Kitchener council paves way for Mayfair hotel demolition

Kitchener council voted Thursday to revoke its intent to designate the former Mayfair Hotel as a heritage property, thereby paving the way for the decrepit and unsafe structure to be torn down.

"I am very disappointed that we are in this situation with a heritage building that had great potential to add to our downtown, however I'm not prepared to delay a decision that needed to be made in order to ensure people's lives were potentially not put at risk,"said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic in a statement.

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"Staff faced a very difficult decision, trying to balance the desires of the city and of the community from a heritage perspective with the responsibility over public safety."

Councillors were required tolift a notice of intent to designate the building under the Ontario Heritage Act. The notice of intent was filed in 2008.

Though the Mayfair Hotel was never officially designated a heritage site, it received full protection under the act as long as notice of intent to designate the building was still in effect.

The Thursday vote comes after structural engineers recommended demolishing the property following a water main break on Apr. 11 that flooded the basement.

Two sets of engineers examined the property onKing St. W. and Young St. to assess the damage caused by the flooding. In addition to the flood damage, theyfound significant structural deficiencies that they said rendered the building unstable and could endanger the lives of people working on it.

Bernie Nimer, the building's owner, applied for a demolition permit on Tuesday. It could be issued as early as next Monday, after which time a demolition could occur.