Princeton council ordered the demolition of a downtown building, at Monday night’s meeting.
The decision paves the way for park enhancements, and puts to rest a social media campaign to “Save The Bugnut.”
Municipal staff are now preparing a strategy to re-develop the site to compliment Veteran’s Square.
“I think people are going to be really happy when it’s done,” said Lyle Thomas, director of recreation.
Sketches of a proposed sheltered park space will be published and the public will have 30 days to provide comments and suggestions.
Thomas said the idea is to create an area that can be used by visitors and groups, likely equipped with a barbecue and gas fire pit.
“This will enhance our town square,” he said. The eventual design will “honor the existing building’s shape and…it will have a very Whistler feeling.”
The discussion was not without controversy, however.
Leona Guerster, who has declared her intention to run for mayor in the 2018 municipal election, made a delegation at the beginning of the meeting asking council to reconsider the recommendation.
A letter submitted by Guerster and her husband Tom stated: “I am interested in purchasing said building to keep this attractive and unique structure intact. If this is not an acceptable solution, then I request that the town keep this building and preserve it.”
The request was accompanied by 15 letters of support from residents, citing the property’s unique architecture and place in Princeton’s history.
Later in the meeting Councillor Kim Maynard said that keeping the Bugnut would be financially irresponsible.
“I don’t think this would be a wise way to spend taxpayer dollars,” he said. “I think we are basically doing the right thing.”
Thomas reported that the building has been vacant since 2012 and suffered severe flooding damage in a rainstorm that year.
Structural deficiencies and potential mould make the building unsafe, she said, and in 2013 it was estimated repairs to bring the Bugnut up to code would cost $100,000.
Two years later the cost of demolishing and reconstructing the 400 square foot building was estimated at $200,000.
“It’s been a bit of an eyesore, that building, for a long time,” said Councillor Rosemary Doughty.
Last April the municipality advertised for public input on the building and received no responses, however in December Tom Guerster turned to social media to gather support for its preservation.
In an interview Leona Guerster said she is disappointed with the decision “but I understand the economics of it…It’s just too bad that something couldn’t have been done sooner, that it hadn’t been maintained throughout.”
She said her desire was to purchase the building and offer it as kiosk space to non profit groups to promote their services and activities.
“That was our idea.”
The mayoral hopeful said she will continue to follow the development of the property.
“I am definitely going to stay involved and see what they are proposing and provide my input.”
Demolition of the Bugnut will cost $4,000, said CAO Cheryl Martens.
She said that there were no offers presented to the town to purchase the Bugnut.
In any case, she added, because the building rests on the title of the library property – and given associated zoning and setback requirements – it would be unlikely the town would be able to subdivide the Bugnut to make it available for sale.
While the town has a “contingency fund” available to develop the park enhancement the budget for the project is not being released at this time.
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