We’ve been slacking on our pseudo-regular posting schedule as of late, but there is actually some justification to our seemingly lacklustre attitude to our publishing regiment.  You see, we’ve been working dilligently on trying to raise public awareness in Walkerville in an attempt to keep the bulldozers away from the old Bank of Montreal building.  At the same time we’ve been working on a roundtable discussion forum on the effects of urban sprawl with our friends over at the Artcite Gallery.

Which brings me to an explanation which will make you understand the title of this post a little better.  While arranging panelists for our roundtable forum, I’ve been thinking to myself how easier this is now as I no longer need to get into long, lengthy discussions about why the urban sprawl issue is harmful to our community.  People “get it” now.  I came to this conclusion when I was on the telephone with Joe Rauti, president of the Greater Windsor Home Builders Association, inviting him to participate as a panelist.  Joe and I had a long talk about how his membership was suffering during the recent real estate collapse and how the ‘burbs are no longer the hot-bed of activity they once were.  We discussed the obstacles he experiences when trying to build infill housing and how we could work together to attempt to make it easier and more profitable for his membership to begin developing in the downtown core, specifically the Urban Village.  It was a great conversation, and I look forward to Mr. Rauti’s participation in the forum.

This is a conversation that has been a long-time-coming.  We need to work together with our local developers, as we are each a key player in revitalizing this city of ours.  So, as I was experiencing this epiphany of developer/activist participation, we went to council last night in an effort to work with the developer of that key parcel of core land in Olde Walkerville to try and save the old BofM building from the wrecking ball.  In my presentation, I ackowledged the developers rich history of adaptive re-use and urban infill while reminding him of the responsibility he has to the larger community.  All true, as his Club Lofts retrofit of Hiram Walker’s old warehouse, when completed, will further enrich the tapestry of Olde Walkerville and (hopefully) bring new residents into the area.  We need to develop working relationships with developers such as these who have experience in something other than sprawl building.

Yet it wasn’t meant to be.  As you know, the bank building wasn’t yet on the heritage inventory (the city dropped the ball on that one, too), and the developer’s lawyer took advantage of that fact and was threatening legal action left, right and centre.  Ultimately, when it came down to the vote, only three of our councilors (Hatfield, Halberstadt and Valentinis) opted for designation.  Even the two councilors (Jones and Brister) who sit on the Windsor Heritage Committee voted against designation.  While this was a bleak, yet unsurprising outcome, there was actually some light shining from behind the other seven clouds sitting in council chambers.

City council was embroiled in some of the best debate regarding the preservation of our architectural heritage that I have ever seen.  They ackowledge that our process is flawed and needs to be examined.  They actually split the vote into three parts, the first being that council look into our process and determine whether we could do things better.  The second part was the failed bid for designation, and the last was a token request that the developer “look into” preserving some of the limestone details of the building.  I guess this council likes saving trophies of our architectural past and store them in perpetuity in some warehouse somewhere.

So, while I know that we lost yet another of our heritage buildings, I hope that we have built our case and foundation for saving the next building a little stronger.  My hat goes off to Councilors Hatfield, Halberstadt and Valentinis for doing their best to save the old girl.  Councilor Hatfield gave an impassioned plea for designation, (while the ward 2 & 4 councilors, who have the bulk of the remaining heritage properties in their wards, were more than willing to not raise a fuss) saying this city needs to take a stand against the wanton destruction of our architectural heritage, and how embarassing it is for this council to be dealing with the continued demolition of our past.

We must perservere and continue to raise the flags when we see people wanting to tear apart the pieces of this city that actually work.  I invite everyone to the Roundtable Discussion on the Effects of Urban Sprawl taking place tomorrow night at the Artcite Gallery, beginning at 7:00.  The higher the awareness of these issues, the easier it will be to put an and to destructive development patterns.

Tags: Architecture, City Council, community building, revitalization, Urban Design, urban sprawl, walkerville