Log home debate in Charlottetown could include public

Owner Ray Campbell officially applies to planning board to delist property as heritage resource

Ray Campbell, who owns a log home on Hillsborough Street in Charlottetown, stands by a part of the structure he took down before the city filed a court injunction ordering him to stop. He and the city now have 10 days to come to a resolution on the matter. - Dave Stewart

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Charlottetown residents could have a say in what happens to a historic log home at 15 Hillsborough St.

The city’s planning board met Aug. 6 with Ray Campbell, who owns the log home, and agreed to proceed to a public meeting on the issue, pending approval of city council at its upcoming meeting on Aug. 13.

Campbell had begun to dismantle the home last month when the city stepped in with a court order ordering him to stop. The provincial court gave the two sides 10 days to sort things out, and the public meeting was agreed to by both parties.

Campbell has applied to the city’s planning department to delist the property as a heritage resource so he can take it apart. That’s what the public meeting will be about if council sends it that way.

Campbell said he was told the odds are stacked against him on the delist matter.

“They said I could apply for delisting but it never happened before and don’t expect it to happen,’’ Campbell said. “I was led to believe that it would be futile. I guess I’m a bit of a wildcard in this whole thing.’’

Campbell doesn’t want to go much longer without insurance on the home, explaining in the past that no insurance company will touch the structure.

Campbell says parts of the home are decaying and it must come down.

“I have no intentions of being a yo-yo on the end of a string. I have to have insurance on my vehicles. I have to have insurance on my boat. I can’t be sitting there with no insurance on a house in Charlottetown because it puts me in a very bad situation.’’

“I have no intentions of being a yo-yo on the end of a string. I have to have insurance on my vehicles. I have to have insurance on my boat. I can’t be sitting there with no insurance on a house in Charlottetown because it puts me in a very bad situation.’’

Campbell said he’s had the property just over two years now and wants to move on, spend some time with his daughter and granddaughter and stop worrying about the log home.

“It’s frustrating. Something has to be done by Oct. 1.’’

[email protected]

Twitter.com/DveStewart