Stay of execution for heritage house

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This article was published 12/09/2019 (1684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A stately Crescentwood mansion that’s stood for more than a century has been given another stay of execution, following a marathon special committee meeting at city hall on Thursday.

Despite the latest victory for community activists rallying to save 514 Wellington Cres. from the wrecking ball, however, the building’s ultimate future remains up in the air.

“It’s the outcome we wanted, but there is some bittersweet part to it because the owner has basically demolished the interior of the house,” said Christine Skene, an area resident who’s been involved with efforts to save the historic property.

“We will continue to be vigilant, but I’m hoping (the owner) will see the error of his ways.”

The matter was put considered by property and development committee — staffed by Couns. Brian Mayes (St. Vital), Janice Lukes (Waverley West), Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) and Kevin Klein (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) — on an appeal by Jeff Thompson.

Thompson is president of the numbered company that owns the property. Since buying it in 2016 for roughly $1.2 million, the company has wanted to tear it down. First, it was going to build a condominium complex, but then decided to build three single-family homes.

In April, the city issued a demolition permit. However, the night before crews were to start taking the structure down, the city issued a stop-work order. Since then, the Crescentwood neighbourhood has been nominated as a heritage conservation district, which means all demolition permits have been put on hold.

Klein and Lukes supported Thompson’s appeal, saying it was unfair of the city to cancel the demolition permits after approval had been sought and work had started.

However, Mayes and Rollins disagreed, saying they could not support the demolition of the mansion. The vote was tied 2-2 — which meant the appeal failed.

“I suspect this may end up in the courts. My view was that I agree there are heritage aspects to Crescentwood… On the facts I had in front of me, I was prepared to vote the appeal down. Down the road, the status may not be confirmed and the demolition could continue then,” Mayes said.

“Obviously, that was a long hearing with a lot of different evidence, some of it very contradictory. But ultimately, four of us had to make a choice. My choice was that I wasn’t prepared to see the building come down. I don’t think the city acted in bad faith.”

Thompson’s lawyer, Jamie Kagan, says he plans to take the city to court as a result of how it has handled the situation.

“The first question was: how fast can we get the lawsuit out and name the City of Winnipeg and (property, planning and development director John) Kiernan as the respondents to the action? And we’ll probably do that within the month,” Kagan said Thursday.

“This is outrageous. You have a multimillion-dollar development being held up after you issued a demolition permit… Capital is going to flee the City of Winnipeg as fast as it can. You can’t have uncertainty in a business environment where people are investing millions of dollars.”

Meanwhile, Skene said she remains concerned the company may choose to defy the stop-work order, demolish the home, then pay whatever small fine the City of Winnipeg may levy against it.

“There’s still that danger. We have people in the neighbourhood that keep an eye on the place. You can’t just knock it down with your hands. Somebody’s got to deliver a large excavator,” Skene said.

The matter is expected to return to city hall sometime in the next six to nine months. At that point, the public service will present an initial plan for the Crescentwood heritage conservation district.

If the nomination ultimately fails, demolition permits for 514 Wellington Cres. will be reinstated.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe