What a difference a year makes.
One year after London city council voted to designate the former M.B. McEachren elementary school in Lambeth a heritage property, city politicians have changed their mind.
The planning and environment committee voted 3-2 on Monday to remove the nearly 100-year-old former school from the heritage list, putting it one step closer to the wrecking ball.
Councillors Anna Hopkins and Maureen Cassidy and Mayor Matt Brown voted in favour of removing the heritage designation, while councillors Stephen Turner and Jesse Helmer voted to keep it in place.
READ MORE: Heritage on the agenda at London city hall
The former school at 4402 Colonel Talbot Rd. was built in 1925 but declared surplus by the Thames Valley Board in 2010. The Lambeth Health Organization has owned the building since 2015 and wants to tear it down in order to build a medical centre.
City staff had recommended keeping the school’s heritage status in place arguing no amount of “commemoration or interpretation” can replicate the heritage of the building.
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Hopkins, who represents the area, said her preference would be to keep the building but felt she had to side with her constituents.
“I’ve heard loud and clear from the community that they don’t want this building, they don’t want to live next to a building that’s deteriorating. I’ve heard that and I will be supporting the community,” she said.
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Residents from Lambeth sitting in the gallery clapped after Hopkins spoke.
A final decision will be made next week at London city council, setting up a potentially heated debate.
Last May council voted unanimously in favour of the heritage designation and Helmer said he still supports that designation.
“Nothing has changed in terms of the heritage value of this building since we dealt with the matter last year. I understand that it went to the Conservation Review Board, I think that’s an appropriate process, I looked at the report they sent us but it didn’t convince me we made a bad decision in 2016,” he said.
The review board recommended against heritage designation and “declined to recognize the Heritage Planner as an expert,” according to a city report.
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