Building owner pushing back on new heritage protection

UPDATE | Ottawa's heritage committee approved a city staff recommendation to move forward with the designation process at 290 City Centre Ave. at its meeting on May 14. 

The owner of a historic west Centretown building is pushing back against Ottawa city council's recent move to spare the structure from potentially being torn down.

Earlier this year, the city's built heritage committee asked for a "notice of intention to designate" 290 City Centre Ave. under the Ontario Heritage Act, which councillors issued on Jan. 24.

That's key to saving the building from demolition, said heritage advocate David Jeanes.

"Legally, as soon as the notice of intention is passed by council, the building is protected," Jeanes explained. 

It's one of the last remaining buildings in that part of the city associated with Ottawa's industrial rail era, according to the city. 

Originally built in 1925 near a sawmill, it served 37 years as the offices of the W.C. Edwards Company, a large eastern Ontario lumber outfit

More recently, it was the home for the Orange Art Gallery. The gallery's co-owner recently said their lease was not being renewed by the landlord and she feared it the building could be demolished.

"There's plenty of connections in terms of historical and contextual value and associative value," Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King, chair of the built heritage committee, said of the building. 

Michael Polowin, the lawyer for the building owner, said the decision to grant the building heritage designation was made "without complete information" and without giving them "an appropriate opportunity" to speak to city staff and the built heritage committee.

Polowin told CBC they asked the city for a deferral.

"We were preparing reports to provide a fulsome opportunity for staff and committee to look at, specifically, an environment report, structural report and heritage report," Polowin said. 

The owner has also filed a complaint to council, he added. 

The city has been speeding up efforts to designate heritage properties as it works its way through a bloated list under a tight provincial deadline.