Imminent demolition

Attempts to save Sandbanks Park farmhouses appear in vain

Despite efforts by the Prince Edward Heritage Advisory Committee (PEHAC) and others, including Prince Edward County Mayor Steve Ferguson on behalf of the municipality, and Hillier councillor and PEHAC member Ernie Margetson, two former residences situated within Sandbanks Provincial Park are expected to be torn down very soon, possibly within a matter of days. “It’s just terrible being on a demolition watch, which is what we are on right now,” says Liz Driver, PEHAC member. She notes that both properties had their front yards plowed of snow in the last two weeks. “You don’t do that if you just want to pull a vehicle into the driveway.” The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has not made public the date for the demolition.

After months of hearing nothing from the provincial government on the fate of the two historic properties, namely the Hyatt and MacDonald houses, word came February 22 from the Province of demolition. The notice indicates the decision surrounding demolition of the two historic farmhouses was approved on February 4, which included approval for a Sandbanks Provincial Park Management Plan Amendment, a decision that allows the demolition to proceed. It states, in part, ‘The amendment provides revised direction for two buildings that require demolition due to health and safety reasons’. “It’s like they had their ears closed: they heard everything, then they went away and they disregarded the will of the municipality and all the evidence that was brought forward,” says Driver.

At a meeting on February 18, PEHAC recommended Council direct Mayor Ferguson to contact the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks to urge Ontario Parks to pause demolition of the MacDonald and Hyatt Houses, “To allow a heritage architect a reasonable period of time to prepare a feasibility study for the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of the houses that would ensure the conservation of their cultural heritage value and would address Ontario Parks’ concerns regarding health and safety.” PEHAC also recommended the municipality reject commemoration as an acceptable mitigation for demolishing the historic farmhouses on the Lake Ontario waterfront.

A 45-day period for public consultation, which closed on January 20, received nine comments from members of the public, including the Ontario Archaeological Society and the Prince Edward Heritage Advisory Committee. Concerns voiced included how the buildings were allowed to deteriorate, and how commitments made in the 1992 management plan to restore the houses have not been met, as well as questioning the methods used to evaluate the buildings, along with suggestions for a public-private partnership to restore the buildings.

Almost a year has passed since Mayor Ferguson wrote to Jeff Yurek, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, ‘Strongly encouraging the review of alternate options to the demolition of two heritage buildings within the park’. This came on the heels of a submission by PEHAC who suggested the two properties presented a unique opportunity to restore and re-purpose heritage assets. “Demolishing the houses disregards and overlooks the community’s steadfast and consistent commitment to heritage,” it stated.

The derelict, boarded-up properties, known as the Hyatt house (also as Lakeview Lodge or the Gray House) built in 1869 by James MacDonald Hyatt, and the MacDonald house, constructed in 1878 (or 1876) by Alexander MacDonald, are located on County Road 12. They have sat empty for at least 20 years and are now in poor condition. PEHAC member and Hiller ward councillor Ernie Margetson noted both properties have deteriorated significantly, but stated that in his opinion, the deterioration is reversible. Margetson points out that Ontario Parks have simply neglected the properties by a lack of maintenance and attention.

At the heart of the issue is a 1992 Sandbanks Provincial Park Management Plan, a plan that originally recognized the heritage value of the buildings proposed to be demolished and one that committed to preserving the buildings, according to Margetson, a commitment he says Ontario Parks have not followed through in 25 years.

He explains that PEHAC requested Ontario Parks develop a Cultural Resources Management Plan before any decision was made to demolish the houses. He further notes that Ontario Parks had identified the management of heritage resources as a significant issue, and stated that, ‘any deterioration would be arrested and the potential for restoration, adaptive re-use and interpretation would be examined as part of the management plan they were going to develop’.

Driver explains that heritage architect Philip Evans made an offer to Ontario Parks to undertake a feasibility study as well as a proposal for a leasehold option. “What all of us cannot understand is that the buildings can be restored, someone wants to restore them, someone has a group of investors willing to fund the restoration,” says Driver, adding, “You could not ask for a better expert to do this than Phil.” She says that as part of a leasehold agreement, the revenue would go to Sandbanks for decades, noting the Province enters into partnerships and leaseholds all the time, so is not something unheard of to them. “We feel that this is a lack of imagination and a lack of responsiveness to the local community.”

“What Sandbanks has decided to do is spend money destroying a heritage asset; it makes no sense.” She noted that a number of people have visited the houses, including Margetson, who is an engineer, and retired architect Edwin Rowse, both of whom are “absolutely convinced these houses can be restored”. Driver notes the heritage consultant who did the study for Ontario Parks is not an engineer. “She is not an architect, let alone a heritage architect, and yet the province is relying on her study”. Driver further notes that Rowse had submitted a very detailed analysis of the state of the buildings. “He compared it to what the heritage consultant, who was not qualified to comment on this, had said, and pointed out to them that these buildings are reparable.” Further, Ontario Parks has never released the finalized studies, something Driver says they know were finalized on March 5, 2020, according to a letter Philip Evans had received. “They had held onto these finalized studies, which we assume should somehow respond to the input, but Ontario Parks offered no evidence whatsoever to back up their claim that the buildings cannot be restored,” Driver stated. “How can we be satisfied with that?” She says she has to ask herself what Sandbanks gain by tearing the houses down. She further notes that rehabilitating the houses saves embedded energy. “It is a sustainable approach to the world; you tear those houses down, you have lost all the materials that went into making them and they have stood there for a century-and -a-half each, right in the weather of the lake.”

“Every time we lose an old building, we lose part of our history and it is gone,” says Driver. “I also feel that the farms that were on the shoreline of Lake Ontario, the farms that ringed the whole County, we don’t have a lot of that left. These farmhouses are a vestige of the agricultural life that has happened on the shoreline,” she adds. “It’s very, very distressing and I am so distressed about it.” Recent Times stories on the Hyatt and MacDonald houses can be found at wellingtontimes.ca/heritage-4 and wellingtontimes.ca/demolishing-heritage.