Comment 96046

By erskinec (registered) - website | Posted December 16, 2013 at 21:25:12 in reply to Comment 96031

With regards to the City’s Heritage Committee and James Street Baptist Church, there was a lot of excellent talent across the table from the Committee; clearly they were outmatched. It is unfortunate that Joey Coleman has removed his record of the two meetings, particularly the last meeting. It would be useful to re-watch the relevant sections.

As an adaptive re-use project, I find this proposal to be very exciting; something meaningful can be done with this building. That being said; the standards for alteration or partial demolition should be higher for designated buildings than for non-designated buildings.

The Committee should have required an independent structural assessment by a structural engineer with heritage preservation experience and selected by the City. This assessment requirement should apply to all permits that involve significant alterations or partial demolitions of heritage designated buildings. How can the Committee have all the necessary information to fulfill their due diligence responsibilities without an independent assessment?

The role the Heritage Committee is not only to assess requests from property owners but to represent you and citizens of Hamilton. Furthermore, given that the Province defers to the City on designations, the Committee also represents the people of Ontario.

So, from my perspective, why the Heritage Committee didn’t make this a requirement of granting the permit is a mystery. I certainly had the impression that the Committee was moving in this direction. Maybe it is unreasonable to expect more from volunteers.

Comment edited by erskinec on 2013-12-16 21:29:02

Artist and film-maker with a focus on the Hamilton. The Erskine family has either worked or lived in Hamilton for over 100 years.

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