After standing for nearly three centuries, the Michel Robillard farmhouse in Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue is set to be taken down.
City council has voted unanimously to demolish the heritage building.
The city initially planned to restore the stone structure on Chemin Ste-Marie as a visitors’ centre at the entrance to the future Grand Parc de l’Ouest project.
Regretfully, council said repairing the farmhouse would simply be too costly.
Originally, the price tag to bring the building back to its former glory was estimated at $2.5 million. But after a renewed call for tenders, the amount nearly doubled to $4.5 million.
Despite the decision, not all city officials approve.
Absent from the vote, Coun. Ryan Young hopes to see the building remain standing.
“The main reason I would have voted against it if I had been at the meeting is that I felt it was premature,” Young said. “Not all avenues have been exhausted yet to see if we could get the required funds to restore the building.”
The city was promised $1.5 million in cultural heritage grants but Young said demands for an increase in funding were rejected.
“The town felt that double the cost of what we originally thought was just too much. I understand that, but at a certain point, if the city is committed to doing a certain something, whether the cost becomes inflated or not … if you’re committed to protecting a building you’re committing to, whatever the cost,” Young said.
The city purchased the property in 2018. It hopes to go through with its plans to build a visitors’ centre on the site once the historical building is taken down.
While no date was given, demolition of the farmhouse could happen as early as this fall.
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