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

The mayor of Westville, N.S., is hoping the creation of new housing in a vacant school can help stimulate a development boom for the community.

The Pictou County town, with a population of about 3,800, recently agreed to sell the Highland Consolidated Middle School and some surrounding land to the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council for $1.

The school closed in 2014.  It will be renovated to create about 64 apartments with a mix of studio, one, two and three bedrooms.

Mayor Lennie White said more people have moved into the town in recent years after a period of little population growth. There is now a big demand for rental units, but their roughly 140 existing apartments are full.

"The impact of this particular development is going to be very significant," White said Thursday.

"We have had no development, or very little development, in the past 30 years in this town. We've been stagnant, and things are starting to happen."

The school, built in the 1960s, reverted to the municipality when it closed. White said the municipality did originally sell the site to a developer, but that project fell through and the school was returned to the town around 2016.

White said the conditions of the agreement ensured that the municipality did not have to spend any money to buy the school back after the project lapsed.

The Westville school sat empty for a decade. Windows have been smashed and pigeons have taken up roost.

But Dianne Kelderman, Co-op Council president, said engineering and environmental assessments show the building is sound. A common room in the new apartment complex will be called the Pigeon Nest, a nod to the current feathered residents.

The council, a non-profit, is the economic and social development agency for co-ops and credit unions in the province.

Kelderman said there will be a mix of market and affordable rents (both 30 per cent of income and 80 per cent of market value), and a 100-seat daycare in the property.

"We're not in it to make … a 20 per cent return on investment. We're in it for the mission, which is putting heads on pillows," Kelderman said Thursday.

She also said the roughly $14-million project includes a green roof where tenants can grow vegetables, other social enterprises in commercial space, and a solar farm.

"It's a very exciting project for us because it's big enough that we can sort of [envision] what kinds of things we'd like to do there," Kelderman said.

Kelderman said they will be approaching the province and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to help with costs.

Westville still has about six hectares of land beside the school. A rezoning in April allows the municipality to control what is eventually built there and move developments along more quickly.

White said the town has already had inquiries from developers looking to build residential projects on the site. He is also hopeful the new long-term care facility for Westville, announced by the province in 2023, will be built on the land.

"Those two things alone will be game changers for the Town of Westville. I can't overstate that," White said.

"We have an opportunity to create a new town within our existing town. And having said that … we can maintain that community spirit that we have here in Westville."

White said he hopes more residential development will mean new business and commercial development in the town, which has some vacant lots that are already serviced.

The school renovation is expected to start within the next few months. It will take about two years.