CORRECTION: A previous version of this article identified the municipal heritage committee chair as Kevin Buis. It is, in fact, Drew Chapman.
After a developer demolished part of a nearly 200-year-old schoolhouse without the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s approval last month, the municipality says it’s monitoring the situation and figuring out its next steps to keep any more destruction from taking place.
The town issued a stop-work order on April 17 directing the property owner of 14785 Niagara River Pkwy. to halt all work on what is known as the Larkin-Dimitrieff property, owned by prominent developer Benny Marotta.
Photos obtained by The Lake Report, taken from the site that day and the day before, appear to show the schoolhouse roof being dismantled. Following this, a plastic tarp was placed over the top of the building.
“The work the building division observed was the deconstruction of a building, which under the Building Code Act is defined as demolition,” town spokesperson Marah Minor told The Lake Report.
At the latest municipal heritatge meeting, held May 6, Taya Devlin, manager of policy and heritage planning, spoke to the committee and said town staff is treating the situation “with the utmost seriousnes” and is working to preven the loss of any more of the building as it investigates the demolition.
“Our built heritage is a defining part of our community, its identity and the town takes any unauthorized alterations seriously,” said Devlin. “The town remains committed to ensuring the illegal destruction of heritage properties will not be tolerated.”
The Larkin-Dimitrieff property is a designated property under the Ontario Heritage Act. Its history dates back to the early 19th century.
Minor said the property owner is in contact with the town, which is working to resolve any requirements to obtain the permits needed for the developer to continue work on the property. She noted the maximum financial penalty for failing to comply with the stop-work order and the order to comply is $50,000.
Devlin told the heritage committee that alongside fines, violating the Ontario Heritage Act means conviction is also a possible penalty.
A municipal staff member told the committee that, as of May 7, a tarp is still covering the top of the schoolhouse, meant to protect it from the rain. Committee chair Drew Chapman, however, called tarps a “short-term solution.”
“If we can get a roof back on it as soon as possible, that would be the best,” he said.
The property sits next to the former site of Glencairn Hall, a 19th-century home at 14795 Niagara River Pkwy. The home burned down last April in a fire police are investigating as criminal arson.
A 2011 document from the Town of NOTL states the schoolhouse was “probably” built in the 1830s for the estate workers of Glencairn Hall’s then-owner, entrepreneur John Hamilton.
Last August, the town’s committee of adjustment approved plans to bring together a half-acre portion of the Glencairn Hall property with the Larkin-Dimitrieff property, which Marotta owns.
