Flood-damaged homes to be demolished
Former residents return to old neighbourhood for one last look around
The Sydney neighbourhood hit hardest by last year’s Thanksgiving Day floods is getting a makeover.
Thirteen houses and one apartment building are set to be demolished in the south end community that has already lost the building that housed the former Woodill Junior High School (later to be the Southend Community Centre) and three other residences to the wrecking ball. Two other homes, including a duplex, in Glace Bay are also on the list to be razed.
On Monday, some of the former owners and residents of the condemned houses wandered by their old neighbourhood to see if the demolition had begun.
Ronnie Mader, who spent 60 of his 69 years residing on Hillview Street across from the former Woodill school, said he accepts that the majority of the houses in his immediate area have to be taken down.
“It’s going to go, there’s no fixing it up and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” said Mader, who was evacuated by canoe on the day of the flood.
“This is 60 years of my life and there are a lot of memories, mostly good memories — I’m sad, but at the same time I’m glad it didn’t happen when my mom was there, (my parents) would be turning over in their graves if they could see what happened.”
Around the corner, Wayne Martin stopped by his former residence on Royal Avenue.
“I wasn’t in it that long myself, but it’s the house my wife grew up in,” said Martin.
“It was their family home, it was a beautiful little place, I always liked it, it had a beautiful fireplace and when we finally had a chance to buy it I was very happy.”
But the joy didn’t last long. After the purchase the Martins completely renovated the house and lived in it for a short time. Then came the flood.
“I know my wife and her family will be sad to see it go, but it’s time to move on — it’s closure for me,” he said. “It took a long time to get things sorted, we had to rent furniture, the only problem I had was the time it took to do it all.
Following the flood, many of the homes in the low-lying areas of St. Peter’s Road, Royal Avenue, Hillview Street, and Cabot Street were declared uninhabitable and placed under a “no occupancy” order. The province ended up purchasing a number of the uninhabitable homes as part of its disaster assistance program.
According to Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette, who is also the MLA for Sydney-Whitney Pier, representatives from the province’s department of transportation and infrastructure renewal spent last week informing neighbourhood residents of the planned demolitions.
“They’ve been distributing information to area residents to let them know the work is happening and to give them contact numbers in case they have any questions,” said Mombourquette, who added that provincial officials met Monday with B. Curry and Sons Construction, the Sydney-based company contracted for the $560,000 job.
“They’re mapping out a demolition plan — the demolition and remediation will start this week and will flow to the end of October.”
Mombourquette said work on clearing the affected properties can proceed now because all the former homeowners have come to terms with either the province’s disaster financial assistance program or their insurance companies.
“That was very important — it’s been a very long process as people were dealing with total loss, but now we’re moving into the next phase,” he said.
However, what will happen with the properties after the structures are demolished and the land remediated is still up in the air.
Mombourquette said the province, as property owners, and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, as the zoning regulatory body, have yet to begin the dialogue on the future of the lots still home to the derelict houses.