{"id":6676,"date":"2024-02-14T10:17:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T14:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6676"},"modified":"2024-02-14T19:55:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T23:55:09","slug":"liverpool-property-owner-ordered-to-demolish-buildings-after-years-of-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/liverpool-property-owner-ordered-to-demolish-buildings-after-years-of-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool property owner ordered to demolish buildings after years of complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The owner of 90 Common St. in Liverpool has been ordered to demolish the buildings and clean up the property. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

A rundown Liverpool property that has been the subject of numerous complaints since 2009 will be torn down in the next 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens regional councillors voted on Tuesday to issue a demolition order to the owner of 90 Common St. in Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

The property used to be known as the Wesleyan Church. In 2009, Chris Currie and a friend bought the property. Currie is now the sole owner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neighbours had lodged many complaints over the years with Queens bylaw enforcement officers, saying the property is dangerous and unsightly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bylaw enforcement officer Jason Hartung told councillors Tuesday that since 2009, neighbours have continued to file complaints and the property has continued to deteriorate. He recommended that council declare it dangerous and unsightly and issue an order for the owner within 30 days to demolish the main building and an out building, and clean up all construction and demolition materials and all other miscellaneous debris like glass, metals, shingles and plastics.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the owner doesn\u2019t comply, the municipality may do the work and bill him for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears to be collapsing in on itself and it presents a clear and present danger to the public,\u201d Hartung said. \u201cThe owner has had numerous years to address these concerns.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Queens bylaw enforcement officers say 90 Common St. in Liverpool ‘is a possible threat to public safety’. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

The owner told bylaw enforcement in 2015 that he would tear down the property, but that never happened. Hartung said Currie complied with several requests to clean up the property, but the building continued to deteriorate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, a fire inside the structure damaged it further. Despite the property being mostly boarded up, people were breaking in and vandalizing it. Even the RCMP contacted the municipality with concerns about their officers\u2019 safety, Hartung said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In April 2020, the region\u2019s building inspector recommended it be demolished as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Currie told the municipality in May 2021 that he would demolish the building and build a new rental property on the land. Hartung said that when that didn\u2019t happen, Currie blamed Covid lockdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hartung said municipal staff gave him more time to fix the problems. In May 2023, bylaw enforcement again inspected and found that the property was still dangerous and unsightly. In December, they received yet another complaint about dangerous conditions on the property and saw that an exterior wall at the back of the building had collapsed. Parts of the roof were also caved in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hartung said Currie has said he would apply for various permits to develop the property over the years or promised to demolish it, but never followed through.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis property can no longer be secured,\u201d he said. \u201cThe building is a possible threat to public safety.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Currie\u2019s wife Karen Gilmour asked councillors Tuesday to give him more time. She said he plans to build a three-unit affordable rental on the property. She said he couldn\u2019t be there because he was away working.<\/span><\/p>\n

She asked them to extend the 30-day demolition order to 90 to 120 days to give Currie time to fix it up and secure funding for the affordable housing project.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been numerous times where he\u2019s tried to do something with that property,\u201d she said in an interview after the meeting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a private landowner. He bought a building that was in disrepair, was hoping to do something with it and \u2026 it hasn\u2019t really worked out. He\u2019s done the best that he could to ensure that he was complying with bylaw enforcement in terms of cleanup and covering up graffiti.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney said that while he sympathizes with what Gilmour told councillors, he said it\u2019s obvious the buildings can no longer stand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything that’s transpired in the last nine years (since 2015), I can\u2019t see holding this off any longer. But history is repeating itself here. And I think we\u2019d better do something now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilmour said her husband will go ahead with his plan to develop affordable housing on the site.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only been in recent weeks that we\u2019ve been able to explore the options available for affordable housing, which this community is in desperate need of. I was really hoping that council would consider that. And it\u2019s a little bit disappointing that that didn\u2019t even get discussed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a viable project. \u2026 It\u2019s just unfortunate that we\u2019re not going to be given the additional time needed to secure the property.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Darlene Norman said council is always hesitant to issue a demolition order. But it\u2019s been 14 years and \u201cit is a huge concern to people in the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe the owners are responsible people and they will work with staff to get that building down and get the place cleaned up within 30 days of the date of the order.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/90commonstfeb1424.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Conrad A rundown Liverpool property that has been the subject of numerous complaints since 2009 will be torn down in the next 30 days. Queens regional councillors voted on Tuesday to issue a demolition order to the owner of 90 Common St. in Liverpool. The property used to be known as the Wesleyan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1739,1738,1741,1438,79,1744,1742,1743,39,49,1099,24,1740],"class_list":["post-6676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-90-common-st","tag-bylaw-enforcement","tag-chris-currie","tag-dangerous-and-unsightly-order","tag-darlene-norman","tag-demolition-order","tag-jason-hartung","tag-karen-gilmour","tag-liverpool","tag-queens-county","tag-ralph-gidney","tag-region-of-queens","tag-wesleyan-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6676\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}