A core business on Queen Street is bracing for survival.
“We’re kicking up the social media and online profile,” the owner told me days ago. “The trucks have already started and once that hoarding goes up, blocking people, we’re going to need the digital business just to get by.”
Yes, it’s impactful. And just the beginning. Unless a court challenge is successful today (Feb. 26) — which seems doubtful — the Royal George will soon be another dusty pile of junk and the irreversible altering of NOTL’s iconic street (and premier economic gem) will be upon us.
Go visit Victoria Street. See for yourself. The next month will bring the collapse of the theatre, the erasure of the historic barber shop beside it (lately a box office and wardrobe place) and geothermal drilling.
After that, digging. So much digging. So many dump trucks. And all of them are slated to rumble, fully loaded, through the adjacent heritage residential area.
“If I had a historic house on Prideaux Street with a stone foundation (which I wish I did), I’d be thinking about getting an engineer’s report with documentation on the foundation and brickwork,” says Mark Taylor.
The professional builder has roots in NOTL and serious concerns for what may be about to happen here.
“I’m thinking about the thousands of trips that heavy trucks will make in and out through the streets,” he says. “I can’t imagine running heavy construction traffic through the heritage district will end well. If you are on the trucking route, at the very least I would photograph my foundation (where exposed) and the exterior brickwork looking for fracture lines in the mortar joints.”
In case you missed it, the construction plan (which elected politicians have not seen, has not been made public and which staff will be quietly approving) calls for a truck every nine minutes (during the dig phase) to roll through Old Town’s signature heritage home district. Details of this are missing from the builder’s site (royalgeorge@govanbrown.com) but are spelled out graphically in the plan.
Will that document ever be posted online by Nick Ruller, who runs NOTL as CAO, or Aimee Alderman, the new planning czar? Will we get transparency?
Don’t count on it. Not after the RGO (Ruller gag order) that we detailed last week. If your reporter wants more info out of town hall, I’ll have to wear a black balaclava and break in.
“Count me among those who look forward to your column each week,” writes Jim Reynolds. “In this day and age, when bending the knee to authority is encouraged, I appreciate a voice that tells it like it is. I drove past the horror on Victoria Street today to see your predictions already coming to pass.
And Dave Vida is giving voice to the cynicism swirling at the moment.
“The idea that NOTL is an island and can stay a strong gatekeeper of history and preservation is a noble one, but politicians march to a different woke drummer…” he warns. “Doug Ford and others are against, and have gone to great lengths to destroy, the Heritage Act, and the idea that it should prevail.”
“Once the new theatre is half-built, someone will say we now need to appropriate another dozen historic properties for the badly needed parking garage next to the new George (another four years of construction). Or maybe a 10-storey hotel, over the parking garage. We can partner with a chain!”
Some fear recent decisions — the Parliament Oak hotel (now with a tower crane soaring over the hood), the massive Royal George complex, the Berlin brick wall of short-term rentals and the glassy Clayfield (Terminal 4) Hotel — will ruin this place. And what if amalgamation happens and we slip into the greasy clutches of Niagara Falls?
This seems like a pivotal moment. A call to arms. I’m channelling 1812.
Garth Turner is a NOTL resident, journalist, author, wealth manager and former federal MP and minister. garth@garth.ca
