After partnering with a developer to mitigate their financial strains, Asbury and West United Church faces even more budget and construction troubles. As a result of its heritage designation, the church, located on Bathurst Street, just north of Lawrence Avenue, originally struck a deal with an affordable housing company, Options for Homes, to build on the church’s lands.
But after City of Toronto: Heritage Preservation Services deemed parts of the church as heritage, it complicated the matter further, as church officials estimated they will need at least an additional half a million dollars over and above the additional $600,000 Options offered in order to comply with the new design regulations set out by heritage staff.
“The plan was to build a new, environmentally sustainable church, but because we now have this heritage designation, we’ve had to shoehorn the L-shaped [Options for Homes] building on to the lot,” said Pauline McKenzie, chair of the church’s architecture committee.
The designation changed both the proposal for the development and church. McKenzie cited moving the church’s front door from the north to the south and rebuilding a wall using only recovered stones, which she said will cost an additional $104,000. She added that the church had to make cutbacks and use cheaper materials.
President of Options for Homes, Michael Labbé, said, although his group gave the church more money, it was not enough. President of the Bathurst-Lawrence Four Quadrants Neighbourhood Alliance, David Nitkin, believed the process was selective, and said, “We’re amazed that the oldest parts of the church were demolished, and we felt those had historical value. ”
While heritage preservation services provides grants to restore its historical buildings, Asbury and West were not eligible.
“The grant program is there to restore materials that have been lost or damaged, [the church] proposed filling in a wall with new material, it’s not replacing something that’s been there before,” explained Scott Barrett, senior coordinator with heritage preservation services.
