Currently living with his parents in Brampton, Dhrumil Mehta dreams of moving to Guelph and starting a family with his fiance after they marry later this year, perhaps even opening a business in the city one day.
He fell in love with Guelph while attending university and last year bought an aging bungalow in The Ward with plans to tear it down and replace it with a modern, three-storey home that suits their needs.
That, potentially, is where the dream ends.
Last fall, city council denied a demolition permit for 239 Elizabeth St. and started the process of designating it a heritage property, which would prevent demolition from happening.
Mehta has appealed the permit refusal. Once the designation process is underway, he intends to appeal that too.
“I’m not just an investor buying this house and flipping it, I’m actually wanting to live here. I’m not replacing something just for the sake of it,” he said.
“I completely understand that the council is just trying to protect the city’s initiatives and culture, but I’m not trying to ruin that,” Mehta added. “I’m just trying to build something good. To me, building something new will just add value to the neighbourhood.”
At its Oct. 13 planning meeting, council voted 7-6 in favour of seeking designation under the Ontario Heritage Act – a motion that went against the staff recommendation to approve a previously denied demolition permit.
Weeks earlier, after reviewing the demolition request, Heritage Guelph passed a motion urging council to seek designation for it under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, which is intended to conserve heritage features for future generations.
“I’m very concerned … we as a city are losing our reputation as a corporation that values our architectural heritage,” said Coun. James Gordon during the October council meeting, in reference to “events that have taken place as of late” – something he later confirmed to GuelphToday was in regard to council’s controversial demolition approval of 797 Victoria Rd. N.
“Our city has a feel and a look to it. It’s architectural heritage is well known and well appreciated, so it is an economic driver, it’s what draws people to an area.”
While the Elizabeth Street property isn’t on the city’s register of cultural heritage properties, it is included in the city’s architectural inventory, known as the Couling list (created in the 1970s, it identifies buildings constructed in the city prior to 1927).
As a result, the demolition request was forwarded to Heritage Guelph for comment on Sept. 13.
Mehta, like city staff, sees no heritage value in the property.
“Since that October council meeting, my client has already had a Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report prepared which, unsurprisingly, concurs with heritage planning staff that this house does not merit individual designation as it meets none of the criteria,” states Kevin Thompson, Mehta’s lawyer, in an email.
“As heritage planning staff did not believe this house met the criteria for individual designation and were recommending demolition, the city clearly has to look for an outside consultant that can support council’s position,” he added. “The fact that we’re now in late January and we’ve been told ‘end of February’ for the notice (of designation to be published) I would suggest is indicative of the success they’re having in finding someone.”
A date for the demolition permit appeal hasn’t been set.
If the appeal fails and the house heritage designation ultimately upheld, Mehta said he’ll have to do what he can to make the nearly 100-year-old bungalow “livable” for now.
“A 600 sq. ft. home, it just doesn’t work,” he said, noting he has a large extended family who he’d like to invite over for gatherings when the time is right. “We all like to get together. In a 600 sq. ft. home it’s not possible.”
If that’s the size of home he wanted, Mehta said he simply would have bought a condominium and avoided all the issues associated with demolition and building new.
“When I was here (attending the University of Guelph), I love how everything just feels warm,” he said. “You can walk downtown and I don’t ever feel unsafe. My fiance, she loves hiking. I have a dog … he just wants to go out and run all the time. I would love to take them hiking, there’s so many great trails around here.
“For me, it holds value in that regard. I could really build a start to my young family here.”
