Is it too late to save the roundhouse?

With the word that Kentville town council has approved the demolition of the old railway roundhouse on the Kentville futures site (a.k.a. the former CP Rail land), it seems there’s a movement afoot locally and beyond to try and save the historic landmark.

Jay Underwood, president of the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society, has written to Kentville Mayor Dave Corkum expressing the fact that their society’s 50-plus individual members are prepared to assist the town lobby the provincial and federal governments for assistance to save the building. The society believes the building is an ideal candidate for a heritage property designation as it’s the last roundhouse of its kind in Nova Scotia.

Locally, there is a group of concerned residents organizing to lobby town council to save the landmark structure. There seems to be a prevailing attitude among many concerned individuals that the town could create a tourism, heritage and cultural destination by restoring the roundhouse, something that could complement whatever development is planned on the remainder of the former rail land.

The roundhouse, which had been used by Great Valley Juices as a warehouse in recent years, has been vacated and council has approved a motion to demolish the structure this summer. As a basis for the decision, council considered that the cost to renovate the building to bring it up to the standard of a warehouse would be $1.5 million.

It would likely cost $250,000 for the demolition and clean-up of the roundhouse and an additional $175,000 to meet testing targets, monitor and prepare reports on the subject site.

Council felt it was more feasible to have the building removed and remediate the land for redevelopment. From a business viewpoint, if the town itself is to pay for whatever takes place in regard to the roundhouse, they probably made the right decision for its taxpayers.

However, it would be fair to ask what sort of effort was made to investigate and explore other options for funding a renovation of the historic building.

Another valid point is if the roundhouse were to be saved and preserved for cultural and heritage purposes, that should’ve been considered two decades ago when the rail era ended in Kentville.

Perhaps the cultural and heritage value wasn’t appreciated as much at the time. But why did council decide to tear it down before any sort of organized effort to save the structure was launched?

Although it would be wonderful to save what little remains of the town’s rail heritage, it appears the political will just isn’t there in regard to the roundhouse. It may be too late to do anything about the demolition, considering that council would have to rescind its original motion.

However, pressure from outside town limits to save the structure because of its far-reaching historical and cultural implications might help change councillors’ minds.

We should say, though, that the town owns the building. The onus is on the taxpayers to express the opinion that the building should be saved, if in fact that is the opinion of the majority.