By Ron Giofu
A lot of discussion has been held over the past weeks and months regarding the Belle Vue property, but another town-owned property also needs some repair work.
The Gordon House needs over $135,700 of work to repair items that were identified in a report from ALink Architecture Inc. as being in poor condition. ALink Architecture Inc. was the firm engaged by the town to look at the condition of the Gordon House.
Items identified as being in poor condition included the fire escape, the porch/deck/columns, exterior emergency stairs, areas of the roof that are leaking and sagging, interior damage and moisture due to the roof leaks, holes in fascia boards and soffits, staining and possible mold on plaster, cracked glass, and window condensation.
The Gordon House was constructed in 1804 and is a designated historic municipal building that houses the town’s visitor information centre and offices for tourism and economic development departments.
The total estimated cost for all repairs needed for the Gordon House swells to $848,597, including a 20 per cent contingency not including HST or cost to paint the building. That cost factors in items identified in the report as “fair condition.”
“In February 2023, the Town applied to the Agriculture and Rural Programs branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Red Grant for funding to complete improvements to the Gordon House. The Town was successful in obtaining $19,599.99 for this project which represented 30 per cent of the eligible project costs in order to complete what was thought at the time to be minor and cosmetic repairs to the wood facia, soffit, siding, sill work, and to paint the building. The total estimated cost for this project was $65,100,” director of parks, facilities and recreation Heidi Baillargeon stated in a report.
Baillargeon stated the condition assessment from ALink Architecture Inc. identified a number of items, including those in poor condition, and those are “required to be addressed before any painting or cosmetic work can be done on the building.”
Baillargeon added in her report that due to the historical nature of the building and in keeping with the Heritage Act, the town issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a heritage architect and received one bid, the one from ALink Architecture. That led to the report identifying the extra costs and state of the building.
“Due to the significant costs for repairs to the Gordon House identified in the report from ALink Architecture Inc. uncovered as part of the process, administration issued a letter to the Agriculture and Rural Programs branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to thank them for their generous support, and to also inform them that we were not able to proceed with the work outlined in the grant until the items in poor condition identified at the Gordon House are addressed,” Baillargeon’s report stated.
Baillargeon added: “The attached Condition Assessment revealed a number of items in poor condition that require significant capital investment over and above the $98,000 that was originally approved for the project. This cost, coupled with the grant contribution of $19,599.99 minus $9,640+HST for the historical architect brought the total available funding to $107,959.99 which is insufficient to address the items noted in poor condition in the report. Proceeding with any work without completing the repairs of the items in poor condition would not be a wise use of funding as such work would not endure for the long term. Administration has identified this work for Council consideration in the 2025 capital budget deliberations. Efforts will be made to fund the immediate repair needs estimated at $135,700, plus contingency and HST in 2025, using the remaining funds of $88,190 noting that funding the approximate $80,000 shortfall may require that some projects previously approved “in principle” will need to be revisited and allocated to future years.”
An updated asset management plan (AMP) will consider the costs of the town’s heritage properties and our projected shortfall in funding for existing assets and will allow for the planning of expenditures over the five-year capital planning horizon for the Gordon House and Carnegie Library in order to sustain them, Baillargeon pointed out.
“Belle Vue Manor requires a significant investment for its restoration and any increase in an AMP would not be sufficient to start to address this asset.
Issuance of debt would be required for its restoration, after which an annual contribution to fund the on-going maintenance and rehabilitation of the asset would need to be determined,” she stated.
Councillor Molly Allaire noted a portion of Baillargeon’s report which stated “(t)he 2022 Asset Management Plan did not consider these assets when determining the annual shortfall in funding,” in reference to the Gordon House, library and Belle Vue. She asked why they were not considered.
“Heritage properties are bit of a different animal,” said deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne. “I don’t think they had enough information on them or understood what their potential liability was so they were not included at that time. It’s something we’re trying to clean up. There’s several assets that we found since then we need to include and other facilities that weren’t on that list either because they weren’t known at the time.”
A new AMP is being completed and all the assets are being included and numbers regenerated, Osborne stated.
Councillor Diane Pouget said “this Gordon House is in pretty bad shape,” noting all the items listed in the ALink condition report. Osborne said they are only recommending the more immediate problems be repaired with a request coming forward in the 2025 capital budget.
“Heritage properties are bit of a different animal,” said deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne. “I don’t think they had enough information on them or understood what their potential liability was so they were not included at that time. It’s something we’re trying to clean up. There’s several assets that we found since then we need to include and other facilities that weren’t on that list either because they weren’t known at the time.”
A new AMP is being completed and all the assets are being included and numbers regenerated, Osborne stated.
Councillor Diane Pouget said “this Gordon House is in pretty bad shape,” noting all the items listed in the ALink condition report. Osborne said they are only recommending the more immediate problems be repaired with a request coming forward in the 2025 capital budget.
Councillor Diane Pouget said “this Gordon House is in pretty bad shape,” noting all the items listed in the ALink condition report.
Osborne said they are only recommending the more immediate problems be repaired with a request coming forward as part of the 2025 capital budget deliberation process.
Thousands of dollars of repairs needed to the Gordon House
By Ron Giofu
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