Squabble stalls dying architect’s legacy for family
Mother’s loving renovation redesign for bungalow doesn’t follow bylaws, neighbour’s son-in-law says
Anna Craig pores over the renovation designs for her bungalow. They look like any set of home blueprints — floor plans for an open-concept kitchen, a second storey, and a slanted modern rooftop — but these aren’t just everyday designs. They are her legacy. Craig, a 37-year-old architect, has terminal cancer and wants to renovate her two-bedroom bungalow home, a creative redesign to leave for her husband and young children when she’s gone — a small monument of love. But now, the plans may be stalled, as neighbours on Craig’s quiet street, steps from Colonel Sam Smith Park, fear the modern design may depreciate their home and put their windows in shadow. “I’m angry. I feel betrayed,” Craig says. For months, she says she consulted with neighbours about the plans and felt she had their support. The main complainant is Craig’s 89year-old next-door neighbour Joan Janes, whose son-in-law wrote a letter on her behalf to the Etobicoke Committee of Adjustment. At a committee meeting last week, Craig and husband Ian Ricci had hoped to seek approval for a redesign that addressed earlier city requests. Instead, the application was deferred to address the new concerns. With committee meetings just once a month for their area, the delay worries Craig, who begins chemotherapy treatments again in the fall for metastatic breast cancer. Janes has lived on Twentieth St. for 68 years. “We’re the best of friends,” she said of Craig. “I don’t really know what’s going on. I guess this all just came through my son-in-law.” He is Gary Burtch — or “Gary the builder,” as Janes calls him.
“I don’t think you want anyone with a terminal illness lining up saying, ‘I want to build the Taj Mahal on my street.’ That’s not the point.” IAN RICCI HUSBAND OF ARCHITECT ANNA CRAIG
“I am not opposed to a second storey addition,” wrote Burtch, owner of Haliburton’s G.J. Burtch Construction Enterprises Ltd., in an email to the Star. His company does residential renovations. “I just want the design to be within the guidelines set out by the city’s bylaws.”
In a letter dated July 21to the Etobicoke committee, he further outlines his concerns with the project: “As a builder/renovator I do appreciate some flexibility in design,” he writes, “but do not feel a proposed design should have as great a negative impact on neighbours as this will.”
He says the home expansion will block sunlight, impede Janes’ view of Twentieth St., and dampen the view out her side door. Burtch also alleges the modern home will decrease the property value of Janes’ old home, which is itself two storeys, noting Craig’s design “is in stark contrast to the existing houses on the street and the surrounding neighbourhood.”
Councillor Mark Grimes had previously submitted a letter to the committee recommending the project’s approval. But now, with Burtch’s letter, Grimes’ office issued a revised letter on Tuesday suggesting the new concerns be addressed. Grimes was not available for comment.
CS&P Architects, Craig’s former employer, has promised to see the project through to completion. Maureen O’Shaughnessy, one of the firm’s principal architects, says it could take eight months to a year to complete. “The design is lovely and not out of keeping with the scale of the neighbourhood,” she says. Anthony Hommik, a city planner assigned to the project, says the committee won’t approve a project for compassionate reasons. “The decisions that are made by the committee of adjustments are strictly to be made on the planning merits of the application,” he says. Craig and Ricci say they want the home built in time for memories to be made together with children Elliott, 4, and Maelle, 2. “I don’t think you want anyone with a terminal illness lining up saying, ‘I want to build the Taj Mahal on my street,’ ” says Ricci, 35. “That’s not the point.” He says they are considering Burtch’s concerns. “I think it’s only fair that we can create a life just like some other residents were able to do when they built their house in the 40s.” Craig hopes to turn her modern home into an open and creative space for her family. “A space I can interact with after I pass,” she calls it. She hopes the design will foster “special moments” for her boy and girl. Their bedrooms will connect through the shared wall by way of secret passageways, “caves and tree houses,” while they are young. Craig wants them to live in “a house that is creative, and takes chances, that is trying to say something. You can learn that you can do things that are out of the box, and you can achieve beautiful things through doing that.”