Ottawa City Council has approved the demolition of three heritage buildings on St. Patrick Street, which the local community association describes as “the poster children for demolition by neglect.”
The decision means that the buildings, at 227-229, 231-233
and 235-237 St. Patrick St., just west of Dalhousie, can be torn down and the property redeveloped.
City staff supported demolition, noting the buildings are in poor condition and would require extensive repair. According to the report, “buckling of exterior walls indicate early onset structural collapse” at 227-229 St. Patrick St.
The maintenance of the properties has been contentious. Brian Dagenais purchased them in late 2019 with the intent to redevelop the properties into more rental units.
Earlier this year, the CBC reported on the fallout of landlords renting to citizens experiencing homelessness through the City of Ottawa’s Housing First Program. Dagenais was one of them, and some of the properties affected were those on St. Patrick Street. The report noted apartment units filled with garbage, cigarette butts, discarded needles and other items.
In a letter to the Lowertown Echo newspaper in June, Dagenais apologized to the Lowertown community for the way the program impacted locals.
“I was naïve to expect the city to exercise authority over these agencies when problems began to grow and for that, I apologize to the community.”
But he wrote that he had spent more $1 million maintaining the units over the past four years.
In a letter to the Built Heritage Committee, Warren Waters, vice-president of the Lowertown Community Association wrote that “at a minimum, these new buildings should be designed to reflect the characteristics of the original.”
“By taking such an approach, the City of Ottawa would send a clear message to other property owners and developers who may also be tempted to seek demolition through neglect as a means to more profitable new development,” he wrote.
Waters pointed to recent reconstructions on Bolton Street in Lowertown and NCC buildings along Sussex Drive, where buildings were reconstructed to maintain heritage streetscapes.
There are 13 units in the three St. Patrick Street buildings, all of which are vacant. The buildings were designated as heritage sites in 1994, under the designation for a Heritage Conservation District (HCD) in Ottawa’s Lowertown area.
Demolition requests for heritage buildings in HCDs are generally not approved. In this case, multiple engineering reports recommended demolition because of the poor condition of the buildings.
The application to demolish was tabled at the city’s Built Heritage Committee last week before arriving at council for final approval Wednesday.
Permits for any new construction on the sites will be subject to heritage permits under the Ontario Heritage Act and the Planning Act.
