Eyesore finally torn down
Burned out Johnny Peppers restaurant razed more than three years after fire gutted Ferry Street building
Three-and-a-half years after being gutted by a fire, the building that once housed Johnny Peppers restaurant on Ferry Street has been demolished.
A demolition crew was on site of the property, located between Fallsview Boulevard and Clark Avenue, Wednesday.
“It’s long overdue,” said Mayor Jim Diodati.
“We are putting in property standards measures to make sure we don’t get stuck with this kind of a scenario again because this should not have been allowed to happen.”
A Dec. 13, 2013 fire caused more than $800,000 in damage to the building.
While the front portion of the building was eventually demolished because it was not safe, the back portion, which consisted mostly of cement block, was allowed to remain standing.
Residents and nearby businesses complained about the property.
A tarp was put up to cover the front of the building, and the structure was eventually fenced off.
Diodati said the property has new owners.
“It was an individual that owned it, and it’s a couple of individuals that have bought it,” he said.
“I don’t know any of their longterm plans. I know their immediate plan is to demolish it, and just have some surface parking until they move forward. I’d much rather look at a parking lot than that eyesore.”
Diodati said it was a “perfect storm” of events that led to a delay in the building being completely demolished.
He said the city is changing its property standards bylaw to give the municipality more teeth when dealing with these types of situations.
But the bylaw is not retroactive, which “means you can’t go back and change things that happened before the bylaw.”
Diodati said the city was also dealing with a change in staffing, and was waiting for the change of ownership for the property to take place.
“What I’d like to see in the future is (in a situation) like this, the city goes in, rips it down, and adds it to the property tax bill, so nobody (is) forced to look at something like this,” he said.
“I understand if there has to be an investigation (into the fire), but you need to have professional boarding put up around those kind of construction sites, like they do in Toronto, with nice landscapes or scenery — something that hides the construction job, but still leaves it accessible (to those who need to get in) — at the very least until such time that we’re able to demolish it and remove it.”
Diodati credited retired Niagara Falls Review reporter Tony Ricciuto, who wrote a number of articles and columns to shine a light on the situation, including at one point detailing easy access to the burned-out building, and questioning why only temporary solutions were being applied to the problem.
“This one’s for Tony ... who was championing this. I always had him in mind every time I went and spoke with our solicitor and our chief building official,” said Diodati.
“He was right to be upset about this, as everyone in the city should be. It’s unfortunate that it was something that was kind of caught up in a perfect storm of an unfortunate situation.”
Diodati said he sat down with the city’s legal department, bylaw department, and chief administrative officer, to ensure a similar situation doesn’t take place in the future.
He said council also “feels very strongly that this type of thing should not be able to happen.”
Diodati said he’s “very excited” to see what eventually becomes of the property.
“It will change the whole look and feel of that part of the street. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are so happy to see that come down — and count me and council as one of them.”