This house on Comanche Rd. in Mississauga is listed at more than $4 million and has been on sale since 2009. Mississauga’s heritage committee wanted to preserve it but council has reversed the committee’s decision.

SAN GREWAL/TORONTO STAR

One of Mississauga’s wealthiest residents successfully persuaded city council Wednesday to reverse a heritage committee decision that prevented him from demolishing his family’s home.

Harold Shipp, who runs one of the GTA’s biggest development companies, told council it was unfair to have his family home listed for a future heritage designation.

Shipp said the family has been trying to sell the south Mississauga property on the Credit River, now vacant, since 2009. When he learned that it had been listed for a heritage designation he felt that might have contributed to the troubles selling the house. He said a prospective buyer should be allowed to demolish it and rebuild.

“Yesterday, I appeared before the heritage advisory committee, only to be turned down,” he said, referring to a Tuesday meeting where the vote went 6-3 against permitting the house to be demolished. “This refusal is an unexpected end to what has been our commitment here.”

A staff report advised the home should indeed be preserved as a heritage site. Susan Burt, director of the city’s culture division, said the house, built around the time Mississauga was being formed as a city, has unique architectural features of the 1960s that qualify it for heritage protection, regardless of the property owner’s wishes.

But council voted 9-2 Wednesday to override the heritage committee’s decision.

Mayor Hazel McCallion, a close friend of Shipp, had earlier told council he should be inducted into the city’s new Legends Row, a “walk of fame” feature next to city hall being planned for a fall inauguration.

Councillor George Carlson, who disagreed with the council move, voiced frustration, suggesting it sets a bad precedent for other residents who also challenge their property’s heritage designation.

Such designations, Carlson pointed out, usually boost a property’s value.

Councillor Pat Mullin countered that there are many “dream homes” in the neighbourhood that includes the Shipp home, and where she herself lives. She questioned why other similar properties aren’t designated as heritage sites, too.