Westville mayor says school redevelopment could be 'game changer' for town

Haley Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

The politician of Westville, N.S., is hoping the instauration of caller lodging successful a vacant schoolhouse tin assistance stimulate a development roar for the community.

The Pictou County town, with a colonisation of astir 3,800, recently agreed to merchantability the Highland Consolidated Middle School and some surrounding onshore to the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council for $1.

The schoolhouse closed successful 2014.  It volition beryllium renovated to make astir 64 apartments with a premix of studio, one, two and 3 bedrooms.

Mayor Lennie White said much radical person moved into the municipality successful caller years aft a play of small colonisation growth. There is present a large request for rental units, but their astir 140 existing apartments are full.

"The interaction of this peculiar improvement is going to beryllium precise significant," White said Thursday.

"We person had nary development, oregon precise small development, successful the past 30 years successful this town. We've been stagnant, and things are starting to happen."

The school, built successful the 1960s, reverted to the municipality erstwhile it closed. White said the municipality did primitively merchantability the tract to a developer, but that task fell done and the schoolhouse was returned to the municipality astir 2016.

White said the conditions of the statement ensured that the municipality did not person to walk immoderate wealth to bargain the schoolhouse backmost aft the task lapsed.

The Westville schoolhouse sat bare for a decade. Windows person been smashed and pigeons person taken up roost.

But Dianne Kelderman, Co-op Council president, said engineering and biology assessments amusement the gathering is sound. A common room successful the caller flat analyzable volition beryllium called the Pigeon Nest, a motion to the existent feathered residents.

The council, a non-profit, is the economical and societal improvement bureau for co-ops and recognition unions successful the province.

Kelderman said determination volition beryllium a premix of marketplace and affordable rents (both 30 per cent of income and 80 per cent of marketplace value), and a 100-seat daycare successful the property.

"We're not successful it to marque … a 20 per cent instrumentality connected investment. We're successful it for the mission, which is putting heads connected pillows," Kelderman said Thursday.

She besides said the astir $14-million dollar task includes a greenish extortion wherever tenants tin turn vegetables, different societal enterprises successful commercialized space, and a star farm.

"It's a precise breathtaking task for america due to the fact that it's large capable that we tin benignant of [envision] what kinds of things we'd similar to bash there," Kelderman said.

Kelderman said they volition beryllium approaching the state and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to assistance with costs.

Westville inactive has astir six hectares of onshore beside the school. A rezoning successful April allows the municipality to power what is yet built determination and determination developments on much quickly.

White said the municipality has already had inquiries from developers looking to physique residential projects connected the site. He is besides hopeful the caller semipermanent attraction installation for Westville, announced by the state successful 2023, volition beryllium built connected the land.

"Those 2 things unsocial volition beryllium crippled changers for the Town of Westville. I can't overstate that," White said.

"We person an accidental to make a caller municipality wrong our existing town. And having said that … we tin support that assemblage tone that we person present successful Westville."

White said helium hopes much residential improvement volition mean caller concern and commercialized improvement successful the town, which has immoderate vacant tons that are already serviced.

The schoolhouse renovation is expected to commencement wrong the adjacent fewer months. It volition instrumentality astir 2 years.