Revitalization plan moves forward
Draft to be released to public at June 27 meeting
A draft of the revitalization plan for Glace Bay and surrounding communities will be revealed during an upcoming meeting.
The session will take place at the Glace Bay fire hall on Tuesday, June 27 from 7-9 p.m.
“It will be a complete plan but a complete plan in draft form,” said Eileen Lannon-Oldford, CEO of Business Cape Breton.
“We encourage people to come out to the presentation of the final draft plan and to offer their input and comments.”
Oldford said it is important to present the plan in draft form to accommodate changes before the final document is prepared.
“What they are going to get at this meeting is the whole framework of the plan — the blueprint — in draft form so we can get input and feedback.”
She said the draft plan includes a report of the findings, identifies the projects, details design work and how it can be accomplished.
Lannon-Oldford said when recommendations are made and projects prioritized then it will have to be determined who will lead each of the various projects.
“There will be a suggestion in the plan of who has the mandate to do that. If it’s a community project you have to look at what community group could take it on and if they have the capacity.
“With some of these recommendations you would have to do proposals and applications to various government programs.”
A final document of the plan is scheduled to be presented to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality during a regular council meeting in Eskasoni on July 18.
Business Cape Breton, in partnership with the regional municipality and the provincial government, was commissioned to promote a revitalization plan for Glace Bay, Reserve Mines and Dominion.
The province committed $225,000 to cover costs to develop and implement the plan.
Business Cape Breton retained Ekistics Plan+Design to lead the process.
So far there have been two public workshops, an online survey and a number of individual and group interviews as part of the community engagement. More than 170 surveys were completed between April 12-26.