April 19, 2010

RYAN PFEIFFER/OSHAWA THIS WEEK

This former Hells Angels clubhouse was demolished after being forfeited to the Crown following an application by provincial legal officials.

FOCUS | Demolition & environmental engineering

Biker clubhouse demolition a ‘Hell’ of a job

PETER KENTER

correspondent

Sometimes a demolition is more than just a demolition. Case-in-point: a residence located at 487 Ortono Avenue in Oshawa, near Wilson Road South, within sight of Highway 401, razed on March 30 of this year.

Over the years, the building has been invested with different meaning by different parties.

The building had served as a motorcycle clubhouse for almost 25 years. It was originally owned by members of the Satan’s Choice motorcycle club and then became the property of the Oshawa Hells Angels.

For Priestly Demolition Inc. of Aurora, the contract was a small one — a $19,000 residential demolition and cleanup.

“It was nothing special to us,” says John Phillips, vice-president of operations with Priestly.

“It doesn’t make any difference to us if the front door says Hells Angels or Girl Guides. The Ministry of the Attorney General asked us for a quote a year ago and recently asked us to get the job done quickly to finish the contract before their financial year-end, which is March 31.”

Phillips says the first day on the job was unusual only because of community interest. “We had the press, 30 police cars and a police helicopter overhead,” he says.

RYAN PFEIFFER/OSHAWA THIS WEEK

Police officers were among the onlookers when a former Hells Angels clubhouse in Oshawa, Ont. was demolished on March 30. A crowd of civilians, as well as a helicopter, were also there to observe the demo job by Priestly Demolition of Aurora, Ont.

For members of the Durham Regional Police Service who observed the demolition, the building stood as a symbol of defiance to authority.

“This really is a symbol of criminal activity and organized crime, basically snubbing their nose at the community and saying ‘we’re here and we’re not going anywhere and you can’t make us go anywhere,’ and now they’re gone,” Durham Regional Police Service Chief Mike Ewles told Oshawa This Week.

For Oshawa Mayor John Gray, the razing of the clubhouse was an answer to his long-standing request to have the structure demolished.

Some citizens of Oshawa said they were relieved to see the house torn down, while residents of a house next door told local media that the owners had been good neighbours.

For the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, the demolition represented the success of the province’s Civil Remedies Act.

The property was seized by the Province in 2006 under the Act. A civil court order was obtained on September 26, 2006, to temporarily take control of the property that was, according to the Ministry “among other things, allegedly used to sell alcohol illegally.”

The Act allows the province to seize such properties and assets, and if allegations are proved, to dispose of them and then to distribute the proceeds to victims of crime, or to fund law enforcement activities.

In an order written by Ontario Superior Court Justice Donald Ferguson on September 2, 2008, the property was forfeited to the Crown “... as an instrument of unlawful activity, it being a Hells Angels Motorcycle Club clubhouse.”

Why was the house demolished, and not simply sold as-is?

“Biker clubhouses often have fortifications and are built in a manner not consistent with the building code or city by-laws,” says Brendan Crawley, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office. “Demolition of clubhouses and disposition of the vacant land occurs when the cost of remediation outweighs the possible return, where there are safety concerns, or where it’s deemed in the public interest to do so.”

In the presentation of its case, the Crown alleged that the building was “... fortified to deter and slow the entry of police during the execution of search warrants.”

“The front door and frame was made of heavy steel plate, like the hull of a ship,” says Dave Selby, a spokesperson for the Durham Regional Police.

Photos of the property show that a small window in the building’s front door was also reinforced with steel rebar and that the front of the property was surrounded by a chain-link fence.

Was it a clubhouse, or a fortress that was being razed? Even on simple questions like this, observations differ.

Priestly Demolition’s Phillips notes that the perimeter of the back yard was surrounded by a plate steel fence. “The house had a heavy steel door,” he says. “Other than that it was just a house.”

Rick Ciarniello, a spokesperson for the Hells Angels in Vancouver, says that member clubhouses are often fortified to some degree for the sake of privacy.

“Hells Angels’ clubhouses usually have fences and security cameras,” he says. “Typically, not more than businesses and some private homes.

“The purpose of these ‘fortifications’ is to keep out the curious and unwanted intruders, some of (whom) make ridiculous and outrageous requests of us. We are, for the most part, private people and would like to be left alone. Law enforcement would have the public believe these clubhouse ‘security measures’ are there to keep them out. Law enforcement can enter Hells Angels’ clubhouses with a piece of paper. It is called a search warrant.

“All they need is a ‘legal’ reason to enter and we will open the doors to them.”

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