Two local businessmen are hoping to demolish a boarded-up heritage-home near the Ambassador Bridge.
According to a report going before the Development and Heritage Standing Committee, the applicants purchased the property in the 300 block of Indian Road and plan to replicate the 1920s style home when they rebuild.
The home has been vacant since 2009 and is in disrepair — the committee will have to decide if the building can be renovated before they approve the demolition.
A Google Street View image of a home at 357-359 Indian Rd. in Windsor, Ont. from 2009 (Photo via www.google.ca/maps)
Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante says a demolition control bylaw to preserve the heritage district remains in place.
"The key here is that the heritage district be respected and there's good faith efforts made to conform to the fabric and history of Sandwich Town," he added.
He says the bylaw is designed to stop the Ambassador Bridge Company from flattening the neighbourhood without replacing density.
The developers have shown they want to find some middle ground with the city, according to Costante.
"This is the first time we're seeing anyone coming to council with a plan to essentially replace density," he says. "If you want to demolish the home, what are you going to build and how are you going to build it?"
The committee refused the Ambassador Bridge Company's request to demolish 25 boarded up homes in the same area back in 2018.
Costante says the current applicants will have a better chance of winning over the committee with their plan.
"This is a template or precedent if you will ... to really challenge the Ambassador Bridge to step up and do something with the remaining boarded up homes," he says.
The home is one of 16 on the west side of the street that haven't been demolished to make way for a new span of the Ambassador Bridge.
Windsor's Development and Heritage Standing Committee meeting get's underway Monday at 4:30 p.m.