Cape Breton Regional Municipality to ask province for help with abandoned buildings after fire

A fire that destroyed an abandoned school in Glace Bay, N.S., has prompted conversations about what to do with derelict buildings.

Last Thursday’s fire at the long-abandoned Morrison High School in Glace Bay, N.S., threatened homes in the nearby area. Residents, firefighters and elected officials said the thought the fire was bound to happen.

“These are becoming an issue in the community,” said councillor Gordon MacDonald of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM).

On the Northside, which includes MacDonald’s District 1, a number of fires have been set at the former North Sydney post office. MacDonald estimates it would cost about $1 million to get rid of the building.

“And they’re left to cash-strapped municipalities like us who don’t have the resources to be able to tear them down because we don’t have the budget available for the high cost of doing it,” MacDonald said.

A spokesperson for CBRM told CTV Atlantic that abandoned buildings will be a significant item on the agenda at Tuesday evening’s council meeting and the municipality will likely ask the provincial government for help with the issue.

“I think the province should definitely sit down as part of negotiations with the CBRM and look at the issue”, said Derek Mombourquette, interim leader of Nova Scotia’s Liberal party and MLA for Sydney-Membertou.

Mombourquette said CBRM’s case might be unique because it has so many derelict buildings - roughly 400 of them.

“The sheer size of it compared to other municipalities around the province, I would argue it probably has a more significant case of this,” Mombourquette said.

MacDonald says they also have to consider buildings that aren’t empty yet but soon will be.

“We’re going to have the North Sydney hospital - the Northside General Hospital - coming up,” he said. “That’s going to be abandoned in the near future, and people have to start planning what is the next step for a building like that?”

Tuesday’s council meeting begins at 6 p.m.

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