‘Lovely box of red tape’: Cafe owners irked at building permit delays

The owners of a popular Wortley Village café demolished after a fire last spring are taking aim at city hall for what they call “red tape” in getting a permit to rebuild.

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Black Walnut Bakery Cafe made a jab Wednesday at London city hall on social media, voicing frustration at the lengthy process they say they’ve faced to get a building permit for their new café at 134 Wortley Rd.

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“We were praying for Christmas the City of London would pass our permit,” the cafe said in a post on Instagram Wednesday morning. “Instead, they gave us a lovely box of red tape wrapped up nicely in more red tape.”

The accompanying photo showed an idle mini excavator in the fenced-in hole where the foundation of the building once was.

The plan for the new bakery and cafe at the corner of Wortley Road and Craig Street, including some design drawings, was put to council’s planning committee in August, about four months after the popular Wortley Village landmark was destroyed by fire. The plans were approved by full council shortly after.

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The building permit application filed by Black Walnut on Nov. 18 remained “under review” as of Wednesday, city hall’s online portal shows. The plan calls for a two-storey, 650-square-meter (7,000-square-foot) commercial building with a basement, a project with an estimated construction value of $800,000. The bakery and cafe will occupy the basement and first floor with an apartment on the upper storey.

Black Walnut co-owner Mandy Etheridge declined further comment Wednesday.

In a statement, the city’s chief building official, Kyle Wilding, said the Ontario Building Code, and the building permit process, ensure that “stringent standards to protect occupants and the public” are met.

“We recognize the urgency of this file and have promptly undertaken initial reviews,” Wilding said in an email Wednesday. “We are awaiting additional information from the applicant to complete a full review in compliance with the Ontario Building Code.”

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The Wortley Village building, which dates back to 1878, was destroyed by an overnight fire on April 15, 2023, and torn down two days later. The fire was considered suspicious and damage was pegged at $2 million. Black Walnut’s owners, siblings Mandy and Ed Etheridge, immediately vowed to rebuild the café.

A 20-year-old man was charged with arson with disregard for life and harm causing damage to property. His next scheduled court appearance is in March.

Following the fire, Black Walnut was forced to refocus its business on its two remaining locations; its Richmond Row bakery and a satellite shop at Collip Circle, in Western University’s Research Park.

Black Walnut is not the first business to voice frustration over city hall building permit timelines. In the fall, the company behind a proposed Old South residential highrise launched a lawsuit against the city, seeking damages for alleged years-long delays in issuing a key permit. A shell permit – a type of permit that allows for mechanical and electrical rough-ins – has since been issued for the site.

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City hall has been working to recruit and retain staff in its planning and building departments as London works toward its provincially set goal of building 47,000 homes by 2031. The vacancy rate in city hall’s planning department is eight per cent, while the building department is running a vacancy rate of 16 per cent.

Last month, council approved $1.1 million in additional funding to bolster both divisions and prioritize office space improvements for the staff-deficient departments.

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