HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-10-31, Page 7News
Ministry of Labour issues stop work order against
demolition of former Seaforth public school
The Huron Expositor • October 31, 2007 Page 7
Susan Hundertmark
aiNEMEMOD
A stop work order has been issued
by the Ministry of Labour against
the demolition of the former
Seaforth Public School on Market
Street.
Ministry spokesperson Bruce
Skeaff said because no assessment
for any dangerous substances -
asbestos in particular - had been
performed, owners of the property
had been ordered to stop work until
the assessment had been done.
They were also ordered to do gen-
eral site clean-up and erect a fence
around the demolition.
The roof was ripped off of the for-
mer school several weeks ago and a
number of windows, walls, pipes
and wood removed.
Developer Brian Barnim said a
crew of close to 20 Amish workers
were trying to salvage all reusable
materials including wood, metal,
brick and concrete.
"They are taking the whole build-
ing apart and using what they can
use. They started three or four
weeks ago," he said during a tele-
phone interview.
While he would not confirm the
stop work order on the phone,
Barnim told council at its Oct. 23
meeting that the stop work order
had been received a week ago
Friday but that he and owner Jack
Vanderweg had been on the site per-
forming the ordered clean-up.
"That's what you have witnessed,
done by Jack and myself," he told
the neighbours in attendance.
He said they were still waiting on
the return of an asbestos audit,
adding that the stop work order is
being complied with.
"The Amish are
allowed to work
on the building
as long as there
is no monetary
exchange. They
are recycling and
rebuilding and
the Ministry of
Labour has no
juridiction on
those people
working on the
building," he
said.
• Barnim added
that "nobody had
concerns about
asbestos when
the school was
there."
Health
Canada's website
says asbestos is
only a risk to
health when
fibers are present
in the air, not
when they enclosed or bound tightly
in a compound.
Deputy -Mayor Bernie MacLellan
said the municipality wants to see
the asbestos removed properly and
safely.
Neighbour Lynn Dawe said she
wanted to know who would monitor
the asbestos removal.
"We are not opposed to the subdi-
vision but we want the asbestos to
be handled properly. We want to
make sure council looks out for us,"
she said.
A letter from neighbours Jason
and Joanna Datema said the demo-
lition proceeding without considera-
tion of dangerous materials was
their greatest concern.
"That the owner and/or developer
would initiate demolition of the for-
mer school without exploring the
potential public health hazard that
such activity .might produce, and
then to continue with such activity
even after being ordered to stop, is
deeply disconcerting, and warrants
close scrutiny by the publilr agencies
that have authority over these
issues," said the letter.
Neighbour Dan Blake said he
used to work in construction and
asbestos removal but is not con-
cerned about the asbestos levels at
the school property.
"The roof was taken off first and
it's rained so that means very little
dust. If you take air samples of
downtown Toronto they fail because
of the asbestos breaks. I'm less wor-
ried about the school. I just want
the school torn down. It's a greater
danger the way it sits right now," he
said, adding that he's kicked a
dozen kids off of the roof of the
building.
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CASE
Susan Hundertmark photo
Partially -removed chalkboards can be seen through the holes in the wall of the for-
mer Seaforth Public School after demolition stopped recently.
Subdivision moves ahead
From Page 3
down the street and if it doesn't go that way, it will come my way," she said
of her Market Street home.
MacLellan said if Van Loon has a problem with the sanitary sewers, it
will be the municipality's fault, not the developers'.
Developer Brian Barnim asked council to move ahead with the zoning
and official plan amendments.
"We've got to feel like we're going forward or we'll have to put a fence
around it," he said.
"The end result is it's only a 32 -lot subdivision and you can only bleed it
so far. There comes a point where it's not worth it," said Barnim.
INA
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