Decrepit Rideau Street buildings slated for demolition
By David Reevely, The Ottawa Citizen April 17, 2012
The developer Richcraft owns this property on Rideau Street, just east of Charlotte Street. It’s reached a deal with the city that would see it demolish the building and put in a temporary park. Eventually, Richcraft intends to build a condo on the site.
OTTAWA - The city is poised to give Richcraft permission to tear down a clutch of tumbledown buildings on Rideau Street now that the two sides have agreed on a park to replace them, says a report due to be presented to city council’s planning committee.
The property at Rideau and Charlotte streets, near Rideau’s east end in Sandy Hill, is slated to eventually get a medium-height condo building, but the existing water and sewer pipes aren’t ready for it. The city’s planning to replace them starting next year, but for at least two years the buildings on the site - mostly houses converted into storefront shops and restaurants - have been decaying. Neighbours complain that they’ve been used as flophouses and that they’re fire hazards; the roof of one has caved in.
The situation is ugly, the report acknowledges: "The subject buildings are all in a state of advanced disrepair, and some structural degradation is evident. The environment created by the vacant buildings and isolated rear yards has become conducive to vandalism and delinquent activities. The Ottawa Police have enquired with staff as to potential for demolition and indicated the demolition of the buildings could improve the detrimental environment."
Richcraft said last fall that it wanted to tear the buildings down but couldn’t make a deal with the city on what the land would be used for until the company is ready to build there. The city objected to a fenced-off vacant lot (like another property Richcraft owns on the next block) but the company didn’t want to be responsible for any sort of little park, or for nearby residents to get used to a neighbourhood gathering-spot that wouldn’t last.
Now, according to the city report, the city and the developer have made a deal: Richcraft can tear down the buildings if it replaces them with a simple park with grass, benches, a pathway and a few trees. The city will lease the land for $1 a year and maintain it, charging Richcraft $10,000 a year until the company’s condo project is ready to go.
On the other hand, the report says, the land could be exempt from property taxes if it’s used as a park, and the taxes were $25,000 last year, of which $14,000 went to the city.
If the planning committee and city council agree, the park should be done by Oct. 15, the report says.
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