
unbelievable. the building was becoming quite the eyesore, but you could still see its beauty. I was just down there the other day having dinner at Tony's and was able to get a look up close...whatever items were left there was trashed (you could see a car bay maybe?, open in the back, first floor), but there was a new lock on the door at the top of the stairs to the second floor - a pitiful attempt to secure the place, broken windows/boarded up windows… I often thought the owner should be responsible for better up-keep. If i knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have controlled my urge to tresspass...
i really don t know what the big deal is i think it s the old philosophey of don t ask for permission just ask forgiveness after it is done, i guess what i m getting is if you want to see a real eyesore go over to Indian road where all the house s are boarded up waiting for city council to make a decision of l wether or not these houses are historic or not you would think mr moron would tear them down just like this other guy and pay the consequences just a thought so don t be angry with me thanks
This is what the owner of champion said bout the seagrave building being knocked down from the windsor star(what a goof)
Bill Jean, manager of permits for the city, was not available for comment Thursday. But Ashok Sood, the building's owner, said he was unaware that it was on the heritage inventory list.
He said the building had been vacant for more than year, and was for sale or rent with no takers.
"I wish I knew, because we would have pursued it that way. I would have worked with people," Sood said. "It was too costly to renovate and I couldn't find anybody to go in." He owned the building for three years and plans to leave the property vacant for the time being.
He said he decided to tear it down because of vandalism and other problems. "I bought the building because I loved it, but I couldn't find anybody to do anything, there was no grants available, there was nothing."
Sood said he was told a few months ago by someone that the building had historical significance and gave the person his business card, but he was never contacted again.
"It was an eyesore, there was a lot of vandalism and it was looking pretty ugly
I cannot make it but I wish all of those who do good luck! The least I can do is spread the word, consider it done!
Mark I will see you and Chris tonight at GLUE. I want the Board of Directors expanded as at the last Scaledown presentatoins we were talking about getting an advocacy group together.
I will also stop by for the protest at 9:00 as well. The more people the better. Chris please try and make me a sign.
Newspaper story link
Obviously, Mr. Ashok is a friend of the mayor. Other friends of the mayor seem to enjoy their relationship when it comes to profiting from real estate transactions in the city ( i.e. the new arena lands and property assembled around the tunnel entrance that must be acquired by the city for a new plaza.)
When should private ownership take precedent over the image of a City. What image does Windsor want to have? Are we going to be the "land of big box" or should the citizens of a City have the right to contribute to what the City's image is? Can anyone picture London tearing down the buildings on Richmond Rowe? Will we ever read about Toronto tearing down Bloor West Village? These investments and restorations take time. Why is Windsor so quick to tear these buildings down? I say to Mr. Sood - I hope you and your family like the WalMarts and other big box monsters because soon that will be all you have.
This City has problems deeper than the tearing down of this building. It is the mind set of those in charge that have no respect for or sense of community and the importance thereof. Unfortunately the City will make the appropriate statements to the press of how sorry they are, how they are going to do everything possible to ensure something like this does not happen again, slap Mr. Sood on the wrist and move along. Does the City think we are stupid enough not to realize that these things happen so quickly and quietly for a reason? Shame on them - and shame on Mr. Sood.
I will be attending the candlelight vigil tonight and hope to see enough people there to make a strong enough statement that will last more than just one night.