CANNING, NS - With a brand new complex to house the fire department and village offices, the Village of Canning is working toward the sale of surplus property.
Canning village commission chairwoman Angela Cruickshank said ratepayers voted at the annual meeting in June to sell the old fire hall and the former village office building, which is located immediately across the street from the old fire hall on Highway 358. Both buildings were originally constructed in the 1800’s and were used for apple processing and warehousing.
Cruickshank said there is a legal process that the village commission must follow in order to sell the properties, including surveying and deed migration. Since it is owned by the village, it must be sold for whatever its fair market value is determined to be.
“That land is in a well protection zone, so there’s very limited use to that property,” Cruickshank said.
These limited uses include a fire station, a single family dwelling or use by the Canning Water Commission. Cruickshank said other levels of government must be given the right of first refusal to purchase the property before it is offered for sale to the general public.
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The services have been turned off but the village is currently using the old fire hall building for storage and Cruickshank said the Canning Fire Department has been using it for some training exercises.
The village commission hopes to have the properties on the market sometime this fall. Cruickshank said that just as there was a learning curve involved in getting the new Canning multi-complex built, there is a learning curve involved in divesting the old, surplus properties.
Ground was broken for the new Canning multi-complex, a $2.5 million project, in September 2016 and it officially opened about a year later.
Located on the 14.5 acre former Cornwallis District High School property on J. Jordan Road, the new multi-complex is accessible for people with mobility issues and includes a new fire station for the Canning Fire Department, Village of Canning administration offices, a community hall, boardroom, exercise room and a full kitchen.
The complex also houses a generator and will serve as an emergency community comfort centre in the event of an extended power outage, for example.
