Maintain current buildings, Egyptian Embassy told
By Desmond Devoy, Ottawa East EMC, March 13, 2009
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Members of the Sandy Hill community are calling on the Egyptian Embassy, at the intersection of Laurier Avenue East and Range Road, not to get rid of their current offices, operating inside 1920s era houses on the property.
"You object to both buildings being demolished and [are in favour of] retaining the old buildings. I guess that's basically it," said Ward 12 (Rideau-Vanier) City Councillor Georges Bedard during a public consultation at the Sandy Hill Community Centre, 250 Somerset Street East, on the evening of Thursday, March 5th.
"We feel very strongly about the house being retained. They [the embassy staff] went back to Cairo to get extra money," to adapt their original plans for the embassy said Action Sandy Hill President Robert Stehle "It didn't work for them functionally These people made an effort They couldn't make it work."
The embassy has been pushing for the demolition of the existing buildings on the sate, some of which date back to 1928, to be replaced with a new structure.
"It's a larger building, but it's totally within the requirements of the bylaw said Coun Bedard of the proposed new 18,000 square foot, two stored structure "If they required a demolition permit, and said we have to replace It with this, we would have to permit it.
The Egyptian plans were met with some understanding by some local residents.
"You are in a very difficult position because you want to be diplomatic [but] you want to have a place that you can properly place that you function in," said architect and Range Road resident Barry Padolsky "I want you to take the message back to [your Ambassador] that it is an intact block. Since the 1930s, It has not changed It's an entire block that has not been destroyed Being part of this block, you have struggled with community values as well as your own needs."
An Egyptian representative, however, voiced her frustration that the embassy had long outgrown its current quarters.
"It's not working," Hala El Bishlawy, a counselor at the Egyptian Embassy, on hand to represent her country's point of view on the matter "If you come and see it, you will understand."
In the initial stages of the project, El Bishlawy was told by her superiors in Cairo to "please be flexible with the Canadian community. See what they want."
"We are not foreigners any more. We are your neighbours El Bishlawy said emphatically "After two years, I feel a part of Sandy Hill."
Rather than move to an office building somewhere else, El Bishlawy stated that the Egyptian Embassy was committing itself to Sandy Hill.
"We like this community. It is safe, we always feel secure we want to live in this community El Bishlawy said. "We will stay here because this is a good community. It is really wonderful. We want to live happily ever after. This is my message to you.
While he understood the embassy's predicament, Padolsky also took note that "you had the rezoning on the understanding that you would keep it [the houses] he said of the 2007 rezoning. "You have to think about what that says" he cautioned, lest it appear that the Egyptians were going back on their word "You will be setting a precedent if you allow this," he added, as it would "change the whole character of the neighbourhood."
El Bishlawy countered that "Egyptians are always credible," and that this was not the case.
Stehle recounted how much of a divisive issue the embassy file has been amongst the Sandy Hill community.
"This development basically ripped the ASH board apart Stehle reported "By one vote, it voted to allow the demolition It's been a very difficult subject for all involved."
But the issue of setbacks continued to be irksome for Stehle and his board.
"It needs to be respected as far as setbacks go Three metres, nine feet is not it" Stehle said "Having a building on that corner as close to the Range Road, is something that the entire board [of ASH] has brought up and is opposed to."
In spite of the difficulty of the ongoing debate, Stehle was still impressed with the resolve and willingness to discuss and compromise that he had seen from the Egyptian side.
"We very much would like to keep in touch with them," he said "They want to stay here. They're well respected, they're fine neighbours. Everyone has worked very hard with it. Maybe we're not where we should be with it."
Stehle even conceded that the local community needed to compromise as well, stating that "as we continue to develop, we have to be open to change."
At the end of the meeting, Coun Bedard reported that " [City] staff will prepare a report and then It will go to the Planning and Environment Committee," at their City Hall meeting on the morning of Tuesday May 12th The meeting is scheduled to start at 9: 30 am but the agenda has yet to be prepared.
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