KITCHENER -- Cambridge city council voted to release confidential reports on plans to demolish the Preston Springs Hotel.
The documents were from January 2020, when city officials originally deemed the building unsafe.
The hotel was empty for 30 years before the city's chief building officer issued an emergency order on Christmas Eve to tear it down.
Demolition started on the morning on Dec. 31. The Cambridge chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario was in court that morning to get an injunction to save the hotel. Demolition paused briefly that afternoon, but then went on due to unsafe conditions.
The group is now calling for a public inquiry into why the Preston Springs was torn down.
“There are just many questions that need to be answered from the beginning to the actual end, there are too many discrepancies and unfortunately there aren’t enough answers,” said Karen Scott Booth, Vice-president of the Cambridge chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.
However, at a special council meeting on Thursday night council voted to defer a motion asking for an external audit, the city’s mayor saying the decision was made in part because of the cost.
“These are public tax funded dollars that go into paying for such things and I think an external audit is questionable whether that’s going to bring in any more information than we already have,” said mayor Kathryn McGarry.
Staff did agree to declassify confidential reports on the former hotel to the public, but they will meet again in March to decide if they want to go ahead with an external inquiry.
