Hours before city council is set to hold its second emergency meeting in less than a week to discuss the fate of an historic, publicly-owned home, a work crew was busy dismantling it.
As of 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the roof appeared to have been removed and workers were active at the site. A member of the crew said pieces were being removed to be stored for potential future use.
The emergency council session was called because of a second procedural error, one that happened during the first emergency meeting, confirmed Mayor Cam Guthrie.
At issue is that at the onset of the Sept. 30 meeting, council voted to suspend the procedural bylaw in order to hold a short-notice meeting. In doing so, it also suspended the clause that required two-thirds support to reconsider a Sept. 27 decision to remove the property from the city’s registry of heritage properties and approve its demolition.
However, discussion was shut down after a reconsideration vote didn’t receive two-thirds support.
As such, with seven of a potential 11 votes, reconsideration should have gone ahead during that meeting.
“It is not as clear-cut as that,” Guthrie said via text, noting he was unavailable to explain because he was about to begin the Mayor’s Mental Health Day event.
The Wednesday meeting, which lists the farmhouse as the only item up for discussion, is set to begin at 4 p.m. and will be streamed live at guelph.ca/live.
On Sept. 27, city council voted 8-5 to remove the circa. 1840 stone farmhouse at 797 Victoria Rd. N. – known as the Shortreed Farmhouse – from the municipal registry of cultural heritage properties and approved its demolition out of a concern for safety.
Against the motion were councillors Leanne Caron, Mike Salisbury, Bob Bell, Cathy Downer and James Gordon in opposition.
Guthrie called an emergency meeting on Sept. 30 after it was pointed out that Heritage Guelph was not consulted ahead of council’s decision, as required by the Ontario Heritage Act.
During that meeting, the procedural bylaw was suspended but talk of reconsideration was stopped after it failed to receive two-thirds support. At the time, it was stated a two-thirds majority would be needed to re-open the motion.
However, it was since pointed out that aspect of the procedural bylaw had been put aside and a simple majority should have been needed, not two-thirds. With seven votes, and two councillors absent, reconsideration should have gone ahead.
The property is currently owned by the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA). It was built by George Shortreed, who once served a term as reeve of Wellington County, and acquired by the GRCA in 1973.
According to the municipal registry, the house was constructed in a neo-classic vernacular style and includes several features of heritage significance.
The house was rented out through the GRCA’s residential tenancy program until 2016 when the program was cancelled and has sat vacant since 2017.
