The old post office building in North Sydney, N.S., is a poster child of sorts for the hundreds of derelict buildings in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Another abandoned eyesore stands directly across from City Hall on the esplanade in Sydney.
“We have glass coming onto the road,” said Councillor Earlene MacMullin about the former post office on Archibald Avenue.
“There’s a business behind it. People get upstairs and they start throwing objects out the windows, damaging equipment from the local business. We’ve had it catch on fire.”
MacMullin wants the boarded-up buildings torn down, but said ownership issues often prevent that from happening.
“Unfortunately, with buildings like the old North Sydney post office, nobody seems to do anything with it no matter how many times it changes hands”, MacMullin said.
City staff - along with mayor and council - are working on an updated inventory of problem structures. The municipality said there could be penalties for owners who fail to make their properties safe.
“So right now, what we’re trying to do with our fire department and our buildings department is really work with property owners to ensure that they understand what the building code requirements are”, said Jenna MacQueen of CBRM Communications. “Start with education. We do have the ability to issue fines.”
MacMullin said even if the municipality had ownership of all the buildings it wanted to get rid of - the cost of all that demolition would be beyond their means.
“An audit was requested,” MacMullin said. “So I’m hoping when that audit is complete, the province is going to understand our limitations and what our challenges are.”
MacMullin said the former North Sydney post office space could be used for housing.
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