Another developer is making good on a promise to challenge a Cambridge council decision at the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Last month, council refused a demolition permit for a one-storey brick building at the corner of Park Hill Road and Market Street and voted to move ahead with a heritage designation instead.
The decision makes the developer's plan to build a three-storey mixed-use 10-unit apartment there next to impossible, so they're following through on a promise to appeal the decision to the OLT.
A notice of appeal from the developer's lawyer outlines how the city's refusal of the demolition permit "is intended to obstruct the redevelopment proposal" and how the heritage integrity of the structure has been irreversibly harmed by alterations, modifications and damage.
Fire ripped through the vacant building the same day council voted to designate it. Prior to that it had been the repeated target of vandalism and break-ins.
Copper pipes and electrical wires had already been stripped out of the walls and squatters had been using the rooms as "public washrooms" for months, a consultant for the developer told council.
The condition of the building didn't appear to sway council, however, some of whom believe designation is the best way to ensure relevant parts of the building are saved.
Coun. Ross Earnshaw said he was torn between wanting to save the heritage aspects of the building and knowing how bad a shape it's in.
He said if the city was forced into fighting an appeal with the OLT, it would likely end up a pile of rubble anyway.
The battle over the future of 44-46 Park Hill Road East began in November, when the proposal was brought to the attention of the city's heritage advisory committee in a rushed meeting to meet a deadline for the demolition permit application.
The city wanted to advance the proposal with a report and recommendation allowing the demolition.
But after reviewing the history of the property, heritage planner Jeremy Parsons appeared to have second thoughts.
Although the property is not listed on the heritage register, it is adjacent to a listed property.
Parsons told the city's heritage advisory committee he only had a few days to investigate the building's heritage value but knew its building date was somewhere between 1867 and 1875.
He later discovered the 150-year-old building was likely built by prominent Galt bricklayer George Dando with ties to town founder William Dickson.
Since council voted in favour of a staff recommendation to save the building, city planning staff will be called on to defend the position at the OLT.
A hearing date for the appeal has not been set.
