New public prosecution office under construction
Construction of a new public prosecution building is taking place near the roundabout in Pictou.
Chris Hansen, communications director with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, confirmed Monday that a new office building for the public prosecution is being built in Pictou and it will include office space for the area’s three Crown attorneys and staff.
“The Crown office is now in a New Glasgow strip mall and the lease is due,” she said. “The court is in another town and it is smarter to have office space near the court to save on travel time.”
She said since the building is newly constructed, it will be built to accommodate the needs of the public prosecution service. It will include stand-alone offices for the three full-time Crown attorneys as well as space to accommodate per diem Crown attorneys. It will also have an interview room and meeting room. There are no plans to increase the number of Crown attorneys in the area on a full-time basis.
Victim Services, which is operated by the Department of Justice, will share the building with public prosecutions. The new building is expected to be completed in October.
Hansen said the province currently has 18 Crown offices and the majority of them are located in courthouses or near them. Court was held in New Glasgow and Pictou in the past, but the last number of years, provincial, family, small claims, probate and supreme courts have been housed out of the Pictou Justice Centre.
Pictou Mayor Jim Ryan said Crown building is being built on land owned by Parsons Investments, not the town, but it does own land in front of the construction site known as Lot C.
He said Parsons Investments is currently in negotiations with the town to purchase Lot C as well. Parsons Investments also owns the land and building that houses Emergency Health Services. Ryan said taxes will be paid on the Crown building, just as they are for EHS, by Parsons Investments.