The 100-year-old home at the centre of an accessibility versus heritage debate will be renovated to accommodate Melissa Teehan.

Geoff Teehan bought the home at 204 Beech Ave. in January with the intention of making it wheelchair-friendly for his wife Melissa, who is a quadriplegic.

But some neighbors, valuing aesthetics over, you know, basic humanity, created a petition to have the house declared a heritage property, essentially stopping all renovation plans. And local councilor Sandra Bussin (who else?!) was there to support the movement.

Luckily, Bussin backed down yesterday after learning the Teehans had been issued a building permit on June 11. "I didn't feel I had a choice, in terms of the fact that this had been issued two weeks ago," Bussin said. "They bought the property in January, and they had a plan which the building department approved without any variances."

Nice to hear that a logistical snag, rather than a nagging conscious, moved her to withdraw.

Plans will resume to make 204 Beech Ave. accessible.