Heather Wright/The Independent

Dawn-Euphemia is on the hook for over $30,000 in demolition costs for the former Florence high school.

A year ago, on Nov. 3, residents walking by noticed pieces of the building looked ready to collapse and had the potential to injury people. They called the municipality and by that evening, a contractor was called in to bring the building down.

While residents watched as the school, which had stood at 595 Florence Road since 1938 crumble there was a lot going on behind the scenes, according to court documents.

In January, Dawn-Euphemia went to the Superior Court of Justice to have its emergency order to bring the building down confirmed so the township could place a lien on the property for $30,652.86 – the amount of money the municipality payed to bring down the building.

Animesh and Sathi Sen, who purchased the building in 2015, opposed the move saying the municipality acted unreasonably and failed to provide them with any opportunity to respond before the demolition.

According to the ruling of Justice M.A. Cook, the municipality emailed the Sens at 9:45 am Nov. 3 saying the municipality had concerns about the stability and safety of the building. The clerk said it was likely there would be property standards orders coming.

By 11 am, a property standards officer – a Lambton County employee appointed by the town – had inspected the building and said the building was “severely compromised” and “demolition of the building was required.”

By 1:30 pm that day, Dawn-Euphemia’s public works employees had put fencing around the building to secure it.

A professional engineer was called in. By 2:15 pm, they were inspecting the old high school.

The company declared the building unsafe.

The property standards officer called Aminesh Sen to say the municipality would be demolishing the building, at his cost.

Sen sent the clerk an email at 3:34 pm saying “You will understand my shock on a Friday afternoon to be advised by you that there is an issue and within an hour be told that the building is coming down with the immediate effect with no possibility for me to assess the situation, compare costs or take a decision,” according to court documents.

Sen called the property standards officer at 4:40 pm wanting to assess the situation. “I would like the opportunity to understand the legal and financial implications,” Sen wrote in an email and reprinted in the court documents. “It is architecturally and historically important building in the community and is there any possibility of making it structurally safe pending restoration?”

That same afternoon, the county’s Chief Building Official, Corrine Nauta, signed an emergency order for the demolition saying the upper wall of the structure was to be removed to “mitigate the imminent risk of collapse on nearby persons or structures.”

The order was sent to the property owner at 6:15 pm. 

By 8 pm, the township’s hired contractor was on the scene taking the building down.

Nov. 9, the Sens were served with orders to clean up the property by Jan. 11. Justice Cook said in the court documents the cost to clean up the rubble would be “way over $100,000” in part because the bricks and rubble had been mixed together during demolition.

Nov. 21, Dawn-Euphemia delivered a bill of $30,652.88 for the demolition.

Justice Cook says if there are serious issues with a structure the Building Code Act allows the building to be pulled down if the health or safety of any person is endangered. It also allows the problems to be repaired. 

And Justice Cook pointed out for the Emergency Order to be considered legally reasonable, it should set out remedial repairs or other work to be carried out to terminate the danger.

Cook says the municipality didn’t show how the building did not conform to the Property Standards Act and the Emergency Order doesn’t lay out the specific property standards issue.

Cook added the Emergency Order “fails to provide any notice to the respondents of what they must do to address the immediate danger posed by the building.”

The Justice says without the municipal proof, he could only rescind the Emergency Order and the municipality is “not entitled to recover costs spent enforcing the Emergency Order.”

And Cook says the Sens had “no notice of the municipality’s concerns about the structural integrity of the building until the morning of Nov. 3.

“While the building had apparently been in poor condition for a long time, the municipality had made no property standard orders or orders to remedy unsafe building conditions prior to Nov. 3, 2023. 

Justice Cook says the Sens had “a significant property interest at stake.

“The property had been secured against entry. The building was set back from the property lines. Nevertheless, the building was demolished on the same day without the owners having any opportunity to inspect the property or respond to the Emergency order.

The Justice says the Supreme Court of Canada says the municipality’s right to demolish a building for public safety “must be balanced with a reasonable opportunity to respond.

“The municipality’s failure to provide the (Sens) any opportunity to inspect and remediate the property prior to demolition was procedurally unfair and constituted an error of law.”

Right now, the township, county and property owners are still in the court system to determine what, if any, costs the municipality will have to pay the Sens. The couple represented themselves in court.

Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Al Broad says the ruling is frustrating saying if a building about to “fall down on the neighbours isn’t justification to step in and tear it down before it does” he doesn’t know what is.

“The bricks were protruding out. They were ready to fall down on the neighbors. That’s why everybody moved ahead to get it removed…How many years has he owned the property to look after it, and he never did anything.

“It’s frustrating, like I said, that the facility could be falling down and this judge, for some reason, thinks that is done too quickly.”

Broad says the municipality is still working through the legal process and is not sure what can be appealed at this point. And, the mayor says, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to continue a costly legal fight when the municipality has already been left holding the bag on the demolition costs.