Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

Opinions had been split about the Community Centre project. Some, including
a majority of Town Council, have always been less than enthusiastic:
believing the project not viable financially.
On left, July, 2000 Town Council Proposal to amend by-laws to allow Commercial
and Light Industrial of Old School property.
A public information meeting and a public hearing meeting were called for
August 1st & 8th respectively.
The list of potential uses the Council and its planning advisory committee
[PAC] had in mind included tourist establishments, offices, studios and galleries,
theatres, craft workshops and restaurants, health services and information
technology services as well as light industry and industrial workshops.
Mayor Virginia Uhlman said PAC included a wide variety of potential uses
because it didn’t want to create too many restrictions. However, public pressure-concerned
about noise, odour, pollution and traffic- led the council to
agree on more restrictive changes.
Councillor Chris Heide fought a battle on the Old School issue. He was one
who was committed, unreservedly, to preserving the cultural heritage of the
building both as an historical structure and as a community centre for education
and artistic, cultural and social benefits.
Some councillors were implacably opposed to a heritage project, seeing it as
a fiscal risk and unprofitable. Others wavered.
In the end there was to be no option. The Mahone Bay Centre Society was
the only group that made a proposal worth pursuing.
By October, The Mahone Bay Centre Society had been formed and, supported
by a Youth action team, made a major presentation to both a public meeting
and Council. ‘The Society wants a chance to prove the plan they’ve developed
for the old school can work,’ reported The Bulletin and the Progress Enterprise,
October 25, 2000.
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