LONDON, ONT. -- Facing a million dollar price tag to move the heritage home at 100 Stanley St., city council has instead decided to seek permission to demolish it.
On Tuesday, city council voted 8-7 to pursue a mending the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the widening of Wharncliffe Road to permit demolition of the house. The current EA requires that the house be moved across the road.
“This thing has all the ingredients of one big money pit,” said Councillor Paul Van Meerbergen argued in favour of demolition.
In 2020, the property was purchased for $500,000 from Nan Finlayson after a lengthy fight to stay in her home.
In a report to council, city engineers admit that the cost estimate to move the house across Wharncliffe to Evergreen Avenue had doubled to between $900,000 and $1.1 million.
The estimate includes revenue from a future sale of the house.
But staff warned amending the EA could delay the project a year, and there is no guarantee that the provincial government will agree to the change.
A one year delay could add 2 to 3 percent inflation to the $38 million budget to widen Wharncliffe north of Horton.
“We’re kind of boxed in,” Councillor Stephen Turner told his council colleagues. “Don’t make a poor decision just for the sake of optics alone.”
Turner worried that delaying the project would lead to construction gridlock.
Wharncliffe might be closed for construction at the same time the Victoria Bridge is replaced on Ridout, and the Bus Rapid Transit Project begins on Wellington.
“I have tremendous confidence in our staff that they will do all they can to mitigate the implications of this, knowing that we will have net saved one million dollars,” said Mayor Ed Holder.
Councillor Steve Lehman adding,
“To spend over $1M to relocate this house, an empty house, is not good use of taxpayers’ money.”
