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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How did the protest go tonight? I wish I could have been there...
There were a few people out maybe 20. A bit cool. Fulvio and Alan H showed up along with the Star, CBC and A channel. Fulvio didn't dodge any questions and as always was the consumate politican but very supportive of why we were there. Alan spoke to the media and as always was supportive. Big Tony supplied some pizza-THANKYOU- and quite a few cars and trucks honked their support. If it had been warmer more people would have been there. Good to see people mobilize so very quickly. Thank goodness for the International Metropolis website. Well done Andrew!
Thanks VP - But the credit for getting the vigil organized belongs to Chirs Holt and his team at Scaledown.ca
Every media outlet responded to the press release (Peter Langille from AM 800 showed up before everyone got there, VP) - awesome! Thank you to everyone who turned out, PC for bringing candles and chalk, as well as all of you who helped mobilize people for this 11th hour response. Watch for how the city responds to this one!
You guys rock!
Thanks Chris!
I wish we could have done more...
GREAT WORK GUYS....I WAS THRILLED TO SEE SOME MEDIA COVERAGE...WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE ALSO!!
THANKS CHRIS FOR PUTTING ALL THAT TOGETHER IN SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME!
;)
"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."
Sood might have dreams of attracting a Big Box development to his property but does he know that the future tenant might be boycotted by the local residents and getting the right streetscape planning from the Walkerville BIA might prove a really troublesome time.
Lets plan now to give him a very hard time for his future development and make any future tenant aware that they are walking into a minefield of public scorn!
Unfortunately, Urbanrat, the WalkervilleBIA boundaries end at Argyle road and do not include any of Walker or Wyandotte east of Argyle. Streetscaping plans would not encompass or even border any property Mr. Sood owns.
This one will need to be left to the residents. Please form a Walkerville Residents' Committee, similar to the new downtown group. It is essential in promoting active communication between the area and the city.
Mr. Sood it either lazy or stupid. Since he seems to be good at business I would say the former. He didn't know it was on the heritage list? He said he didn't know there were grants. One call to City Hall could have clarified that immediately and he wouldhave found out that there were grants.
What strikes me as odd is that he stated no one was interested. No shit sherlock! We are only in a recession in the city. What difference would it have been if he left the building vacant or tore it down? He still has vacant property!
Eddie's family (cousins et al) and friends always get special treatment. His cousin who owns Overseas Motors (Rafi?) and his cohorts can't wait until Windsor buys the other half of the tunnel. When it shows that it isn't making money for the city (and it won't after the third corssing takes approx. another 25% of business away from the tunnel) he will want it sold to "make money" for Windsor. Guess who buys it?
The same I believe will happen with Canderal.