All County, All the Time Since 2010 MAKE THIS YOUR PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY HOME...PAGE!  Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Residents don’t want to put up a parking lot

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Residents will make recommendations on preserving the historic nature of Wellington’s Main Street at council’s committee of the whole meeting Thursday.

Deputations are scheduled by Pam Carter and Bill Hurst regarding the building at the intersection of Wharf and Main streets. It was sold to the County in June, allowing a more affordable solution to remedying Lane Creek which runs under the road and building through crumbling culverts.

The County’s suggestion of creating a park or parking lot at Wellington’s busiest corner was met, at a meeting in July, with more than 100 citizens asking for preservation.

Thursday, Carter with ask that the building be maintained and Hurst, an architect, will present potential re-designs.

Carter will remind council that more than 100 residents attended July’s town hall meeting on the subject with overwhelming support for saving the building, or creating a new building that respects the heritage. There were 325 signatures collected on a petition. She will ask for public meetings to be held after Labour Day and that no demoltion will take place until after the meetings.

Hurst will also request council consider preserving the structure but adopt a replace option if it is not feasible. He will ask council to strike a joint Wellington Residents Council Group to provide direction for a call for development proposals.

Filed Under: Local News

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  1. judy kennedy says:

    Its my understanding that the creek under the building is the problem. The building itself doesn’t seem to merit salvage, especially when the site is compromised.

  2. Marc says:

    Surely it will be less expensive to do take down the buildings do the work, and then sell the land for commercial use. It’s prime retail real estate and so should not be hard to sell.

  3. Marnie says:

    There’re also a lot of those folks who don’t fancy frills like skateboard parks and splash pads but they take our dimes for them anyway. The community purse strings are bound to open for a number of projects that some people do not support. Maybe it evens out in the end.

  4. Gary says:

    I think those structures have pretty much had it. Would require a lot of money to renovate to today’s standards. Bottom line once again is who’s paying? My experience is there are a lot of folks who want to see old buildings saved but very, very few put up a dime.

  5. Richard says:

    Well Marnie I guess history is what it. Made up by famous people and or places. Good or bad it is history. I do not think you will every understand this.
    A nice well built properly designed building on the site in Wellington would look a lot nicer that what they have but you have your opinion on this.
    As far as John A. I think there is a very small amount of people who have a dislike for him. The majority realize that what he did in those times was the norm. The same as Lincoln hanging 19 native people in the 1860s or the railroad builders using Asians as slave labour to build there rail roads. And the list goes on. Marnie that to is history
    Macdonald was no different that most people of power in those times.
    We all should embrace our history good and bad and preserve what needs to be preserved.
    As far as the ugly building in Picton I do not think you remember this building. It was a sound two story brick building that build in 1830s.
    I see no need to banter back and forth with you because It is going no where.

  6. Marnie says:

    Are you saying that every case is the same Richard? The building at the top of the town hill may have been in better shape than the one in Wellington but it was as ugly as sin and given how a lot of people who post to this site feel about Sir John they would not have seen it as a loss. It did not hold memories for most Picton residents. There was not a single building at the top of that hill that had real architectural significance or visual appeal. The building in Wellington at least has potential and means something to a lot of villagers. How is it fence sitting to support the preservation of one building while saying another was not of much consequence? Your flawed logic would indicate that all old buildings should be saved because someone of note at some time may have graced them with their presence. The town had almost a century to recognize that Sir John once practised law in that old building at the top of the hill and did nothing to recognize the fact. There was no plaque proposed. Many local residents were not even aware that he once occupied those premises for a short time. People are fighting for the building in Wellington. It means something to them and they want it left standing. I’m not on the fence but you are tarring all things old with the same brush Richard. Easy to tear things down but no way of calling them back.

  7. wevil says:

    good idea Dave let the savers spend their own money to save that run down building

  8. Chuck says:

    Are you saying Marnie is sitting on the fence?

  9. Richard says:

    Marnie
    It appears you have forgotten what side of the save the building fence you sit on. It appears you sit in the centre so you can voice your opinion for the world to hear with out really taking a side. This I say because I remember reading about a reader a few months go written in this forum about a building that John A. Macdonald used for a law office at Picton town hill being torn down years ago. You replied that it was not much of a building and why save it. I did some research and it was in good repair prior to being torn down, it has historic value that’s why save it. The building you feel you need to defend is a old wood frame stucco building with a couple of block additions with no historic value and is need of repair. Tear it down sell the land to a developer with restrictions on the design of a future building. Marnie that is history and please get on one side of the fence or the other.

  10. Marnie says:

    Those who believe as you and Dave do Snowman are fooling with history. If council saves money here it will only be to blow it somewhere else. That old building has been part of the streetscape for many a year. It means something to many village residents and adds to the character of the village. A town square would not be the same thing. The taxpayer is used to having his money fiddled with. In this case it would be for a good cause.

  11. Richard says:

    What the down town core of Wellington needs is to have the old worn out boring buildings removed. New buildings with a vintage flair. Not a parking lot, not what is there now. In B.C. on the island is a place called Sydney that is a modern down town but at first glance it appears that the buildings are 100 plus years old, which they are not. Here is a chance for Wellington to start down this same path
    But with the council past and present expect wrong decisions, long waits for action like the old arena that still sits not generating one cent for the county and there it sits.
    Dave Harrison and a select few to the north of the county seat are the only one worth having

  12. Snowman says:

    I think a “Town Square” would serve the Village well.
    Without an engineering study and about 2x the amount of money that study would indicate is required, the save the store types are just fooling with taxpayers money.

  13. Dave says:

    Maybe the 325 people who signed the petition would like to absorb the extra million dollars it will take to save the buildings if they can’t tear them down. Pass the tax
    expense on to the residence of Wellington–not the rest of us

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