Haney House, one of the old homes that led to the community of the same name, is getting something old that’s new, thanks to grants from higher levels of government.
A new, western red cedar shingle roof is now on the historic building. It’s the same type of roof as used back in 1883, when the home was first built at the foot of what’s now 224th Street.
Along with a new roof, the old home, owned by the City of Maple Ridge, will get a new set of windows.
Thomas Haney was a Maple Ridge pioneer from Ontario who bought 160 acres of land near the Fraser River in Maple Ridge, resulting in it being named Haney’s Landing. The house was actually built by Samuel Edge, whose name is also on a downtown street.
The new windows will follow the original design instead of being the energy-efficient models in today’s buildings.
It just works better if the original concepts and materials are used as much as possible in old buildings, said Val Patenaude, with the Maple Ridge Historical Society.
“We’re happy that the building envelope will be more secure and there will be less opportunities for moisture to get in,” she added.
The money, $57,000, to do the repairs comes from the Canada 150 Fund, a federal program that commemorates Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, and is one of several grants the city has received recently.
Maple Ridge also got $500,000 in 2015 from the same fund to help turn Merkley Park into an all-weather field. Construction on that is underway.
The city has also got $62,700 from the Canada 150 Canadian Heritage program for cultural celebrations this summer.
Maple Ridge also considered applying for a major grant, up to $2 million, from the Cultural Spaces Fund, to help pay for a $40-million civic and cultural centre and museum that had been considered for Memorial Peace Park.
Mayor Nicole Read and staff visited Ottawa last October to make the case for federal funding for that project, although specific grants hadn’t yet been applied for.
Read said that project had the greatest chance of success for federal dollars.
But council, this summer, scratched that project off its short-term list of rec projects, along with a new indoor aquatic centre.
Now that the city has decided on the rec projects it wants to build, it will lobby both MLAs and the MP for funding.
“We’ll definitely try to be getting as much funding … so we’ll see how that goes,” Read said Thursday. “We’ll be applying for everything.”
The city’s already seeking $500,000 from the B.C. government to help support childcare spaces at the new Albion Neighourhood Learning and Community Centre.
That project, along with new parks, sports fields and an ice rink, remains subject to approval by taxpayers in a public approval process that will take place this fall.
Coun. Bob Masse said MP Dan Ruimy is exploring the possibility of federal grants for an outdoor pool that council is considering next to the Maple Ridge Lawn Bowling Club on 232nd Street.
“I encourage anybody who’s submitting for funding from the federal government to make sure they give me a copy so that I can follow through,” Masse said.
Langley township received a $10-million grant from the federal Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component to help build its new outdoor pool in Aldergrove.