Quote:
Originally Posted by kwoldtimer
Actually, if you read the VOCM report on the matter, it sounds a bit like the developer may want to do his own thing without adhering to standard building code rules. It's not easy from the report to understand just what the problem is.
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"Standard building code rules" shouldn't have to be applied to a 1860s building.
I don't know how it works in other provinces but in Quebec there's a separate set of much less strict rules that older, predating-building-codes buildings must comply with.
1860s, that one should definitely fall into the very loosest set of rules.
When in disagreement, you can also get special permissions on a case-by-case basis. I managed to at least partly do that once for a four-story, commercial/residential mixed 1870s era building in downtown Sherbrooke that has been rented as rooms since the 1920s at least (I had to document this to help my case).
I can't possibly conceive that a jurisdiction won't accept to let older buildings be non-compliant of the latest versions of the building codes. Makes zero sense.
The issue here is probably that he stripped so much of the building that his "grandfather rights" are deemed to be gone (only the shell is from the 1860s) by the authorities. I think he can fight that...