REGINA – Thirteen Leopold Crescent has sat unoccupied for a number of years near Albert Street and College Avenue, and thanks to city council it will stay that way for now.
During Monday’s city council meeting the property owner, Dennis Dodds, had his application for the home’s removal from the Heritage Holding List put up for debate.
Dodds bought the house, which was built in the 1940’s, with the intent of tearing it down, and building a new one for his family. After being contacted by Heritage Regina he briefly considered applying for heritage status, but ultimately a mold report made him decide on demolition.
“The gentleman who did the report for Calibre Home Inspections …. his words were, the house was the second worst house he’d seen in his career for mold,” Dodds said in council, Monday night.
Dodds never received a cost for the mold removal, but was told it would involve workers in haz-mat suits.
Concrete restoration costs Dodds provided to council included $35,000 for metal shingle replacement, and $30,000 for foundation repairs.
Dodds claimed it would cost less to build a new home on the lot than restore the home, but was unable to provide hard numbers. This is part of why council voted 5-4 against removing the home from the Heritage Holding List.
The list includes approximately 230 properties in Regina. Usually if an owner wants to demolish one of these properties it is a 60-day application period. Dodds filed his demolition application in February, 2015.
Now his application will move onto another phase of the review.
This additional motion was introduced by Councillor Bod Hawkins. He said as a relatively young city Regina needs to take heritage seriously.
“There was enough information in front of me to suggest that a very serious looked needed to be taken, just to be sure we weren’t losing a valuable property,” he explained.
At the March meeting council will be presented with a report from the Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee, which can lead to a vote on designating heritage status for the home. The property owner can still oppose the move, which would lead to a review by the Provincial Heritage Review Board.
This is a move that “shocked” Heritage Regina vice president Susan Hollinger, and it has her hopeful it could mean changes to heritage designation in the future.
“For us it’s the first step in a process the needs to be changed and revised, so we’re very, very happy,” she said.