Municipality cracks down on derelict Cape Breton buildings

Cape Breton Regional council is cracking down on derelict buildings in the municipality, focusing on 10 of the most in need of demolition.

Jamie Gillis, with the CBRM’s building services, said demolition of the 10 most derelict of the 25 buildings that have been assessed so far could happen as early as next month.

Gillis said that 100 buildings have been flagged, but only 25 of those have been assessed.

"It would take some time to finish off the rest of the buildings or to do the assessments of all them and we felt that it was probably a good time to move ahead and take 10 from the list that we had developed," he said.

Thomas Kennedy, who has lived for 50 years in the Glace Bay neighbourhood with the highest concentration of derelict buildings, said he’s relieved the city is finally doing something about the structures.

"I think it's wonderful, I mean if you have vacant land and it's cleaned up, somebody will buy it and probably put a nice property on it. It'll put the value of our homes here in New Aberdeen up," he said.

The cost to demolish six of the top 10 properties will be covered by the CBRM. Who will pay for the other four is still being resolved.

Lana Guthro, who lives across the street from one of the homes, said she’s glad it’s coming down.

"Well we've been here for 17 years and it's about time, it’s an eyesore," said Guthro.

"Sometimes you're scared someone might set it on fire and there's a lot of cats over there and a couple of stray cats have been in the yard lately and I think they're coming from that house, so it'll be good to have it gone."

Gillis said it's impossible to know when all the buildings will be torn down.