15 July 2007
Heritage Takes Back Seat to Cash in the Coffers in Kentville
Aerial view of the Kentville roundhouse
remains.
Kentville Nova Scotia - I am constantly amazed by the
lengths to which Kentville Mayor David Corkum was willing to go to rationalize the desecration of the town's historic Dominion Atlantic
Railway roundhouse - the last of its kind in Atlantic Canada - while his council stood obediently mute in the background.
As the wreckers destroyed the unique building, the mayor told Chronicle Herald reporter Ian Fairclough: "It's unfortunate
that we're getting a bad rap because this was the last roundhouse in Nova Scotia. There were a lot of others torn down before
this" (10 Jul 2007 story).
By that thinking one supposes it will soon be acceptable to be the man who shoots the last white rhinoceros, or skins the last panda
for a fur coat, because he was not the first to kill one of these endangered species!
This issue was about more than panda bears and rhinos - more than just a roundhouse. It was about attitudes towards heritage.
"You have to do what you have to do," Mayor Corkum told The Chronicle Herald. "Unfortunately, you can't please
everybody. That's part of the job. A lot of decisions make some people happy and make some people sad."
It wasn't the process of change to which the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society, the Roundhouse Action Group, Heritage Canada
Foundation, and Nova Scotia Heritage Trust were objecting.
It was the lack of public consultation offered by the council with the people who own the building - the taxpayers of the town - and
the complete disregard for any consideration of options for the building.
The mayor was told by two provincial cabinet ministers that funding could be available; all he had to do was ask for it, and
acknowledge that the roundhouse was a heritage property worthy of preserving. This was ignored.
Instead, the public was offered a series of contradictory statements from the mayor, who at one time suggested the building had to come
down to satisfy an agreement with a developer. The developer denied this.
Then he suggested in e-mails to those protesting the demolition that they might like to contribute financially to the
restoration of the building - but he offered no details on any restoration fund being established by the town.
He suggested at a public meeting that someone might want to buy the building "if they won a lottery." Yet no advertisement of
sale was ever proffered in case there was an investor interested in owning the building.
He told people the interior of the building was dangerous, that it was a place he would not dare enter without a hard hat. Yet when a
public tour was allowed, no hard hats were in evidence and none were needed.
Independent experts agreed that the building was in good condition considering its age and use.
The mayor also claimed the building was badly neglected. This appears to be an indictment of Great Valley Juices, the occupant of the
building up to November of last year, and yet expert opinion decries this claim. In fact, Great Valley Juices enabled the building to
survive several winters by keeping the building heated and the roofing intact.
The mayor claimed that interest in preserving the building should have been demonstrated 20 years ago, quite ignoring the fact that it
had been enshrined in the town's 2001 development plan and in a 1998 economic development plan, both of which his council has
repudiated with no explanation.
His actions are, however, typical of many municipal leaders in this province, who see heritage property simply in terms of its economic
value as a raw resource - land that might raise more tax revenue, adding cash to the coffers rather than adding to the quality of life
in the community.
There are six municipalities in this province that think so little of their heritage, they have yet to pass a heritage property bylaw.
Kentville is one of them.
Oddly, the town's website lauds its heritage, and points to three churches as proof of a commitment to that legacy.
But every community in Nova Scotia can boast having a church. Only one could claim to have the only roundhouse east of Montreal.
What a unique marketing proposition for a town that needs new industry.
Now all Kentville can tell people is that there is "nothing to see here, move along, move along!"
Jay Underwood - Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society.
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