by Brent Eades
A crane and a wrecking crew appeared at the corner of Main and Union streets this morning, making good on Chris Loosemore’s decision to demolish the tower at the south end of the Dungarvon building.
Mr. Loosemore bought the building — erected in 1886 as the Methodist church — in 2003, and since then has invested about $200,000 in restoration work.
Last year the then-building inspectors for Mississippi Mills claimed the tower could collapse, and the Town ordered security fences to be erected around the property. The fences initially blocked Main Street and created the impression of imminent danger. Later the fences were moved from the street to the lawn abutting the sidewalk. In that time no part of the building has crumbled, not even during the recent 5.2 earthquake centered near Shawville about 50 km from here.
Meanwhile the Town hit Loosemore with a $30,000 lawsuit to recover the costs of these apparently needless actions.
Mayor John Levi was cited in an Ottawa Citizen story as saying that the town was only following engineering advice when it closed the road, and noted that there had been a change in key personnel in the building inspector office since then.
