Another good turn out for our March meeting, and another good session of heritage and history talk.
- Heritage Renvation Issues: We were joined by Cynthia who owns a heritage house on Semlin. More than a decade ago, she built a sunroom on her deck and made some changes to the old cottage at the foot of her yard. The City is now claiming these changes are not up to code and there is a hearing to determine what steps whe will have to take to remediate the situation. It was noted that heritage activists have for years complained that work on older but perfectly fit-for-use buildings is too expensive because the city demandss the wholoe building be brought up to code. Cynthia is hoping that her neighbours will support her cause with the city;
- Neighbourhood Update: Eric then presented this month’s update on physical changes to the community. This included
- building plans for the lot at 1138 Lily which was destroyed by fire in January 2016;
- a discussion about the continued deterioration of Brookhouse while the city delays permits for the HRA;
- Eric reviewed the few remaining Quonset huts that survive in East Vancouver, and our expectation that they will soon be demolished;
- A good discussion about the Crystal Dairy building, a solution to where an image of the fleet barn was taken (on Clark between 3rd and 4th), and the delivery of milk in the 1950s;
- the ongoing development of the REACH building on the Drive, durng which it was confirmed that no social housing units are being built on the site;
- a quick review of last months RE figures
- The Grandview Database: Jak reviewed the progress on entering data into the database, explained the ease with which information can be recovered, and briefly touched on the future entries to be made;
- The Oldest House in Grandview: The wording for the plaque to be placed at 1350 Graveley was agreed. It was also agreed we will apply for a neighbourhood grant for the plaque. The final materials for the plaque are still to be determined;
- Upcoming Course and Lectures: A number of upcoming events were discussed, including heritage maintenance and repair, a masonry workshop, lectures at Hycroft and from the Vancouver History Society, the Friends of Vancouver Archives AGM, and John Stuart’s presentation at the Scandinavian Cultural Society;
- Concrete: We ended with a short video on tips and tricks with using concrete.
grandviewheritagegroup.ca 