Peterborough city council’s recent decision to allow the partial demolition of the General Electric complex contravenes the Ontario Heritage Act, according to city councillor Joy Lachica.
Lachica is also expressing concerns that the notice of demolition was only brought to council’s attention almost a month after the city received it, and that framing the demolition plan as a heritage assessment does not consider environmental and public health impacts given the use and storage of hazardous chemicals at the complex over the past 130 years.
Meeting as general committee on Monday night (October 6), council considered a staff report that recommended hiring a consultant to conduct a peer review of a 154-page heritage impact assessment (HIA) report prepared by ERA Architects Inc. on behalf of GEPR Energy Canada Inc., a subsidiary of GE Vernova — an energy equipment manufacturing and services company that was formed from the merger and subsequent spin-off of General Electric’s energy businesses in 2024.
The General Electric factory complex began operations in 1891 as the Canadian Works of the Thomas Edison Company and later continued under General Electric. The site includes a complex of 33 buildings built between 1891 and 1981 and used for industrial manufacturing and ancillary purposes.
The entire complex is listed on the city’s heritage register under the Ontario Heritage Act, although it has not been designated.
GE Vernova is proposing demolishing and removing 25 buildings in the complex’s centre block that haven’t been used since 2018, which represent around 84,500 square metres (910,000 square feet) of the 104,000 square metre (1.1 million square feet) site.
GE Vernova has maintained office space for 60 employees in the site’s east block and leases several buildings in the west block to BWXT, which was originally part of GE Vernova’s nuclear energy division but has since became an independent company, and the HIA report recommends retaining eight buildings that are currently in use or have heritage value.
After a discussion on Monday night that lasted almost two hours, with much of the discussion about the environmental impact of the proposed demolition, council ultimately decided against the staff recommendation to hire a consultant to conduct a peer review of the HIA report, and then for staff to consult with the Peterborough Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (PACAC) when the peer review report is completed, and report back to council on the whether the property should be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Instead, council decided to accept the recommendations made in the HIA report for which buildings should receive heritage designation and allow demolition to proceed, and to take that decision to PACAC for review.
Responding to councillors who expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the demolition, city staff said the demolition would fall under the purview of the Ontario government and that the municipality has no authority to require any kind of environmental assessment prior to demolition since no change in land use was being requested.
On Wednesday (October 8), Lachica told kawarthaNOW she attended a PACAC meeting the previous night as an observer — councillors are no longer allowed to officially participate in citizen committees — and PACAC “expressed their indignation about what happened on Monday night.”
kawarthaNOW has obtained a copy of a letter dated October 6 sent by PACAC chair Stewart Hamilton to council in which he outlined the requirement under the Ontario Heritage Act that council consult with its municipal heritage committee prior to making a decision to remove a property from the heritage register — which council effectively did by voting to allow the partial demolition to proceed.
“As committee chair, I’m requesting the entire matter regarding the GE Properties be sent by City Council to PACAC for a review,” Hamilton wrote.
According to Lachica, council can’t make a decision to delist a property from the heritage register prior to consulting with PACAC, calling it a “breach” of the Ontario Heritage Act.
“Apparently, according to city staff at the PACAC meeting last night (Tuesday), it was the direction of legal counsel at the City of Peterborough that it come to council first,” Lachica said.
“Council didn’t have any of this information about the plans of GE. For 30 days, only the mayor knew (about the notice of demolition) and the mayor did not share any of that with the rest of council. We laid eyes on it when the agenda came out for that Monday meeting.”
According to the meeting agenda, GEPR Energy Canada Inc. gave the city a 60-day notice of its intent to demolish part of the GE complex on September 8 — 29 days before the item was brought forward to council.
Lachica told kawarthaNOW that the city’s commissioner of infrastructure, planning, and growth management Blair Nelson said the notice was being reviewed by the city’s building department during that time, “but it’s not the building department’s jurisdiction to look at that package — it’s for council to have 60 days to assess the situation.”
Under the Ontario Heritage Act, property owners must give municipal council a minimum of 60 days’ written notice before demolishing or removing a building on a property listed on the heritage register. This interim protection allows the council to consider if the property should be designated as a heritage property and prevents a demolition permit from being issued until the notice period is complete.
“The mayor did not convene with council in any way,” Lachica said. “We had a whole cycle of council pass, none of this was on the agenda, and the clock’s been ticking all that time.”
“For something of a national heritage significance and a local significance in terms of the legacy of the workers … that’s to me tragic, because we need to make a very significant decision about the future of that property, and this is our window to have GE be responsible and accountable for 130 years of things. That’s part of the heritage legacy as well as the workers’ legacy. The fact that the mayor kept this to himself is not appropriate in my mind.”
Lachica said that council’s decision has come to the attention of the labour movement, including the Ontario Federation of Labour, which is planning to take action.
On Thursday (October 9), Lachica issued a media release that reflected some of her earlier comments to kawarthaNOW.
“The details of this plan were concealed by the mayor,” the release states. “There was no public consultation, and because of this vote, there may be no accountability for GE — after the company contaminated that land, polluted our community, and allowed their workers to be poisoned on the job.”
“Demolition will release unknown levels of contamination into the surrounding neighbourhoods, lets GE paper over the harm it caused injured workers, and paves the way for taxpayers to absorb the risk and cost of a massive, un-remediated brownfield.”
“This whole process has been a violation of public trust — putting the wellbeing and history of our community in the hands of a $230 billion corporation, and a provincial government who’s shown they’re either unwilling, or unable to hold companies like these accountable.”
“Residents have a right to know when a project across the street might threaten their health. Councillors have a right to know the details of time sensitive plans that will affect their constituents. And the community has a right to real consultation – before decisions are made, not after.”
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“Council now has less than 30 days to stop the demolition going forward, by applying a heritage designation to the property. We are calling on the Mayor and those who supported GE’s plan to do the following:
1. Change their votes at the next Council meeting on Tuesday, October 14th.
2. Advocate for a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.
3. Support an objective, independent heritage assessment of the whole GE property.
4. Work with us and the community to develop a real plan for cleaning up the property.”
The release also quotes Sue James, a former GE employee and injured workers activist.
“We’ve buried so many of our friends and co-workers, now this decision is threatening to bury our history,” James said.
Decisions made at general committee will be considered for approval at the next regular council meeting, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday after the Thanksgiving long weekend.
To speak as a registered delegation at the meeting, people must register no later than 11 a.m. on the day of the meeting. To register, complete the online application at www.peterborough.ca/delegations, or call 705-742-7777 ext. 1820.
