Eastern Cape Breton Development Group Seeks Strait Area Participation

ST. PETER'S - Municipal council discussions involving developments along Cape Breton's eastern coast are front and centre in this week's edition of Roundtable, which spotlights two conversations from the latest edition of Richmond County's Committee of the Whole on March 7. 

At 1:40 we hear from Gene Kersey and Tim Menke, the Gabarus-based representatives of the Arc of the Coast Cooperative Alliance. Designed to stimulate economic growth, community development and tourism opportunities along Cape Breton's eastern coast, from Glace Bay to Port Hawkesbury, the group set up shop in 2017 under a group of community leaders that originally included Mike Kelloway, who is now the Member of Parliament for Cape Breton-Canso.

According to Menke, RIchmond County has been on the Arc of the Coast radar since the early days, and one of its first endeavours was to work with the communities of Forchu, Framboise and Grand River on improving wireless and phone service in these portions of northeastern Richmond County. Five years later, the alliance is now reaching out to Richmond County and the Town of Port Hawkesbury in the hopes of striking face-to-face meetings to develop its plans for these areas in the weeks and months to come. 

The scene shifts to the Village of St. Peter's at 16:31, as Richmond Municipal Council examines the possibilities for providing funding to a community cooperative hoping to set up a fitness center at the former home of the village's Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation outlet on Grenville Street. Also targeted to house the St. Peter's branch of the Eastern Counties Regional Library and the Visitor Information Centre currently serving tourists in the area, the former NSLC structure is the focus of a pitch of $10,000 in municipal funds from the Village Fitness Community Co-op Limited. 

In addition to $5,250 provided by council's general grant funding, several councillors agreed to donate funds from their individual district budgets. These included $500 from Shawn Samson's District One, $750 from Michael Diggdon's District Two, $2,000 from Deputy Warden Melanie Sampson's District Three, and $1,500 from Warden Amanda Mombourquette's District Four, which includes the Village of St. Peter's.