'Leave us where we are': 100 Stanley Street homeowner pleads to city

Nan Finlayson will be at city hall Thursday to plead one more time to save the home she bought three decades ago when she was a young single mother.

"It was a sense of [strength] and pride just being able to do it all on my own," said the 75-year-old whose 100 Stanley Street heritage house is facing possible demolition or relocation over a city road and bridge expansion project. 

This is an impassioned plea to leave us where we are, together.- Nan Finlayson, 75, homeowner

"I'm really heartbroken. There's a wonderful relationship that I have with the house and with the garden," said Finlayson, who spent a decade sprucing up her yard with native shrubs and trees to improve the ecosystem.   

The city is planning to widen Wharncliffe Road at the Horton Street underpass – next to Finlayson's home – and to improve the train bridge.

The heritage designation on the 100 Stanley Street home has raised concerns with city officials and community members who will discuss the issue Thursday at city hall's heritage committee meeting. 

"It is a heritage home and there are certain aspects to consider that keeping the home. We have to balance those objectives with the desire for improved traffic in the area and the need to replace the bridge itself," said Edward Soldo, director of roads and transportation.

City staff is looking at several options for 100 Stanley:

• Demolishing the home
• Expropriating the other side of the road – which would affect 13 homes, three of which are heritage sites
• Relocate the home across the street to the west side of Wharncliffe Road, south of Evergreen Avenue

What's next?

Finlayson, a retired French immersion kindergarten teacher, said she has way too many memories in her location to ever relocate elsewhere – even if it's directly across the street.

Besides, she said the logistics of the move would encroach on her property and put her heritage home at risk.

"They don't realize the impact that it will have on me. It will bother me very much to see the garden and mature trees destroyed," she said. "They talk about having to drill holes in and repairing it afterwards"

With the help of an online petition – fighting to maintain her site – Finlayson hopes that "they look at alternatives."

And that's what the city continues to do.

Staff will wait on feedback from the heritage community, combined with public concerns and consider all proposed alternatives. A final recommendation will be presented to council in the new year.