Pitt Meadows council has halted the demolition of one of the first houses in the city.
A 60-day halt on demolition has been approved for the Menzies house as city staff looks to develop a plan to save the historical structure.
The Menzies residence is located at 19963 McNeil Rd. William and Mary Menzies first settled on the 100-plus-acre property around 1900 and lived in a log cabin before building the current house in 1910, according to the Pitt Meadows Museum and Archives.
Previously, a research consultant hired by Pitt Meadows identified the home as having historical significance. In 2006, the Menzies home was placed on the municipal registry, then the provincial registry in 2009.
But the current owner now has a demolition permit to remove the structure from the land and is looking to rezone the property as part of a subdivision application.
This has “irked” Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker and councillors.
What bothers Coun. Bruce Bell is that the owners “take out the windows, take out the doors and let the elements do what they do and time goes by and there isn’t much left there,” of the house.
He said the city has two options.
“One would be that they take out the material that’s still salvageable and somebody uses it somewhere … And the other one, and I’m not so sure about that, because folks might have an issue with it, is that a replica be done somewhere else on the property.”
Coun. Bill Dingwall echoed Bell’s sentiments.
“It’s sad when buildings just are left to deteriorate,” he added.
“And I do think that we need to clearly be more proactive and look at the inventory of buildings in our community that need some preservation and then put some teeth into it. At least then some effort will be made to maintain some of these historic buildings,” he said, citing buildings that are between 150- to -200-years-old in eastern Canada and those that are 800 years old in other countries.
“I think in little Pitt Meadows we don’t have a huge inventory, but we should do what we can to try and preserve it and put the onus on the owner to do the upkeep,” he said.
Coun. Janis Elkerton wanted to see the heritage and museum society involved in any decision because of its creative ideas when attempting to preserve the city’s history.
“The applicant again has been before us for subdivision of the property for an amount that would exceed our rules,” Becker said. “And now this particular home, and the picture shows open windows and open doors, so clearly, clearly the home owner couldn’t care less about this particular dwelling.”
He said the city could do more historical preservation in the community through business planning.
“It may no be 150 or 700 years old, but it is what it is and we should be taking better care of it I think,” he said of the Menzies house.
Now that the demolition process has been temporarily stopped, city staff are hoping to work with the property owners to see what options are available to continue historical recognition of the building.
However, a report submitted as part of the rezoning application said that the viability of restoration of the house is limited due to its current condition.
City staff are also looking at options available through the Heritage Revitalization Agreement and the Heritage Designation Bylaw.
Leslie Norman, with the Pitt Meadows Heritage and Museum Society, said that being on the register of heritage properties in Pitt Meadows doesn’t give the house any safety. It simply has acknowledgment that it has heritage significance.
“Honestly, there should be some authoritative financial punishment for allowing this to happen,” added Norman.
Personally, she thinks that building a replica of the original structure doesn’t make sense.
“It’s not the original house. It’s not,” Norman added.
“It’s just an homage to the original house. Why even bother? Why not assess the financial penalty and then put it towards saving heritage in the community?”