Roundhouse demolition makes Heritage Canada Foundation's Worst Losses list

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Although it was demolished a year ago, the Kentville railway roundhouse is back in the news, having made the Heritage Canada Foundation’s 2008 Worst Losses list.

Coming in at number 10, the demolition of the Dominion Atlantic Railway Roundhouse was described by the foundation as “short-sighted.” The foundation states that town council approved the demolition of the province’s last roundhouse last year despite calls for delays to allow time to consider options that would integrate the structure into new development plans and pursue possible funding sources.

Heritage Canada Foundation executive director Natalie Bull sent a letter to Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison informing him of the listing and to request a meeting to discuss federal financial incentives that encourage rehabilitation of heritage buildings and legislation to protect heritage buildings owned by the federal government.

Brison said he looks forward to meeting with foundation representatives anytime. The meeting could take place within a couple weeks. “I believe the protection of heritage buildings and properties is important, but the cost to do so cannot be borne exclusively by the owner in many cases,” Brison said. “Municipalities cannot be expected to bear 100 per cent of the cost of preservation.”

He said there is a role for the federal government in helping to fund preservation, but programs need to be strengthened and better funded so a municipality or private property owner can access federal funding to help preserve historically important buildings. This would include greater investment in federally owned heritage buildings as well.

They’re entitled to their opinion: Corkum

Kentville Mayor Dave Corkum said the heritage foundation is allowed to have an opinion like anyone else, but the roundhouse has been gone for a year now and he sees no benefit to entering into a debate about a building that no longer exists. If it’s necessary to give the town a black eye with all the positive things going on in Kentville, it will have to be their call. “I’m more interested in being proactive and looking at what we can do and save in this town,” Corkum said. “There’s no sense going backward, and revisiting this is a backward step.”

He said there were many years that people could have come forward and taken action, but no one was prepared to come up with the necessary funding it would have taken to save the roundhouse. The town supports what it can afford in terms of heritage, including the Kings County Museum. “There are many reasons why council decided to tear it down, but it’s down,” Corkum said, pointing out that part of the basis for the decision was that a town consultant, environmental scientist Torgny Vigerstad, advised them that it wasn’t feasible to save the building and it represented a potential safety hazard.

Kings Historical Society President Maynard Stevens said he thinks the point was made when the roundhouse was being taken down that the society was saddened by the loss. “It’s sad to lose a heritage property,” he said. “Once it’s gone, it can never be replaced.”

Kings County Museum Curator Bria Stokesbury said they were sad to see it go and the situation addresses the fact that lots of built heritage in Kings County is being lost. “For someone in the heritage field, it’s not the type of top 10 list anyone wants to make,” Stokesbury said in regard to the Worst Losses list. “Heritage structures are still being lost at an alarming rate.”

She said this should call public attention to the fact that once built heritage is gone it’s gone, and there should be stronger legislation to protect it.

The Heritage Canada Foundation says Canada has lost 20 per cent of its historic buildings to demolition over the past 30 years.