The clock ran out for one heritage farm home Monday while the clock is ticking on another just down the road.
This week a demolition crew tore down the Friesen residence at 6721 Ladner Trunk Rd.
Late last year Delta council approved a demolition permit, but told the owner to first offer the home for sale for 30 days for $1 to anyone interested in buying and moving it. Located on a 17.8hectare (44-acre) property in the Agricultural Land Reserve, the home, believed to have been built sometime in the early 1920s, had turned into an eyesore.
A staff report last year noted a heritage assessment completed 12 years earlier found the house in "general disrepair" and the condition had deteriorated significantly since then.
Coun. Anne Peterson, a member of the Delta Heritage Advisory Commission, at the time said it was a clear case of "demolition by neglect."
Incentives or some other means should be available for owners to repair and maintain heritage buildings, she said.
Earlier this month, council voted to give temporary protection, requested by the heritage commission, for the Kittson residence at 9230 Ladner Trunk Rd.
This summer the municipality received a demolition application for the farmhouse and barn on the property. Delta pioneer Robert Kittson built the barn in 1895 and the house in 1907. The house is listed as having a high heritage value and is on Delta's heritage inventory, but not on a heritage registry that provides greater protection.
The house is on a 40-acre ALR parcel. John van Dongen sold it to new owners who are planning to build greenhouses on the property.
The commission was told the cost to restore the house is estimated between $400,000 and $500,000. The cost of moving it within a 10-mile radius was estimated to be $250,000, however, an assessment determined that, structurally, the house should not be moved.
ished Council agreed to issue a 60-day heritage protection order to give staff time to consult with the new owners to see if other avenues for the vacant home can be explored.
Robert Kittson ran a mixed farming operation on the site and was also active in the community, serving on the Delta school board and council, including as reeve in 1904 and 1905.
A couple of years ago the Robert Smith residence, at the corner of Highway 17 and 56th Street in Tsawwassen, met the wrecking ball. Vacant and dilapidated for many years, the farmhouse in the ALR was purchased three years earlier by the Century Group.
Company president Sean Hodgins said he applied to demolish the structure after he was unable to find a group willing to help preserve it.
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
