At the November 15 council meeting, Mayor Sendzik confirmed that he is as concerned as ever about two ruins in the city. He asked for patience in cleaning up the debris from the old Welland House “because there is heritage components (sic) to what is there, currently.”
Readers will recall that the 160-year-old building received heritage designation from the council five months ago the night it burned to the ground. The decision to grant heritage status took place after the old hotel had been empty for several years, during which time the council debated various preservation plans.
The mayor displayed a similar concern regarding the 55-acre GM site, which is currently leaking “significant” PCBs into 12 Mile Creek on “an ongoing basis.”
“Some of those leaking PCBs are very old,” the mayor commented. “I mean, they’ve been leaking into our environment for more than 100 years. There is a heritage component to these toxic chemicals, so we don’t want to simply clean the mess up.”
When pressed by reporters, the mayor acknowledged that there is a health risk associated with not cleaning up the site, but he was quick to point out that the heritage value of these PCB’s demand full consideration.
“When we are talking legacy issues, we can never be too hasty,” he continued, possibly forgetting the fate of the Welland House and the GM smokestack. “We will be referring the matter to the Heritage Committee for deliberation and will await their report before we do anything we might later regret.”
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