It will be weeks before a local community group will know if they can move into its new home.
Evergreen, a United Neighbourhood has been waiting for more than a year to start making the former Hells Angels Clubhouse on Heron Street its own. Despite city council’s approval last November to amend its zoning by-law to allow the community group to use the space for offices, storage and meetings, the decision is in the hands of the Ontario Municipal Board after neighbour Clem Hamel filed an appeal.
An OMB hearing took place Tuesday at city hall with representatives from the city, Evergreen and several neighbourhood community groups showing support for the neighbourhood project.
Hamel represented himself saying that despite all of that support, not one person in the direct area who was given notice about the project is in favour of it.
He said none of the groups supporting Evergreen live in the area like he has for the past 32 years.
“They work there. They don’t own the buildings. They’re not stakeholders,” he said.
Hamel questioned why the city even asked for neighbourhood opinion if they chose to ignore it when making a decision. He also claimed the city was in a conflict-of-interest in helping Evergreen get the building from the provincial Attorney General’s office.
“They’re supposed to be impartial,” Hamel told the hearing.
Hamel, who owns four properties in the area, tried to buy the building when it was seized after a raid on the Hells Angels in 2006.
But the timeline didn’t work out so he had to pass. He said he would be much happier seeing a family move into the building the way its current R2 zoning designation suggests.
But the city argued that since it was built in 1914, the building has had many uses including its original intent as a confectionary. Adding “community health and resource centre” to its uses would fit in well with the city’s official plan and would be another social service in an area with a history of social and community service buildings.
Evergreen would not be used for events but rather act as an anchor or hub for the group to meet and plan events that would be spread out through the neighbourhood.
“I don’t want the anchor,” Hamel responded.
City solicitor Nadia Koltun said Hamel showed no planning reasons why Evergreen shouldn’t be allowed to move in.
“He seems frustrated that he couldn’t purchase this piece of property,” she said. “It’s critical to (Evergreen’s) operation.”
A decision is expected to take weeks.
Evergreen co-ordinator Linda Bruins said no work has been able to get done on the building while the appeal has been going on.
It’s been difficult for the group’s 80 or so volunteers to coordinate while equipment, records and other parts of Evergreen have been scattered throughout the neighbourhood. It’s also had to continue to pay taxes, insurance and utilities on the place while it’s vacant.
“It’s like being homeless almost we’ve got bits and pieces here and there we couch surf. We’re able to keep things at Minnesota Park , we borrow spaces as we can,” she said.
Bruins said she has tried to reach out to Hamel and hopes that maybe one of the group’s initiatives will help him change his mind.
“We can’t obviously make all the neighbours happy. No matter what we do there will always be someone feeling not connected.”
A decision is expected to take weeks.
