Sanford demolition a teaching moment?

The upcoming demolition of an 80-year-old school is teaching the city's heritage advocates a hard lesson about protecting Hamilton's historic buildings, says Councillor Brian McHattie.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has filed a demolition permit for Sanford Avenue School, a decommissioned elementary school built in 1932.

The property will be used to expand the Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre and add much-needed green space to the Sanford neighbourhood.

School board chair Tim Simmons says the demolition was approved at a public meeting on Nov. 21, 2011.

What we've been doing for that community has not been a secret by any means, he said. It's the 11th hour. This community has spoken loud and clear that this is what they want.

However, McHattie said the city's municipal heritage committee only discovered the school was slated to come down after a demolition permit was filed Nov. 13.

The heritage protection community in Hamilton is not very organized, McHattie said, adding that he includes himself in this criticism. You would have hoped that in situations like this the folks would be out on the streets months ago.

McHattie argues that heritage advocates need to be more proactive about designating historically significant buildings before they're in danger of demolition, instead of scrambling to protect them late in the game.

We need to systematically go through the list of all the buildings that are out there and make sure every one of them is added to the registry, he said.

Simmons says Sanford was declared surplus in 2003. At that time, the building was offered to the city and other public bodies. However, the school board didn't receive any offers.

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Sanford demolition a teaching moment?