Abandoned commercial buildings create pricey headaches for local government in Cape Breton

Vacant and derelict commercial buildings continue to be a problem in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, says a local councillor, but dealing with themis not simple.

Coun. Earlene MacMullin says she receives numerous complaints about graffiti-covered and boarded up buildings that are also used bypeople looking for shelter and teens looking for a hang out.

"My biggest concern is the health and safety of the people that are getting inside," said MacMullin, whose district covers a great portion of downtown North Sydney.

The former Canada Post office on Archibald Avenue in particular iscausing a stir among residents. MacMullin said the structure is close to nearby shops and hassigns warning of possible contamination.

"It's in the heart of our town," she said. "You can't miss it. It's directly across the street from our local legion. Its windows are smashed, there's paint all over it, there's biohazard signs due to asbestos inside."

There are roughly 400 vacant buildings in the CBRM, about10 per cent of which are former commercial offices. For years, CBRM has been trying to reduce the number of its abandoned homes by demolishing more than a dozen buildings a year.

Most of the buildings that are razed are single-home dwellings or duplexes, which cost about $10,000 each to demolish. Tearing down a commercial building usually begins around $300,000 due to the complexities of disposing of debris and hazardous materials, said Paul Burt, CBRM's manager of building, planning and licensing.

"Commercial buildings, we don't deal with as many of them because they're typically bigger, a lot more expensive and they have a lot more hazards to deal with," said Burt.

"That just means that we end up, I'll use the term babysitting these larger buildings for a while until the owner can deal with them either through a sale or demolition."

That meansworkingwith property owners to keep the buildings secure. And when an owner does not comply, municipal staff will board up the building and send them the bill.

Among the buildings Burt often hears complaints about is a former office space near a local shopping district, which he described as a "very notorious derelict and unsightly building in Sydney's downtown."

Burt said that the owner has been working to refurbish the Dorchester Street building for a couple of years now.

In total, CBRM receives roughly 700 property complaints a year related to problems at vacant homes. Burt said properties usually draw the ire of residents for being dangerous, unsightly or full of garbage.

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