This house at 358 Arlington Ave. is the subject of a debate over whether its demolition should be put on hold.
The planned demolition of a vacant, run-down house in Centretown is raising concerns because the owner has no plans to build new housing on the property.
Located at 358 Arlington Ave., the house looks as if a strong gust of wind would flatten it.
The walls are caving in on themselves, a portion of the eavestrough is limply hanging from the roof and all the windows seem to slant.
The building has been vacant for about two years and, according to a staff report to the city’s planning and environment committee, is currently owned by the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says since the building is in such a bad state, it makes sense for the bank to tear it down.
“Of course they don’t want to own a residential building or put money into it,” she says. “They just want to sell the land.”
Holmes says there is no plan to replace the building with a new one.
She says that since the house is located near a commercial area, she is concerned the site may be transformed into an unwanted parking lot.
“In order to maintain the land for future development, we can’t have parking appear on it,” she says.
“Once there’s parking it’s very difficult. We have to constantly get in there with our enforcement and make sure the parking doesn’t become a perpetual matter and then there’s a request in later to have the place converted to a parking lot.”
Holmes says it is important for the area to be sodded so that it remains a residential site.
David Seaborn, chair of the planning committee for the Dalhousie Community Association, says he is concerned about the lack of planning because he believes new housing units should be built on the site right away.
“I’d like to see the house stay there until someone has a building permit to replace it with new housing, which is the standard city policy,” he says.
The City of Ottawa has a goal of encouraging “residential intensification” in the downtown area to boost the population and support urban core businesses.
“(The demolition of the building) is contrary to the official plan requirements for intensification because it’s de-intensification,” says Seaborn.
Another concern for Seaborn is the open space itself.
“It will have a negative effect on the neighbourhood and streetscapes, it will expose more of Arlington Avenue to the backdoor garbage truck deliveries on the lane that is immediately to the east of the building, and it’ll be a loss of affordable housing.”
Shane Bartlett, who lives in the neighbourhood, says he thinks the house should come down as soon as possible.
“It’s not nice to have a dilapidated house like that in your community,” he says.
The city has a residential bylaw in place that states that buildings cannot be demolished until there is a plan for a replacement building.
However, the house is just so unstable that it needs to come down says Holmes.
“We’re never happy to see a residential building being demolished. But in this case it is not structurally sound so it doesn’t sound like it’s economically possible to maintain the building,” Holmes adds.