North York ‘eyesore’ destroyed by fire
As neighbours watched a North York house burn to the ground early Saturday, they were not sad to see it go.
It was a property — under construction and unoccupied — that Goodwill Ave. residents had been fighting for years. Neighbours Al and Nancy Jacobs called it an eyesore, a safety hazard.
When they moved in, their home faced a beautiful little park where they could take their dogs for walk.
In the last 10 years, they looked out at what they described as an ugly building project that never seemed to get anywhere.
Four lots on the corner of Goodwill Ave. and Wilson Heights Blvd. acquired by Nathan Chang between 2001 and 2004.
“We’ve had a lot of problems over the years with this gentleman,” Nancy Jacobs said of Chang. She said his building plans were inconsistent, construction was sporadic and unsafe. Permit applications were tied up in court.
In the wee hours of Saturday, she and her husband woke to a series of explosions. As they watched the blaze across the street, she said “the window was so hot the blinds were starting to warp.”
Concerned about flying sparks and debris, police led the elderly couple to a parked TTC bus up the street until the fire was put out a few hours later, around 7 a.m.
