The end may be in sight for the nearly century-old house on a Salt Spring Island nature reserve.
The Islands Trust Conservancy Board reported at its meeting Tuesday, Jan. 21 it will be engaging a demolition contractor for an estimate to take down the Ruby Alton Nature Reserve House and all other structures on the property.
Last spring, an assessment of Forsen Brook at the parcel — known locally as Ruby’s Creek — led to categorizing the waterway there as “non-functional,” meaning that the state of erosion is “likely beyond meaningful remediation,” according to a staff report. A visit to the reserve in June reported many maintenance issues at the house, although no public safety issues were identified.
According to staff, in late December an arborist was paid for emergency work at the reserve, as a 108-foot-tall cedar on the south creek embankment was being undercut by erosion, and at risk of falling onto the 1930s-era house.
On Tuesday, the board reported its decision on the estimate had been made during an in-camera session in November; the board also agreed to obtain a hazmat analysis for the building in relation to that demolition. An updated management plan for the reserve is expected to be developed later this year.
The four-acre Ruby Alton Nature Reserve includes the former home of Ruby Alton, who –– in addition to a 33-acre parcel upstream left to the Nature Conservancy of Canada –– left her house, gardens and a wooded portion of land with an $88,000 endowment to the Islands Trust Conservancy in 2002.
Those funds have been managed by the Victoria Foundation, and revenue from the endowment and rental income had been stressed for some years as the house’s roof, foundation, septic, water and other systems were all identified as needing extensive repair or replacement. The board Tuesday also elected by acclamation both Galiano Island trustee and Trust Council elected board member Lisa Gauvreau as chair, and ministerial-appointed board member Tanner Timothy as vice chair. The Islands Trust Conservancy will be marking its 35th anniversary this year.