NEWS

Disputed large house on Fleming torn down

Fleming house in stages of demolition
FLEMING HOUSE COMES TUMBLING DOWN: These three images show the former house at 27 Fleming Cres. as it was torn down storey by storey.

The extra-large house at 27 Fleming Cres. in Leaside that was to be demolished by owner Haim Hirshberg has mostly been torn down.

The home has been getting taken down one storey at a time, now with just the lower level remaining, according to next door neighbour Robert Ellis, who fought for the demolition of the home and had previously been fighting to stop its construction.

Planner Franco Romano, speaking on behalf of Hirshberg, asked for a deferral at the May 7 North York committee of adjustment meeting in order to tear down the existing structure and submit new plans for a two-storey house.

Ellis, who’s lived next to the house since before its construction began in 2012, asked the committee to approve the deferral, but with the conditions that the community be provided a copy of the plans for the new home and that the owner have a community consultation regarding it.

The house, originally built by a numbered company that later declared bankruptcy, ran afoul of its neighbours from the early stages. Ellis took issue with discrepancies in the architectural plans, as well as work continuing after the original home was demolished without a permit, among other grievances.

Complaints to the city resulted in stop-work orders being placed against the builder, though work continued. Construction finally ceased when the city threatened legal action. The case went to the committee of adjustment last May, where it was deferred. Then-owner Sam Delic sold the house to Hirshberg last December.

The committee, which makes rulings on what is allowable regarding a building’s height, depth and width, unanimously approved the deferral, requesting the owner hold a community consultation on the new plans before coming back to the committee for approval of the new building.

At the time, Ellis said the community “definitely” got everything it had hoped for out of the meeting.