Preserve Stouffville elevator on current site: CAO
Recommendation to town council Tuesday afternoon

YorkRegion.com
July 21, 2014
Sandra Bolan

Preserve, rehabilitate and repurpose the Stouffville grain elevator at its current location.

That is what Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville CAO Andrew McNeely calls upon council to request of Metrolinx.

GO Transit, which is owned by Metrolinx, wants the unoccupied grain elevator relocated to a nearby site owned by the municipality or a third party within Stouffville’s core.

The transit company is offering a one-time relocation cost-coverage of $500,000 to $1 million that must be utilized within its 2014-15 budget.

If the grain elevator cannot be moved, then demolishing it is another option.

GO Transit applied to the municipality for a demolition permit in 2007 to remove the grain elevator. The file remains open, but no action was taken. The file will be closed, as Metrolinx does not require a demolition permit to remove the grain elevator, according to the report.

“It is not economically feasible within the annual operations budget, or good value for money, for Metrolinx to carry costs of ongoing maintenance of the structure with no viable current or future use,” wrote Michael Wolczyk, acting vice-president, GO capital infrastructure wrote, in a May 2, 2014 letter to McNeely.

GO Transit purchased the grain elevator from CN Railway in 1995. It was leased out to the Stouffville Co-operative Association for grain handling purposes. It has been vacant since 2005.

The structure is not required by GO Transit and it is actually “… a detriment to current parking requirements at the station,” Wolczyk wrote in his letter to McNeely.

“The structure is currently stable but poses a potential safety risk due to fire hazard, vandalism etc.,” Wolczyk wrote.

The town report also requests the municipality, along with the Whitchurch-Stouffville Heritage Advisory Committee and Downtown Stouffville Working Group, work with Metrolinx to explore possibilities for end uses with the objective to preserve, rehabilitate and repurpose the building.

Council is expected to discuss the issue during tomorrow’s meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. It is open to the public.