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CBC
22-05-2025
- CBC
Former city director called off enforcement at Gore Park building that later collapsed: report
Social Sharing A City of Hamilton timeline of interactions with owners of the Gore Park buildings that collapsed in November shows a former director of licensing and by-law services advised officers not to enforce deficiencies at the property on multiple occasions. The timeline, part of a report discussed at city council's General Issues Committee on Wednesday, shows city inspectors were aware of numerous issues at the building before it collapsed, such as falling and missing bricks, cracks and an incomplete roof that was letting water inside, and had asked the owner, Hughson Business Space Corporation, to fix the problems. In July, four months before the facades at 24 and 28 King St. E. crumbled spectacularly into a pile of rubble and bricks, the city's building division requested a structural engineer's report on the conjoined row of historic buildings. That report was not provided until after the Nov. 11 collapse, and according to city staffers, who did not include it in their report to council, it said the building was not in structural danger. The collapse happened in the early hours of Remembrance Day, metres from where hundreds of people would soon gather to commemorate the event at the Cenotaph. "I just want to reiterate or say again how horrifying that incident was," said Mayor Andrea Horwath, who appeared at committee by video call with her arm in a sling as she recovers from a recent injury. "It was a day after the garrison parade where there were literally hundreds of people walking past that building. That building could have fallen on people." 'This report was a bit alarming': councillor The timeline included in the report showed building owners have faced various compliance issues with city departments for over a decade, but city inspection efforts to seek compliance did little to mitigate the deterioration of the row of vacant buildings. Several councillors were concerned to see that a former director of licensing and by-law, who is not named in the report, told officers to pause or refrain from enforcement on the property at least four times in 2015 and 2016. "This report was a bit alarming for me," said Ward 9 Coun. Brad Clark. "I'd like to get a sense as to why a director of licensing would ever tell the staff not to enforce our bylaws on a building we're inspecting for safety issues?" Facing similar questions from other councillors, Dan Smith, the city's acting director of licensing and bylaw, said calling off enforcement falls outside of the purview of the job. "Once an order has been issued, [the director] would not have the authority to tell staff not to follow through with an order," he said, while noting staff preparing Wednesday's report did not know the reasoning behind those requests because that information was lost during the city's recent cyberattack. City staff mostly inspect vacant buildings from outside The timeline also showed that bylaw officers had completed quarterly inspections of the property since its registration in the Vacant Building Registry in 2018, and had inspected it just two weeks before the collapse, finding it to be "secured and vacant." Horwath wondered how such inspections could possibly be, given what happened so soon afterward. Smith responded that many of the inspections were done from outside the building, as with boarded up, vacant buildings it can be hard to access the indoors. "One of the things we struggled with… is related to the difficulty of internal inspection on vacant buildings related to them being closed off and secure from trespass," he said. "The majority of inspections we do are external." Wednesday's report said that despite it not being their practice, the city's Vacant Building By-law does allow them to go inside such structures to inspect their safety. "Interior inspections of vacant buildings rarely take place for a variety of reasons, including accessibility, risk [and] lack of resources," it states. "Staff are giving consideration to amending the vacant building procedure to incorporate at least one annual interior inspection, as well as requiring that a vacant building owner produce documentation at least once per year with respect to the structure and condition of the building." The report also found: The buildings had been vacant for more than a decade "with a history of by-law violations." Gaps in communication and enforcement processes, including inconsistent follow-up and lack of interdepartmental coordination. 122 vacant buildings across Hamilton remain unregistered despite notification. Hamilton's bylaws are strong but enforcement tools like escalating penalties and interior inspections need strengthening. A more detailed report, with recommendations, is expected to come by the end of the year. That document will also include a consultant's report on the structural causes of the collapse. In the meantime, councillors unanimously supported recommendations directing staff to conduct a review of related legislation and bylaws, including "strategies to mitigate vacant building issues; recommended changes to enforcement processes; results of stakeholder consultation; and, additional analysis related to the building collapse." Staff were also guided to request approval from Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General for set fines, which they said tend to be higher than those under city bylaws, and to increase existing fines for non-compliance with the vacant building registry. Several councillors demanded quicker action once staff know a building is not compliant. "We've had a compliance issue with this building since 2012," said Cameron Kroetsch, Ward 2 councillor, which includes the downtown, and a member of the municipal heritage committee. "I am actually genuinely worried about heritage assets in the downtown core that are continuing to deteriorate.
Hamilton Spectator
21-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
First review of Gore Park building collapses flags enforcement ‘gaps'
Boarded-up heritage buildings crumbled to the ground at Gore Park amid 'gaps' in communication between city departments and enforcement efforts, an initial staff review of last fall's twin collapse has found. And despite notification to owners of 273 vacant buildings in Hamilton, 122 haven't been signed with a municipal registry meant to keep closer tabs on issues at derelict addresses. The city's bylaws are 'strong,' but 'enforcement tools like escalating penalties and interior inspections need strengthening,' says the interim analysis before council Wednesday. The initial review responds to Mayor Andrea Horwath's call for a comprehensive analysis of how the city deals with at-risk buildings after the two 1870s-era buildings collapsed at Gore Park just hours before Remembrance Day ceremonies. 'It's an awful situation,' Horwath said at the time. 'We have to figure out why it got to this point and what else is out there, because this is not acceptable.' 'It's an awful situation,' Mayor Andrea Horwath said after two heritage buildings collapsed at Gore Park on Nov. 11, 2024. 'We have to figure out why it got to this point and what else is out there, because this is not acceptable.' The facades that crashed down on the King Street East promenade were part of a stretch of brick-and-stone buildings that had been vacant for more than a decade amid stalled redevelopment plans. After the collapse, the consortium behind the project demolished the other connected addresses, which were deemed unsafe, leaving a gap in the downtown streetscape. The loss, which included pre-Confederation buildings from the 1840s, sparked outrage from heritage advocates who'd long vied to protect the facades. In the aftermath, the city noted staff had issued 'multiple orders,' including one in February 2023 that cited roof deterioration, and had returned to the site as recently as the week before the disaster to address outstanding issues. David Blanchard, manager partner of the Hughson Business Space Corporation, said in an emailed statement that the consortium had completed 'many of the measures' the city flagged in a July order, but one of them 'was determined unsafe to complete by structural engineers.' The interim review before council Wednesday provides a chronology of project milestones — including complaints, inspections, orders and applications — from December 2012 to November 2024. After two heritage buildings collapsed at Gore Park on Nov. 11, 2024, other connected historic addresses that were deemed unsafe were demolished, leaving a gap in the downtown streetscape. Enforcing vacant properties 'can be complex' and often spans several city divisions, the report says, noting heritage, building and bylaw officials can all play a role. To help break silos, staff are looking at how to better share information and have struck a multi-divisional working group focused on vacant buildings. 'An interim process has been developed that creates a high priority list of vacant buildings with heritage designations to use as a tool to identify, monitor and prioritize enforcement.' The last of the Gore Park heritage buildings comes down on King Street East in November 2024. Staff have also drafted an 'unsafe building enforcement operating framework' that guides how to launch probes into potentially risky properties. A more involved review of the Gore collapse and recommendations to help prevent other vacant buildings from crumbling is expected later this year. The city has hired an engineering firm to analyze what caused the King Street buildings to collapse, but the consultant hasn't finished that study yet.
