St. Andrews Lodge will remain for now as Qualicum Beach councilors wrangle with the repercussions of reneging on a contract to demolish it. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

Dislodged

St. Andrews Lodge in Qualicum Beach spared the wrecking ball for now

Nov 6, 2020 | 5:14 PM

QUALICUM BEACH — St. Andrews Lodge lives to see another day.

In a dramatic reversal, Qualicum Beach council voted to stay the demolition of the building, despite voting in favour only days before of removing it from land they intend to renovate into a park.

The motion to rescind the previous Council decision and direct staff to immediately stop the demolition came from coun. Teunis Westbroek, who’d previously voted in favour of removing the building.

“I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I should have never voted this way,” he told councillors in a special council meeting on Friday, Nov. 6. “When I thought about it a lot more I felt we’re going in the wrong direction.”

Contractors had already starting removing hazardous materials from the 82-year-old lodge on Qualicum Beach’s waterfront.

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The reversal came after protests to save the building, claiming councillors didn’t communicate their plan for the building properly by making decisions during in-camera meetings.

Coun. Scott Harrison expressed reservations about stopping work and going against what council had previously voted for.

“We don’t get to essentially be someone who buys a lotto ticket, goes to the cashier and says ‘I want to check my numbers on this’ and then when the draw is announced go back to the lotto store and say ‘I want to change the numbers on my ticket.'”

The order also included having a society care for the lodge after it was restored at no cost to the Town.

In July 2020, when Town council was contemplating what to do with St. Andrews Lodge, a request for proposals to reuse or relocate the historical site garnered no applications.

A consultant hired by the Town around the same time noted it would cost roughly $545,000, excluding engineering and architectural costs, to restore the building.

Knocking down the building was slated to cost roughly $40,000.

A staff report on the costs coming from the decision is now forthcoming.

The Town purchased the Lodge property for $3.4 million in 2018 and has a conceptual plan in place to transform it into an accessible waterfront park.

— with files from Ian Holmes

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt