Church-Wellesley Village Historical Buildings Threatened
The historical buildings in Church-Wellesley village are threatened by the proposal of a 25-storey condo building at the corner of Church and Gloucester Sts. The condo building would include some of the original streetscape with the new building. For example, Vogile and Fuzion will become part of the development. The historical buildings that will be destroyed in the development include 584 and 596 Church St. as well as 69 Gloucester St. One of the buildings to be demolished houses 35 rental apartments. Some of the individuals living in these apartments have lived there for more than a decade. These individuals will be displaced if the plans go through. The resistance is large in the community. A meeting was already held at the 519 Church Street Community Centre discussing the issue at hand. Mel Starkman, a resident in the neighbourhood was not able to attend the meeting but feels the condo building is a grave mistake and fears if the proposal makes it to the OMB it will be approved. He believes since the responsibility no longer belongs to Kyle Rae, the new councillor must be passionate about saving these historical buildings currently in danger of destruction. The candidate up for the challenge will get his vote.
There are many candidates in ward 27 and the opinions on the proposal vary. Joel Dick believes the developer has brought some good ideas to the table and building more higher ending living accommodations could do good for the area but he is not completely sold on the idea.
“Well this development does some good things, it’s going to retain some rental housing in the most recent plan, the residents I think are well organized to make sure that it’s a good development.”
Chris Tindal on the other hand is clear on where he stands in regards to the development.
“I think it’s a threat to the character of the village. I mean they call it the village for a reason and that would very significantly and permanently alter the streetscape.”
This will be the first issue faced by the new councillor after election-day.
Final Note: I posted this earlier this evening but I'm not seeing it on the website. Hopefully this won't be a duplicate.
