Moore Street home gets heritage designation weeks after “criminally suspicious” fire

Despite a fire tearing through the attic of 108 Moore St. just weeks ago, Bradford West Gwillimbury council approved a recommendation this week to give the property a heritage designation.

The fire, which South Simcoe police have deemed “criminally suspicious,” is being investigated by the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, and police released a photo Friday of a matchbook found at the scene.

No one was injured in the fire at the 158-year-old home.

“It’s disappointing, in a way, that it’s taken so long for this to come to fruition,” said Coun. Ron Orr at a council meeting Tuesday. “It’s too bad this had to happen before it was designated.”

Several years ago, the home’s owner had presented the town with a letter of intent to demolish the building, with plans to build several homes on the property.
Instead, the town listed the house on its heritage register and was working with the owner to come up with a plan for the property.

Since the fire, the Town of BWG has publicly committed to helping the homeowner restore the property, but its heritage committee raised questions Thursday about whether the owner will fight the heritage designation — and whether the insurance company will pay to rehabilitate the house.

“That’s the great unknown,” said Ryan Windle, BWG’s manager of community planning. “We have designated the building, we have the easement agreement, and the building is still standing… Is it structurally sound? It should be.”

On Tuesday, council passed a bylaw to execute a heritage conservation easement agreement, which would protect the home under a heritage designation.

Part of this also allows for the property to be severed, meaning the owner will be able to develop a new dwelling on the severed portion.

Once the severance agreement is completed, the town is expected to pass a designating bylaw at the next council meeting in September, said Windle.

As well, the easement sets out responsibilities for maintenance of the property, he noted.

Windle said the agreement includes a list of the “assets” of the home that must be preserved, but the town had to delete the attic level from that because it was destroyed by the July 1 fire.

“Now that we’ve got the agreement, that gives us something to go on.”

“So, now we need to put the pressure on (the owner) to fix it up,” said Orr at the Thursday meeting.

- With files from Miriam King