Don't mess with the city's heritage designations.
A home on Riverside Dr. west near Rankin Ave. underwent some exterior renovations over the summer without the city's consent.
The home, which is referred to as the Ross-Struthers House, has been on the city's heritage register since 2008 but was officially, designated a heritage property in 2012 at the owners request.
Councillor Rino Bortolin says some residents noticed work being done on the home and notified the city and a stop work order was issued, but renovations continued.
The issue was discussed Tuesday night at the city's Heritage Standing Committee and councillor Bortolin says the committee has been going back and forth with the owners for the past five-months.
He says the city was aware the owners wanted to do renovations but the work was not approved and permits were never issued.
"There was some comments and somebody called in and notified the planning department that they were actually doing different work and so since then, they gone ahead and built up the balcony in a way that wasn't approved by council, wasn't approved by the heritage planner and wasn't done with any permits," says Bortolin.
A photo showing what the home looked like at the time of designation in 2012 (top left), under construction in July 2019 (top right), under construction in September 2019 (bottom left) and the completed project in October 2019 (bottom right). Images courtesy of the City of Windsor.
He says it's a tough spot for the owners to be in but they didn't follow the proper process.
"It was outlined, they got an order from the building department in June, they knew exactly what they needed to do, it's outlined in the order, they had met with the heritage planner, everything was right there in front of them," says Bortolin. "This wasn't a matter of ignorance, this was a display of choosing to go around the rules to further and to get around the rules and do what they wanted to do."
Bortolin says the heritage committee is not going to stand for changes without its consent or the city's approval.
"What's the point of having a heritage committee if we're not upholding the very aspects that make it a heritage property especially for the owner who came to that committee originally to actually have it listed so there are responsibilities with a heritage property, undeniable," Bortolin explains.
He Says work on the home will have to be undone.
The committee did however, approve a heritage alteration permit for the installation of the glass railing balcony on the condition that the owners reconstruct designated heritage attributes.