Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Article 69 of 74
This article first appeared in the "Houses of the Gatineau Hills" column in the November 24, 2004 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
Not historic enough for the NCC
House razed for NCC 'renaturalization
By Mike Caesar
Re-naturalization isn't pretty when it happens to you.
This much was evident in the south end of the Meech Creek Valley Nov. 18, when NCC contractors demolished the 70-year-old Baldwin farmhouse on Cowden Rd. The house had been home to the Huff family since 1978.
After a lengthy battle with the NCC, which owns the property, tenants John and Deborah Huff and their three young children were given $10,000 and evicted from the property at the end of October. The NCC maintains continued upkeep of the house was not "cost-effective" and made no sense given the long-term plan to "re-naturalize" the southern part of the valley.
The NCC said it would have cost $40,000 to bring the farmhouse up to code. The Huff family, meanwhile, said the NCC had already spent more than $43,000 on improvements, maintenance and repairs to the property since 2001.
Tearful Goodbye
Deborah Huff said she couldn't resist the temptation to watch last week's demolition of the family home. Watching tearfully from her car, Huff declined to comment further. Friends and neighbours of the family have also lamented the demolition, which is the second in a month for a property in the southern part of the valley. A small cabin further down Cowden Rd. was the target of NCC bulldozers several weeks ago, some months after the tenant was evicted. A third property, located at 193 Cowden Rd., is being evaluated for demolition sometime next year. NCC spokesperson Lucie Carron said the tenant is leaving because of "personal circumstances."
The 1998 Meech Creek Valley Land Use Concept, developed jointly by the NCC and the Municipality of Chelsea, has slated 320 hectares, or 50 per cent of the valley, for re-naturalization.
The 2005 Gatineau Park Master Plan Review reaffirms the re-naturalization plan, while calling for the development of hiking, interpretative and agrotourism projects further north in the Meech Creek Valley. Head NCC Planner Lucie Bureau said there is potential to develop a "cultural recreational experience" in the valley, although no project is yet on the table. At the same time, the 2005 review is calling for better promotion of local heritage sites within the park. Bureau told an audience of the Gatineau Valley Historical Society Nov. 22 the NCC wants to create "a better inventory of local heritage."
This could mean preserving buildings that don't necessarily meet the criteria for historical value set by the Federal Heritage Building Review Organization (FHBRO), Bureau said.
A FHBRO re-view of the Baldwin farmhouse declared it to have low historical value. Locally, some residents said just the opposite.
"In my estimation it is a heritage buiiding...and before any more demolition is done it needs to be looked at closely," former Chelsea Mayor Judy Grant said at the meeting.
Another demolition took place last week at 464 Meech Lake Rd. Carron said the 40-year-old building had reached the end of its life cycle and the property is to be re-naturalized.