358 Arlington rescued

Back in November, the owner of 358 Arlington (behind Harvey's on the West side of Bronson) applied for a permit to demolish the house. The owner of the site was the Bank of Nova Scotia (presumably after having foreclosed on it), which wanted to demolish the house and sell it as a vacant lot.

When I took my photos of Bronson Avenue in early February, I visited the site to take some photos.

The house is rather dilapidated, and looks like a hodgepodge of additions and coverings.

At the rear of the site, there is no yard, only garage. Behind the lot is another building, the business Protocol Floral Express.

The City's demolition process requires concrete plans to be in place for a replacement building before existing housing stock can be demolished. This prevents old buildings from being demolished and turned into parking lots, when what we need is places for people to live. In the case for this building, a replacement building would have to conform to zoning regulations, and therefore wouldn't be able to occupy as much of the site as the current structure. The bank was applying to demolish the building without plans to do anything with the lot (aside from selling it).

The Dalhousie Community Association opposed the permit, and their response is at the end of the Staff report. Councillor Holmes opposed the demolition permit with similar reasons. Meanwhile, the City's planning department considered it to be a done deal and were discussing how to landscape the vacated lot.

The City's Planning & Environment Committee recommended to approve the demolition permit with strict conditions, including that the permit approval would expire if the conditions aren't met within six months. City Council approved this conditional permit later in February.

The house went up for sale as is this Summer, and the "Sold" sticker was added to the sign this past Friday.

I understand that the new owner plans to renovate the house--not demolish it.

Whoever the new owner is, welcome to the neighbourhood!