First a note to say thank you to everyone who attended the town hall meeting last week in support of us. We apologize for the lack of updates on the site, we’ve been incredibly busy trying to get the project back on track.
Background
Melissa and I needed to look for a new place to live after she came home from the hospital. We bought a condo as a temporary residence while we looked for a property. We spent 18 months looking for a 50’ lot that we could build on. We wanted a 50’ lot for a variety of reasons, the primary being that we could build a decent size home on it without going to three stories. The problem was that there was very little on the market. When potential properties came up they always had new (or newly renovated) inaccessible homes on them or were just simply too expensive to work within our budget. When 204 Beech was listed on MLS I drove over to check it out.
Buying the House
204 Beech had apparently been on the market before hitting MLS. It seems the previous owners were trying to sell 200 + 204 Beech together to a builder so they could split the lots and build multiple houses. I was told the deal fell through because an arborist report proved that the trees would be too difficult to work around. Something we knew we too would need to look into. Heritage listing was also something we need to assess. Before purchasing the property we searched the city of Toronto Heritage Preservation Services (HPS) site to see if 204 Beech was designated or even listed. It wasn’t. The architects we hired followed up later with a call to HPS to ask if 204 Beech was on their radar. It wasn’t. Additionally, we brought back the same arborist with our architects to assess the property for suitability. These initial consultations gave us the information we needed to ensure we could work around the trees. The architect toured the house and commented on the lack of heritage value (she has experience in this area). She also ensured us that a 3 bedroom 2000-2500 sq ft house would sit incredibly well on the property and that we could take advantage of the rear lane way to allow wheelchair access to and from the house. Once we negotiated price and arranged financing we closed the deal.
205 Beech
After an article ran in the Globe and Mail about what our intended plans were, the neighbour at 205 Beech, Elizabeth Brown, created a petition and went door-to-door looking for support. I’m told by people who live on Beech Ave she didn’t get the response or support she was looking for. I suppose this frustrated Ms Brown enough write a letter to our councillor, Sandra Bussin. In the letter Ms Brown expresses her concern about a change to her “primary view”. She goes on to say they are “deeply empathetic” but that “there are many other properties in the City that could provide a haven for this family”.
When we got wind of this letter we emailed Ms Bussin to better understand what was going on. Ms Bussin confirmed that she had indeed received a letter from 205 Beech and mentioned there was a petition, though she refused to give numbers (and still refuses to reveal numbers). We talked about what a heritage designation would mean, I explained we checked with HPS and that the building was clear. Ms Bussin suggested that perhaps we all get together to discuss the situation and that I needed to bear with her, that she needed a few days.
The Media
The next morning I did a few Google searches to look for the petition Ms Bussin mentioned but came up short. Instead, I found a blog that was looking to save 204 Beech. The creator of the blog, Kirsten Campbell, lived in the home decades ago. She resides in Germany and has so for the last 7 years. At first, the site had a few posts and a poll that asked whether or not the house should be saved. Within hours the site’s comments and poll was tipped heavily in our favour. While I didn’t give this swing in opinion much thought, the media picked up on it and began requesting interviews. I chose to ignore them at first. instead, I emailed Ms Bussin letting her know that I was getting requests and wondered what, if anything, was going on with the situation. More importantly, I wanted to know if we had her support. Her assistant, David McCully emailed me back immediately saying he’d bring it to her attention and they get back to us.
Six Days
Six days went by as we waited for the return call from Ms Bussin’s office. In those six days she had commissioned an architect to “assess” the property for heritage significance. The letter describes a turret, a 5 sided dormer and a verandah as elements that could have “heritage value”. Also during this six day period Ms Bussin took this letter to Community Council and passed a motion to have the house assessed by HPS because she had a report stating the house had “heritage significance”, an embellishment of the letter’s opinion of “value”. It’s important to note that all of this was done without our knowledge. We were never made aware of the initial report or the motion. We were given no opportunity to provide a counter-argument.
The Call Back
We finally did get a call back from Ms Bussin – a day after she had the motion passed. It was Melissa that took the call. She explained to Melissa that she had presented a motion to have the house assessed and that there would be a meeting on June 30th where HPS would present their findings. She said she would support their recommendation but that she was confident that it would indeed be heritage.
Town Hall
We were notified of a town hall meeting that Ms Bussin was hosting and thought we’d attend to ask some questions of the councillor. In a packed room there were many questions posed. I asked Ms Bussin what we should have done differently to ensure the house wasn’t heritage. Her response was “You should have called me”. This was a ridiculous statement. No one we know who has ever purchased a property calls their councillor to ask such questions. I asked her if other city councillors would appreciate her recommendation that all property purchases be vetted city councillors. There was no reply, just a blank stare. I reiterated the question asking, aside from calling her what else should we have done? Ms Bussin answered with another blank stare.
The Assessment
The assessment is to be conducted by representatives of HPS. We called them to try and find out if they needed access to the property and to make arrangements to provide them with a key so they could properly assess the property. Their response was that they typically don’t go on the property because that would require permission. They went on to say that the assessments were typically done from the street. I simply can’t believe that this is how these assessments are conducted. If this is how it works then the problem goes beyond just having an inventory of heritage homes – it’s also about how the inventory is created. Viewing 204 Beech from the street isn’t a fair assessment. How can something with such profound implications be done in such a manner? Will they be able to tell from 40 feet away that the stucco isn’t original, that it was done sometime in the last 20 years? Will they be able to tell that the entire verandah isn’t original and in fact has been redone in an adhoc fashion over the last 3 decades? Can they see that the turret’s roof is 3 feet shorter and is now octagonal when it was once round? Will they be able to tell that the windows on the turret aren’t curved like they should be for the period? Will they be able to tell that all of the soffits, fascia and eaves are modern? How will they see the interior? How will they note the rear addition or 10 year old kitchen? What about the structural integrity or material usage?
Next steps
The assessment hasn’t been scheduled yet but we assume it will happen later this week or next. There is Toronto Preservation Board meeting on June 30th where the assessment is presented to some members city council. It is in this meeting where we will begin to make our case. We will get a chance to counter the report should it come back with a heritage listing. If passed, it needs to go to city council on July 7. Again, this is where we try to present our case. We also need to show the entire city council just how broken this system and process is.
This is not about heritage. It isn’t about modern vs traditional. It about build or modifying a house to be accessible. It’s about our rights as citizens and as property owners. We’ve been deceived and misled throughout this entire process. We did our due diligence and yet we still find ourselves fighting for something that no person should have to fight for.
What you can do
You can still write your councillor and sign our petition, but what we’ll really need is your presence on July 7 at city council. We’ll be posting firm details once we have them and hope that you’ll join us in what we hope will be a new beginning for our family.
Toronto Preservation Board
When: Wed, June 30, 2:00pm
Where: Committee Room 1, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto
City Council (This is where we need your support)
When: Wed, July 7, 9:30am
Where: Council Chamber, City Hall, 100 Queen St West, Toronto
Please join us if you can. We know it’s asking a lot to take time away from your work or family. If we win this battle and get to build our home it will stand for far more than any heritage listing ever would.
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