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Pemberton ‘eyesore’ to be torn down

Pemberton’s only barbershop faces closure with one week’s notice

The owner of Pemberton’s Clip Clop barbershop says she has been given a week to vacate the building that houses her business.

With Stacey Johnston out of business, Pemberton will be without a barber.

The barbershop, a fixture in the community for the past three years, is adjacent to the former location of the Pony Espresso. Vacated last October, the abandoned Pony Espresso building has been a bone of contention in the community, with many declaring the decaying building an eyesore.

Now, after months of complaints from community members about the dilapidated building at the entrance to town, the Village of Pemberton (VOP) is having the former Pony building torn down. Johnston’s one-woman barbershop is a causality of that decision.

Numerous verbal and written complaints from residents to the Village of Pemberton (VOP), combined with a water repair nobody wanted to pay for, put the local government in the position of demanding the property’s new owners remove the building.

“We’re under pressure from the VOP to remove the Clip Clop and The Pony,” said Greg Farquharson, vice-president of Windridge Properties. “It’s an eyesore and it doesn’t do us or the VOP any good. We’ve been told by the village to remove the Pony and repair a water line that’s leaking.”

The owner of the Clip Clop says that Windridge approached her a few weeks ago and gave her until February 2007 to find a new location. Soon after, she says was told that she would get a month’s notice. Late last week, she was told that the former Pony, which shares the damaged common water line with the barbershop, would be demolished within a week.

Farquharson says that February was only ever a suggested date.   He says that Windridge has tried to work with Johnston to find a suitable new location, going as far as to offer her a rent-to-own, dual-zoned condominium in Portage Station.

“We worked it so the rent wouldn’t exceed her present rent on her home and business. But she declined our offer,” he said.

Johnston says that while the idea was mentioned in passing, there was no follow-up by Windridge.

“Nobody came to show me the suite,” said Johnston. “It was just brought up once.”

She says that such a situation would have been unworkable.

“No one wants to ring a buzzer and have to go up to someone’s house to have their hair cut,” she said. “I cut everyone’s hair. I don’t want strangers in my home.”

As well, she points out she owns her own home in a nearby trailer park and is satisfied with that arrangement. She even went so far as to get consent from the park’s owner to move the building to that property. The proposal was turned down by the VOP, with village building inspector Richard Diamond saying the building was not up to code.

What puzzles Johnston is why the building had been in use for three years as a barbershop and for years before as an ice cream shop. Diamond declined to comment on the matter, referring it to VOP administrator Lori Pilon.

Pilon says the crux of the matter for VOP is the water system repair on the property. Neither the developer nor the village have an interest in repairing it.

“In part it’s a water conservation measure,” said Pilon. “Sprinkling is in effect. And we require that when there’s a problem with the water system that it’s fixed.”

The administrator also noted that the community currently has only one well. The decision to not proceed with the repair, but close off the line to the building and begin the site preparation was beneficial to both the VOP and Windridge.

“We asked the owner to repair the line. They determined that if they brought equipment in, it wouldn’t be worth it. They also had access to prefill — from the community centre — they decided to do a bigger job,” explained Pilon.

Economic feasibility played a large part in Windridge’s decision to move ahead to the pre-fill stage and not fix the leak.

Farquharson estimates that the repair to the line would be $2,000. He said Windridge would not pay for the repair as the company does not own the Clip Clop building. (The portable structure is owned by Mike Richman.) As well, investing more money into a building slated for removal within a few months didn’t make financial sense.

“We’re not heartless,” said Farquharson. “I’m concerned about Stacey because she’s a single mom, she needs to work and she has a viable business. I’ve talked to realtors to see how we can help her relocate. I’m certainly willing to do what I can to help Stacey move.”

Asked what her ideal outcome is, Johnston, who has two kids, says her ideal is simple: “I want to work and I want to be able to feed my kids.”

In order to do that the popular barber says she requires about 250 square feet and water at an in-town location to capture foot traffic. Many available spaces run close to $1,500 a month, an enormous jump in comparison to the $400 she currently pays. Additionally, Johnston says many available spaces are simply too big. Ideally, she’d like to share space with a compatible business.