Parking issue must be resolved before renovated Sydney church can open, says CBRM

An empty 140-year-old church in Sydney's historic North End neighbourhood is set to reopen as a business and entertainment venue, but first the property has to go through a public hearing on parking.

Under the Cape Breton Regional Municipality's planning rules, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church — a municipal heritage property on George Street — must have 80 on-site parking spots, which it does not have.

Owner and developer Kevin Colford said if the COVID-19 pandemic had not intervened, the building likely would have received provincial heritage status and his new business would be open by now.

"With [provincial designation] you're exempt from parking and you're exempt from a development agreement with CBRM and that was the original vision," he said during a tour of the facility Wednesday.

Colford said provincial authorities visited the site last year, but have not been able to meet or make a decision since then because of the pandemic.

He said officials told him it could be a year or more before provincial heritage designations get back on track, so he went to the municipality for a permit to open.

The plan is to hold business meetings and wedding receptions, as well as host fine dining and dinner theatre events in the former church.

Colford said CBRM officials have mostly been supportive, but a planning strategy and land-use bylaw have a parking requirement that he can't meet without paving the entire grounds of the church.

The developer, who bought the old St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Sydney's nearby downtown and turned it into the Highland Arts Theatre, said he has done cosmetic and functional renovations inside Sacred Heart, but no structural work because of the building's heritage status.

According to archdiocese records and news reports, the church was first built in 1872, but burned down four years later and was rebuilt shortly after that.

The Sacred Heart church was designated a municipal heritage property in 2005 and its last mass was held in 2014.

The Catholic archdiocese closed it along with five other churches in the area due to dwindling congregations, lack of priests and struggling finances exacerbated by a $16-million class-action settlement in 2012 over historic sexual abuse by priests.

Over the last two years, Colford has converted the vestry into a preparation area for caterers and the priests' room has been made into a green room for entertainers.

The pews have been removed in the main area, the altar has been enlarged to hold bands, and the balcony is being renovated to create private rooms and dining areas.

The church's pipe organ has been refurbished and moved to make more room upstairs, but all of the stained-glass windows remain.

After Colford applied for a development permit, CBRM hosted a public survey and found that most people don't have a concern with parking in the North End, including those who live in the neighbourhood.

The survey got 426 responses, with 58 of those from the North End. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents said parking is not a problem. Of those who live or work in the North End, 40 of the 58 — or 69 per cent — said parking is not an issue.

Public hearing on parking Feb. 23

On Tuesday, council voted to hold a public hearing on Feb. 23 into a proposed text amendment to the planning rules that would waive lot development, site plan approval and parking requirements for former community and educational service buildings that are already registered heritage properties.

If the amendment passes, the rule would only apply to the Sacred Heart church and St. George's Anglican Church on nearby Charlotte Street, which was built in 1785.

Because public hearings cannot be held in person due to the pandemic, CBRM said anyone who wants to comment on the development can call 902-563-5072 and leave a voicemail or email planningconsult@cbrm.ns.ca by 3 p.m. AT on Friday, Feb. 19.

Colford said parking should not be a problem. The church at one time had 1,200 parishioners and held several masses every weekend, he said.

Parking can be a challenge on neighbourhood streets on weekdays when people are at work in nearby downtown offices, but parking is otherwise easy to find, Colford said.

"When I look in the evenings and when I look down George Street on the weekends, it's mostly bare," he said.

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