By Angela Brown

Town may strip church’s designation as historical site, citing repair fees

Aug 2, 2018 | 1:21 PM

The Town of Battleford will have a public hearing coming up to hear from residents about the future of the old St. Vital Church.

The intent of the hearing is to look at the possibility of de-designating the structure as a municipal heritage property.

“It’s a public hearing to inform the public of the reasons why the town is looking to remove that historical-site designation on that building,” said Mayor Ames Leslie. 

The former St. Vital Roman Catholic Church is located at #2-20th St. E. in Battleford. This property had originally been designated as a Municipal Heritage Property in 1985. 

The town said in its public notice posted on the town’s website the reason for the proposed de-designation is due to the dilapidated state of the building and potentially to demolish the building in the future.

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The town had discussed the issue previously and was considering possibly demolishing the building as one option given its poor state, and the high estimated cost that would be involved in trying to bring it up to standard to preserve it.  

“There is a significant amount of repairs and investment required for that building structurally,” the mayor said. “To be able to go down the path to maybe remove that building or decommission that building, this is the first step the town needs to go.”

He said council and administration wanted to have a public hearing to acquire the public’s insight into the matter first, and this is a first good step. 

Leslie said there will be more discussion on the issue going forward.

“We don’t want to rush into making any decisions, and we just want to make the best decision,” said the mayor.

Gil Bellavance, former president of the Battlefords North West Historical Society, said he hopes to attend the public hearing to raise his concerns about the issue.

“I think it’s sad that we’re losing again another one of our historical buildings,” he said.

Bellavance said there are only three buildings in Battleford left that were built before the historical North-West Rebellion — the former St. Vital Church, the Queen’s Hotel and the former land-titles building, near the site of the former Government House location.

He added the old St. Vital Church was built in 1883 and is an important historical building.

“It was used as a church for more than 100 years,” Bellavance said. “It’s a wooden church, short-log. It had some repairs a few years ago when the town finally fixed up the roof.”

“They say there’s an estimate [and] it’s going to cost too much to fix it,” he said, adding that depends on what work will be done to it.

 “I think it’s on very solid foundation, and it would be sad to lose one of our historical buildings,” Bellavance said. “After all, what is there in Battleford but history?” 

The town’s public notice states any person wishing to object to the proposed de-designation bylaw must serve council with a written objection “stating the reasons of the objection and all relevant facts,” either in person at the Town Office or by mail by 1 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 28.

The town’s public hearing will be held Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Town Office in Battleford.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW