As Jasper residents watched Parks Canada knock down the house at the corner of Poplar Avenue and Cabin Creek Drive last June, rumour had it at least one local family was interested in purchasing the home and moving it to another property.

The house was demolished and removed nearly 10 months ago, on June 13 of last year, and the property was divided into three lots and sold.

In an interview last summer, Barry Romanko, who was manager of municipal and realty services for Parks Canada at the time, said the main reason for demolishing the house instead of selling it was to allow the new lot owners to start building right away.

“It was timing, and an issue of wanting to make those lands available as soon as possible,” Romanko said. Now that three seasons have passed, an excavator has appeared on the lot, yet there doesn’t appear to be any hurry to get construction under way.

Because the house lacked heritage or historical value, Parks Canada decided the most expedient thing to do was to demolish it, Romanko said last summer.

He also said that selling the house would have been a lengthy process which would have included an appraisal and advertising. “We would have to have a certain timeline, then review the proposals as they came in and make a decision,” he said.

At least one Jasperite questioned the environmental impact of demolishing the house rather than reusing it in town. “There’s a lot of factors involved in assessing environmental impact,” Romanko said. “My question would be how do you do that type of assessment?”

He added that some materials from the home were salvaged, and that the house as it was could not have been moved directly to another property. “There would have to be significant changes,” he said. 

“Depending on the nature of the lot you’re putting it on, you couldn’t put it on the lot as it sits right now, it would have to be turned in some lots.”