Affordable Housing Tops Agenda As Municipal Affairs Minister Meets With Strait Area Councils

ARICHAT - An interview with Nova Scotia's Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, John Lohr, highlights a new edition of TELILE 24/7 that puts the focus on affordable housing in its first half but also tackles a variety of other issues currently facing Richmond Municipal Council. 

The interview with Lohr is prefaced at 2:15 by this past Monday's discussion at Richmond council's last regular monthly meeting of 2021, which was designed to include a discussion and decision on the fate of the former West Richmond Education Centre school building in Evanston. Long-discussed by council as a potential hub for affordable housing, and also pitched by a local physician-recruitment group as a potential cog in their strategy given the former school's proximity to Evanston's Strait-Richmond Hospital, the building was recently the topic of a pitch to the municipality by a coalition of local organizations that include a key backer of Cape Breton affordable housing developments. Although District Five councillor Brent Sampson pushed for an immediate Request For Proposals (RFP) to be issued by the county for the building, other councillors voted in favour of referring the matter to the Eastern District Planning Commission (EDPC) and council's own Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) to see if any zoning measures are possible to ensure that the building be used for council's desired purposes. 

Minister Lohr joins the proceedings at 10:54 for a frank conversation with TELILE 24/7 host Adam Cooke. In addition to the West Richmond Education Centre situation, the minister discusses his recent sit-down meetings with Richmond Municipal Council and Port Hawkesbury Town Council, and expresses hope that his office can work collaboratively on affordable housing with both municipalities, despite his recent reversal of a Port Hawkesbury zoning decision that would have seen land described as unusable for residential dwellings being converted into green space. 

Also discussed this week at Richmond Municipal Council and featured on this episode of TELILE 24/7:

29:33 - Can a group that was unable to launch an affordable-housing plan for Arichat earlier this year gain new traction for another part of the community that would allow the organization to connect to municipal water and sewer lines?

33:52 - Should Richmond set aside funds to help medical students who wish to pursue their careers in Richmond County continue their university training? 

40:30 - The fallout continues from an information protest held in two Richmond County communities last month by members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) who are concerned about the working conditions in Nova Scotia's long-term-care facilities. 

45:44 - District One councillor Shawn Samson seeks clarification on the exemptions Richmond officials have provided for their municipal employees within the county's new COVID-19 vaccination policy, which is set to take effect in January. 

49:16 - Richmond council will ask the Municipality of the County of Pictou how it handles the collection of fire protection rates to its various communities as Richmond tries to determine whether it should charge a single fire rate to all of its taxpayers. As well, Richmond tries to bring forth a new dry hydrant policy in response to concerns expressed by local volunteer firefighters. 

53:16 - And, on a slightly lighter note, District Five councillor Brent Sampson once again recaps the events of the past year in his Richmond council-themed rewrite of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas."