Sydney's library committee has found new locations, may have a partner
New Dawn Enterprises says the former Holy Angels site has potential
The committee hoping to raise money to build a new library in Sydney has a potential funding partner and has broadened its choice of location to five spots.
The library would replace the 56-year-old James McConnell Memorial Library in downtown Sydney, which has limited space and no air conditioning or elevator, despite an expansion in 1988.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which owns the building, hired a consultant last year to look at options for a new library.
The report by Trifos Design, DMA Planning Management Services and Breton Chartered Accountants created a short list of three sites: two on vacant land on the waterfront, and one a former department store that has since been taken off the list.
Where will the money come from?
The chair of the library building committee, Pat Bates, says three more sites have since been found, including the former Holy Angels High School property.
Bates says the committee has been approached by the property's owner, development agency New Dawn Enterprises, about a possible partnership.
He says a couple more sites on George Street are also now in the running; the vacant lot where the former UCCB pub once stood, and another that Bates wouldn't name.
New Dawn president Rankin McSween thinks the agency's former school property has great potential.
"There's a logic that's worth pursuing in terms of seeing that facility considered for a site like this."
Bates says the building committee's members will spend the summer meeting with government representatives to find out what funding's available and gage willingness to cost share.
"If it's a stand-alone project, then the costing will be different. A multi-partnership arrangement — that changes the operational costs, too."
Bates says the project has been on the go for the past six years and it's past time to find a way forward.