Top Cambridge building official says he would cooperate with Preston Springs inquiry

The chief building official for the City of Cambridge says he would cooperate with an investigation into the demolition of the Preston Springs Hotel, if such an investigation should be called. 

"I have no reason not to cooperate," Dennis Purcell said. "I have nothing to hide… I did my due diligence. I sought legal support. I have solid engineering reports behind me on the decision, so I have no concerns. If they want to go forward with that, that's fine."

The hotel, built approximately 130 years ago, was demolished starting Dec. 31 after Purcell issued an emergency order on Christmas Eve permitting the demolition. 

City Council had voted on Nov. 3 to reject a request from the owner of the property to demolish it. 

The Cambridge and North Dumfries branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario is calling on the City of Cambridge to do an independent investigation into the circumstances leading to the demolition.

"We want to understand why this came about, how this came about, and who is responsible and what accountability we should be expecting," Vice President Karen Scott Booth told CBC. 

"We also want to understand with the protections in place, how can we protect buildings … all across the province?  How can we be assured that we're protecting those buildings?"

The ACO wants to know what happened between Nov. 3 and Dec. 24 to justify an apparent reversal on the part of the city, Scott Booth said. 

But she also wants an investigation into everything that happened from the time that Cambridge received the engineering reports that recommended the hotel's demolition.

"The building's gone, and other than a few interior salvaged items, nothing was saved," she said. "So I think that it's very important that nothing like this ever happens again, not in our community, and not in the province."

City Council rejected the Nov. 3 demolition request because legal council advised it to, Purcell said. 

In early 2020, the city had begun a process to demolish the building and was awaiting a hearing before the Conservation Review Board; councillors were advised not to introduce a new process, he said. 

The decision to issue the emergency order was made for safety and liability reasons, he added.

A consultation with an engineer in mid-November had reconfirmed that the building was in precarious condition, Purcell said, and he worried it would not survive another winter. The fire department had also issued an order in late November about securing the building due to continued break-ins, he said.

"There was a determined faction of the community who kept breaking into the building. They were putting their lives at risk," he said. "With every day that was going forward it was increasing that danger."

While the order was issued on Christmas Eve and the building demolished starting New Year's Eve, Purcell said, "There was nothing nefarious, there was nothing calculated about the issuance of the order."

"It just happened to be during the Christmas season," he said.

While the ACO is calling for an independent inquiry into the demolition, it is still researching the possible avenues for obtaining an investigation, Scott Booth said. 

"We've not been faced with this circumstance [before], and I've been on the board for 16 years," she said. 

"We're not clear on the process of an inquiry, but we're clear on the need for an inquiry."

A lawyer representing the organization said there are several possible avenues for pursuing accountability from governing bodies who make such decisions. 

Calling on the body that made the decision, such as the municipality, is one way to seek it, said Alex Ciccone, a lawyer with the environmental and municipal law firm Garrod Pickfield LLP.

Other typical avenues of recourse include asking the provincial ministry with authority over the decision to investigate, applying to the courts for a judicial review of the decision, and filing a complaint with the professional organization representing a regulated professional involved in the decision, such as an engineer.

Each approach has pros and cons, he said.

Scott Booth said her organization has requested a meeting with the mayor of Cambridge to discuss their request for an investigation into the demolition.

Mayor Kathryn McGarry told CBC in an email that it would be premature for her to comment on the ACO's request, as she has not yet discussed it with council. 

"I will be speaking with Council to review the overall process so we can address the questions that have been raised,"  McGarry said.