The article appeared in the March 15 edition of the Guelph Tribune:
Coun. Ian Findlay is pushing a new idea for what might be done with a farmhouse in a north end subdivision, as city hall gets ready to build a park there this summer that doesn’t include the farmhouse.
Findlay wants to see the farmhouse turned into a demonstration house for energy-efficiency technologies. He said it would be modelled on a similar house in central Kitchener known as the REEP House for Sustainable Living.
During evening hours, he envisions the farmhouse being used as meeting space for community, cultural, sports and other groups. Some office space might also be rented out to help pay the bills, he said.
“I’m very excited about the idea. It has consumed a lot of my time the past month,” Findlay said in an interview Tuesday.
Findlay revealed his plan when asked to comment on a new city staff report that says the city will build a neighbourhood park on Simmonds Drive this year, even though the fate of the farmhouse hasn’t been decided yet.The unresolved farmhouse issue has held up construction of the park, but the report says it’s time to forge ahead. “Whether the final park parcel will include the farmhouse or not, the local community is anxious to see the park built,” it says.
Such a park “will serve the residents of the Northern Heights subdivision and act as an integral part of the trail network and open space . . . in the north end of the city,” it says.
Construction could start by late spring or early summer, and the park is to be completed this year.
The site is “quite big, it’s a city block,” and there’s plenty of room for park amenities even with the farmhouse remaining where it is, Findlay said.
There is no money in the city’s 10-year capital forecast for turning the farmhouse into an energy-efficiency demonstration house, he said. So he is looking for other ways of financing the project and making it “as self-sustaining as we possibly can,” probably with financial and in-kind donations from the private sector and community groups.
Findlay said he’s encouraged by the positive response to his idea that he’s got so far from community leaders in the business, environmental and other fields, as well as from Mayor Karen Farbridge and senior city hall staff.
Findlay said that many people who own old houses, as he does, would welcome the renovation advice that could be offered by such a demonstration house to bring down their heating costs. The REEP house in Kitchener includes demonstrations of such things as insulation options and solar, geothermal and innovative water-use systems, he said.
The other Ward 2 councillor, Andy Van Hellemond, said he’s happy the park will finally be built. “I’m glad they are going to get a park. The farmhouse issue is for another time and another debate,” Van Hellemond said.