Province winterizing Georgetown church to prevent further deterioration

An engineer has completed an assessment of the historic Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Georgetown, P.E.I., and it needs to be winterized.

Staff with the province received that report last week and are in the process of reviewing it, says StevenMyers, minister of transportation, infrastructure and energy.

"The top part of the steeple and stuff needs to be shored up a little for the winter, and there is some work down in the basement," Myers said.

"There is water coming in and that kind of stuff, but overall I'm told the building is in sturdy shape."

Myers said the winter work could cost around $20,000. After the community made a demandfor the building to be fixed or torn down, the provincial government made a commitment to preserve the historic church back in June.

I expect by the spring we will have a full plan ready to roll. Infrastructure Minister Steven Myers

Myers said he has always thought the church was beautiful and more should have been done to protect it.

He said there is quite a bit ofwork in "shoring the building up" for winter but the government is committed to doing it.

"We will be doing whatever is necessary based on the report we have received to make the building good and tight for the winter so there is no further deterioration," he said.

What to do with church?

Myers said government is working with a Georgetown community group and is asking people to think about what to do with the restored church.

"The last thing we want is to restore infrastructure and have a community operate it and have it not be profitable enough for them to pay their bills," Myers said.

The church is pretty much on the lawn of King's Playhouse, andMyers said that could help in decidingwhat to do with church.

"It is kind of a community operated operation there and they have been around for a lot of years and they've had a lot of success," he said.

"So, we can sort of lean on some of the people that are around that table to make sure we are not making mistakes," Myers said.

He said he expects someone to be on-site in September to prepare the building for winter.

Myers said the province has received letters from the municipality askingwhen work to restore the church will actually begin.

"We'll take the winter to plan and I expect by the spring we will have a full plan ready to roll,the money allocated to do the restoration," he said.

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