Belmont Hotel Demolition could be on the Horizon

The Rubble of Third Avenue West may soon be a thing of the past
with the City ready to get to the demolition process for the property that once
hosted the Belmont Hotel

Monday evening's City Council Session brought a surprise announcement from Mayor Herb Pond, the Mayor while participating in the session remotely from Ottawa, noted that plans are in motion for the Demolition of the rubble from the Belmont Hotel.  

The remains of the structure has been a topic of much conversation in town and has been a state of community concern since the fire of May 2022.

"I have a question for staff around an issue that comes up often and that is, I know we're close to issuing a permit on the demolition of the Belmont, I wonder if I can get an update on that.

In response, Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller provided a status update on the plans.

"I spoke to our development services department this afternoon and my ink will be on that paper tomorrow morning. 

So we are in a position to proceed we have been working with the owner of the property to move forward on that"

So far since the Monday Council session,  the city has not put forward a public advisory through the civic website or their social media stream  as to when the work will take place or what kind of timeline is anticipated towards the completion of the work.

Somewhat surprisingly, what seems like a significant milestone for the Belmont saga, didn't even make it to the Council Highlights summary from staff.

Mayor Pond also shared some notes related to the volume of plywood that can be seen along Third Avenue West and other areas of the downtown core. 

The Mayor noting on Monday night that for the most part, the delay in replacement has been attributed to a lack of glaziers to do the work required. 

"I sort of want to jump off on what Councillor Niesh is saying.  And  you know certainly plywood in the downtown is a concern, I've had some discussion, people are struggling because of challenges just getting glaziers to get the glass in"

You can hear the Mayors comments from the video archive starting at the one hour forty two minute mark.

More notes from Monday's Council Session can be explored through our Council Timeline Feature.

A wider overview of Council themes can be explored through our Council Discussion archive.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.