By Chris Wallace, ACO Port Hope Advocacy Committee
We would like to call upon ACO members to write to Mayor Olena and Members of Port Hope Council in support of protecting the heritage buildings at 65 Ward Street from demolition by neglect. Please email your letter to clerk@porthope.ca by the end of April.
The ACO Port Hope Advocacy Committee is delighted that Southbridge has withdrawn its appeal of Council’s decision to deny them a permit for demolishing the heritage buildings on the 65 Ward Street site. We also appreciate the Municipality’s efforts on this case. Now, we must strongly encourage the Municipality to devote their efforts to preventing these same heritage buildings from being demolished through neglect.
When the Municipal Property Standards Act was being revised recently, ACO Port Hope proposed that there be mandatory inspections for vacant heritage buildings, to ensure that they are not in structural jeopardy. This was rejected by staff and Council on the grounds that heritage buildings were adequately protected. Clearly, though, the buildings on the 65 Ward Street site are not.
Even the most casual observer can see the progressive deterioration of the 1921 Hospital building’s exterior: collapsing porch, rotting cornices, etc. There has been no visible maintenance to the building in over a decade. Members of the ACO visited the building interior a number of years ago and can attest in writing that the building’s interior exhibited water damage at that time. It’s quite reasonable, therefore, to assume that the structure might be in jeopardy, and that an inspection to verify this is warranted. But how to go about this?
The Property Standards Act is normally applied to the maintenance of a building’s exterior. Yet the Act’s (and the Ontario Building Code’s) definition of property is “a building, structure, or part thereof, and all lands appurtenant thereto.” The Act further states that “Every part of a building structure shall be maintained in a sound condition… Structural members that have been damaged or evidence of deterioration shall be repaired or replaced.” But under our Property Standards Act, there’s no provision to inspect or confirm whether such structural deterioration is actually occurring. It’s a classic Catch-22. You have to enter and inspect a building to prevent its collapse, but you need a collapse to justify that entry and inspection.
We have the File Factory as a case in point. While some people, including ACO members, have entered the building over the years, to the best of our knowledge the Municipality never carried out a formal inspection and report on its structural condition. No “Order to Comply” to make obviously required repairs. As a result, it was allowed to deteriorate to the point of failure over the course of some 20 years. If we cannot protect a building’s structural integrity under our own Bylaws, we need to look elsewhere, and the Ontario Building Code Act might provide the solution.
We suggest that the Municipality take the following initial, non-adversarial steps. Simply ask Southbridge for permission to enter the building and carry out a structural inspection, reminding them of their obligation to maintain the structure in a sound condition under Section 4.07 of the Property Standards Act. Ask Southbridge if they or their consultants have carried out such inspections. If so, could they please provide copies of their inspection reports? Has the Municipality ever done either of these things? If not, why not?
If neither of these steps yields results, then rely on the Province’s Building Code Act. Under Sections 15.2 and 15.9, an officer or inspector may enter into buildings at any reasonable time without a warrant for the purpose of inspecting a building to determine whether the building is unsafe. And if entry without a warrant is not possible, then obtain a warrant under Section 21(1) of the Building Code Act. We at the ACO do not claim to be lawyers addressing this issue. But it is our firm belief that in a Municipality such as Port Hope, committed to heritage preservation, it is unacceptable to see another heritage building go through demolition-by-neglect while we sit back and do nothing.
Whether it’s through the Property Standards Act or the Building Code Act, the members of the ACO Port Hope Advocacy Committee believe that the Municipality has the tools at their disposal to protect our heritage, and on behalf of the ACO Port Hope Advocacy Committee, I have written a letter to the Mayor and Council asking them to please use these tools to protect the heritage attributes on the 65 Ward Street property from demolition by neglect.