Kitten Mill Meeting – After The Meeting

The building and property is currently privately owned. The owner is using the cement-block additions to store landscaping equipment and has no future plans for the building.

An inspection by an engineer who specializes in heritage restoration (brought in by the volunteer group, with the owners consent) has confirmed that the stone walls of the original building are structurally sound. However, the roof has sustained significant damage, and in the engineer’s professional opinion the building must be tarped before winter or the viability of the walls could be compromised – possibly beyond the point of restoration. So sealing the building from the elements is a critical near-term goal.

At this time there is no sense of what it would cost to remediate the site – short-term or long-term. However, there is no intention of seeking Township funds for the project. The volunteer group has been advised by consultants in heritage restoration that heritage funds from private foundations and senior levels of government are available. The critical factor is the community’s development of a good proposal for restoration of the original building and re-use of the site.

Issues such as water and sewage and environmental remediation — and others — will surface should the project advance, but the volunteers stressed that not enough is known about those issues at this time to permit a fruitful discussion of them. If an option is granted, an exploration of all potential costs and funding sources will be undertaken.

IMPORTANT: The volunteer group made it clear that proceeding with any plan is contingent on the current owner providing an option on the site to the community non-profit. Discussions about an option are underway with the owner, but it must be clearly understood that at this point, those discussions remain ongoing. If the discussions are successful, the group commits to having the site professionally protected from the elements and researching both the costs and opportunities that owning the property would encompass.

If an option is obtained, the volunteer group will proceed with the incorporation of a non-profit community Board: The Lanark Heritage Preservation Society. The creation of an incorporated non-profit entity opens up potential funding sources, including Federal, Provincial and private foundation grants and loans.

Examples of successful community-driven initiatives were presented, and selected ‘clips’ were played from a video about a community restoration effort in Annapolis Royal, NS. You can watch the whole video on-line at https://youtu.be/OrABIJhdMck

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK AND BLUE-SKY THINKING ABOUT FUTURE USES FOR THE SITE: