Parish hopes former Springhill church could be redeveloped for affordable housing

A former Springhill church could be unregistered as a municipal heritage property in hopes it would allow for the building to be redeveloped for affordable housing.

In April, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth decommissioned St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

The parish now hopes a developer can breathe new life into the building. 

"It needs somebody to adopt it and to be able to put heat in it," said parishioner Gail Murphy, who represents Springhill on the Cumberland County All Saints Parish finance committee.

All Saints Parish has applied to the Municipality of Cumberland to remove the heritage status obtained in 1995.

Building needs repairs

The application on behalf of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Halifax, the building's owner, says the small congregation is not able to maintain the building, which is in need of roof and foundation repair. 

"We need to sell it while it is still in the condition that it can be preserved," she said. 

A potential buyer would like to develop part of the building into affordable housing, according to the application.

Murphy said the removal of heritage designation would make renovating the building easier. It would encourage buyers and potentially save it from the wrecking ball, she said.

"If we don't soon do something with the building, then it may be that … the Archdiocese will decide that the only thing that could happen with the building is that it will be demolished," she said.

Mary Willa Littler, a local historian who is also a member of the parish, called the current situation "heartbreaking."

Parish numbers declining

Littler said St. John the Baptist could house up to 200 people, but the local parish has declined to just over a dozen people worshiping every Sunday. 

"It is a very unique building because it's built of fieldstone," said Littler. "The coal company had a quarry and these fieldstones were extracted." 

The coal mine manager approved the donation of fieldstone to the church during construction in the 1890s, according to Littler. 

Littler said the building also hosted funerals for Catholic coal miners who died in Springhill coal mining disasters in 1956 and 1958.

Municipal council has scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 20 on removing the heritage designation from the former church.

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