SYDNEY ? Cape Breton Regional Municipality council moved ahead with a somewhat controversial municipal heritage designation for the former St. Joseph?s Church in Lingan.
The property is still owned by the Diocese of Antigonish, and in correspondence dating back to 2010, Bishop Brian Dunn said all properties of the diocese were needed ?as security for the required payments? of the $18-million class-action lawsuit of victims alleging sexual abuse by priests dating back to 1950.
In the letter, Dunn said a heritage designation would possibly ?restrict? a property?s usefulness in the case of liquidating assets.
The diocese had pledged to revisit the situation this year, but the Cape Breton Regional Municipality had not been able to make contact with the bishop by phone or email for several months, CBRM heritage planner Rick McCready told council? Tuesday evening.
However, McCready said he received an email from the bishop shortly after the issue paper was prepared for council indicating the diocese still opposes the heritage designation.
?My anticipation was that we were, at some point, going to get an OK from the bishop,? he said. ?At any rate, I do still feel the property should be registered and I?m sticking with my recommendation. This is a bit of an unusual case.?
The CBRM has the support of the Lingan Historical Society to have it designated a municipal heritage property, said McCready.
The society is hoping to have the property registered in time to hold a ceremony that would coincide with summer events to celebrate New Waterford?s 100th anniversary.
He said while it?s been past practice to ensure the property owner is onside with the heritage designation, the provincial Heritage Property Act states that doesn?t necessarily need to be the case.
?I did score the property on the criteria that we use and it does actually score quite high. There?s no question it has a lot of heritage value and warrants being registered,? McCready said.
St. Joseph?s Church passed first reading Tuesday, but isn?t expected back for second and final reading until August.
The Post was unsuccessful in attempting to reach a spokesperson from the diocese for comment Tuesday night.
Two other properties passed first reading of the heritage designation process with little debate.
The Red Row housing complex on Main Street in Sydney Mines and the Polish Village Hall on Victoria Road in Whitney Pier both have considerable community support for the heritage designations.
A letter will be sent to each property owner detailing what municipal heritage designation means, and when it will return to council for second and final reading.
cshannon@cbpost.com
us map Electoral Map concede Obama Acceptance Speech Prop 30 Election 2012 Michigan Election Results
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.