Archibald's Wharf shed renews rancour over North Sydney land sale

A small wooden building on the North Sydney waterfront is the focus of more rancour related tothe sale of Archibald's Wharf.

The combined playground and greenspace was sold by the Cape Breton Regional Municipality to Canadian Maritime Engineering Inc. last year amid vocal protests from area residents.

The sale involvedseveral buildings, including a restaurant, an ice cream shop and a bandshell,but the shed situated in the parking lotwas not thought to be part of the deal.

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Dan Bunbury, the president of the Business Improvement and Development Association, told Mainstreet Cape Bretonthey considerit theirs.

"As far as we're concerned it is," he said."It's been used by the BIDA for at least two decades."

Bunburysaid the shedwas used for storage and as a visitor information centre.

The building is located behind CME's new fence and is up on blocks, about to be moved.Bunbury wants it back.

No claim during sale

He blames poor communication between his group, CME and the municipality for the situation.

"But of course," he said, "there wasn't alot of communication, the sale itself was arranged in secret, so I'm not surprised this has happened."

Bunburysaidfour tourist interpretation signs have also gone missing.

In an email, Christine Lamey of Mayor Cecil Clarke'soffice saidthe sale agreement was finalized in May 2015 and no effort was made at the time to claim ownership of the shed.

"Because the BIDA did not claim the building and the municipality decided to leave the building on the property as the sale progressed, the building is now part of CME's property," she said.

She saidif there are contents in the building, BIDA can contact CME to retrieve them.

"They also had a wide timeframe, almost a year, to remove any contents they wanted, as they indicated they had the keys," said Lamey.

Lamey saidattempts are being madeto locate the interpretive panels, which she believes are in storage.

CME referredinquiries to the municipality.