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Queenston residents expected to have strong opinions

The rest of the school building is not significant, but this original 1914 portion should be preserved for an adapted use, says Queenston Residents Association president Jim Armstrong.
The rest of the school building is not significant, but this original 1914 portion should be preserved for an adapted use, says Queenston Residents Association president Jim Armstrong. (File photo)

Queenston residents can be expected to have strong opinions about the future of the former Laura Secord School property, with the residents’ association planning on putting together an official position in the coming weeks.

The board of the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts has announced it will put the Queenston property, now known as the lower campus, up for sale, having decided there is no need for it in the future of Willowbank.

Jim Armstrong, president of the Queenston Residents Association, says at this point he expects their board “will be looking for adherence to the Queenston Secondary Plan, and an architecturally sympathetic development.”

Although Armstrong and board members were told of the impending sale of the property before the announcement was made public, they have not yet met with Willowbank Board members, he says. He has been away in recent weeks, and has had emails back and forth with QRA board members, but has not yet had time to develop a position. Villagers support Willowbank and its survival into the future, and he doesn’t expect the association will try to block development, “which would not be productive,” but will be watching closely to see the kind of development is proposed — the last thing they would want is a repeat of what is happening on the Parliament Oak property in the Old Town.

He describes a situation that is occurring at that site and has been typical with other developments in town — a developer promises something appropriate and respective of the surrounding neighbourhood, and then presents a plan neighbours say “wow, this doesn’t fit at all.” The process continues, going back and forth with concessions made by the developer, residents at loggerheads, and hopefully gets to the point of something everyone can live with.

“It is a key piece of real estate,” he says of the Laura Secord site, “so what happens there will be of interest and concern to the villagers in general, no doubt.”

Armstrong says it’s been obvious to villagers in recent years that the property “was an albatross around the neck” of Willowbank, which wasn’t using it or maintaining it — for example, he says, the original portion of the school “desperately needs a new roof.”

Willowbank purchased the building in 2012 through a partnership with the town, planning on using it to expand restoration arts classes.

But a decade later, after a thorough analysis and review of the future direction of Willowbank and its School of Restoration Arts, board vice-chair John Scott says the lower campus was “vastly underused” during the last decade, and the building deserves to be maintained, in good repair, with a role to play that will benefit the community. Willowbank has shown good stewardship of the property, he added, “but that takes a lot of resources.”

The property and the school building have a heritage designation, but it is really only the original, 1914 part of the school, designed by prominent architect A.E. Nicholson, that is significant and worth preserving, he says. “It needs to be taken care of and preserved,” he says, and hopefully adapted for a use that can be part of the future of the property. “The old building is the real jewel in the village, and we would want to be sure there is some readaptive use for it.

But the newer portion is not significant historically, nor is the architecture particularly interesting, he adds. “We’d have no issue whatsoever with that coming down. It doesn’t add anything to the 1914 building.”

He says there is also likely to be discussion about what would be considered appropriate development for the property. “We sure wouldn’t want glass towers or square boxes.” Again, he says, they would be looking for adherence to the secondary plan, which calls for any development to resect the nature of the neighbourhood, referring specifically to details such as height and architectural style.

Although there is no guarantee that will have the desired effect, it worked when Willowbank originally planned to build a row of townhouses on part of the property, which residents opposed.

In 2016, a design was presented for six townhomes on the parcel then slated for development. Many residents were opposed to the “massive wall of townhouses” that was proposed, which didn’t fit in with the surrounding homes, he says. “Members of the QRA, and lots of other residents, were livid about it.”

A public meeting was held, the town turned down the proposal, and in the end, the property was divided and sold for three single-family homes, with no objections, says Armstrong.

But over the years, many charming little villages like Queenston have been “completely swallowed by cookie-cutter developments. We don’t want that, and don’t want to see Trump Towers.”

At this point, he says, there continues to be email discussions with board members, but not a huge response from residents. It is early in the process for that, with no idea of what may be proposed, but the board will be looking to ensure all villagers, members of the QRA and others, “have a voice in what is going on. We would be proposing a public meeting to see what they want to do. Villagers might not necessarily be worried now, but down the road there will be a lot of interest.”

Scott, the Willowbank board member overseeing the sale, said earlier this week the school site is still not listed — it takes a long time to put a property of that size on the market. He has spoken with Lord Mayor Betty Disero about council’s concerns, which include wanting to meet with the Willowbank Board to discuss the future of the Laura Secord site, and with Armstrong.

While the Willowbank board “will not be steering the sale,” members share the same concerns, he says.

“We want to be good neighbours. We expect to be there for a long time, and we have a keen interest that the purchaser will do something complimentary to the village of Queenston.”




About the Author: Penny Coles

Penny Coles is editor of Niagara-on-the-Lake Local
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