Relocation holds much promise
The dream of moving the Nova Scotia Community College Marconi Campus from, well, relative obscurity to downtown Sydney took a giant leap forward on Friday. It won’t happen overnight but, judging from the provincial government support on display for yesterday’s announcement, it is going to happen. That’s assuming, of course, the feds come aboard with cash from their Canada 150 fund or some reasonable facsimile.
If they do, the mother of all Cape Breton relocations might happen sooner than anyone imagined it could happen.
There is a process to go through, however, starting with the hiring of a consultant who, over the next 12-18 months, must determine the following to name a few: • identify current and future program opportunities for students
• identify potential uses for the current Marconi Campus once the new campus is built
• identify potential sites for the new campus in downtown Sydney
• identify proposed space and infrastructure requirements
• and, most importantly, determine the cost.
On the latter point, by the way, look for the total project to cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
As far as site selection is concerned, we’ve always liked the parcel of waterfront land on the Esplanade where the fire station stands south of Cambridge Suites. This was referred to when CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke pitched the idea to the provincial government two-and-a-half years ago. And to set the record straight the proposed move from its current location on the Sydney-Glace Bay Highway next to Cape Breton University dates at least to 2009 when former premier Rodney MacDonald said he wanted to see the NSCC campus move downtown.
What would it all mean?
Well, for starters, an estimated 2,000 more people would travel into the downtown core for about nine months of the year. Many will eat at nearby restaurants, use local services, shop at local stores, attend local plays, concerts and hockey games and require a
place to live.
The downtown campus will, as Premier Stephen McNeil, pointed out yesterday, “be an economic driver, bringing more energy to the downtown.”
In a perfect world, the new downtown campus is probably still about five years away from becoming a reality. It is, however, the latest positive announcment this year for a region which, as we all know, has more than its share of challenges (health care shortages, child poverty, high unemployment) to deal with.
Among the 2017 highlights are:
• final funding announcements for a second cruise ship berth
• $8.2-million worth of federal and provincial funding for the new Cape Breton Centre for Arts, Culture and Innovation
• CBRM council’s endorsement of a $10.5-million
plan presented by Ekistics Plan+Design to revitalize downtown Sydney
• positive developments regarding the proposed container terminal
• a wildly successful tourism season
• a winning bid to host the 2019 Scotties Tourna-- ment of Hearts
As mentioned before in this space, the Port of Sydney may hold the key to Cape Breton’s economic future. A waterfront campus is another positive move in that direction.