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Cape Breton Regional Municipality is hiring a port consultant to help figure out how much CBRM’s undeveloped greenfield site is worth.
Councillors are hoping the public property in Sydney harbour will be attractive now that Nova Scotia has prequalified companies for its proposed offshore wind industry, which includes one site targeted for turbines in the ocean just off Cape Breton.
Neither municipal staff nor Mayor Cecil Clarke would provide an interview, so it’s not clear what that consultant will cost or exactly what they will provide.
But Coun. Steven MacNeil said CBRM needs to know what it can reasonably expect to get for its land.
“Council’s job is to make sure the opportunity is matched by a fair and transparent process, and I think we’re on the right path for that and hopefully it leads to success in terms of development,” he said.
“I think we’re doing the right thing now, making sure we have the expertise next to us to make a good decision.”
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There is some pressure to show potential offshore wind developers that CBRM’s port is open for business and what it has to offer, but there is also pressure to make sure the municipality gets a good deal, MacNeil said.
“This is a very incredibly important process for us and we want to get it right, so sometimes it takes a little bit more time to make sure that happens.”
Over the last decade, Sydney Harbour Investment Partners — also known as SHIP — had an untendered exclusive contract to try to attract a container terminal to CBRM’s large empty water lot known as the greenfield site, but the company has been unsuccessful.
Several years ago, SHIP officials created a new company called Novaporte and said they intended to put the container terminal on hold while pursuing opportunities in offshore wind marshalling. They were also unsuccessful at that, and a private company across the harbour, Atlantic Canada Bulk Terminal, started receiving and shipping parts for offshore wind farms in the U.S.
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The container terminal agreement expired in late 2024 and council voted six months ago to end any talks with SHIP and to put the property out for expressions of interest.
Coun. Kim Sheppard-Campbell said it’s time to test the waters and see who else might want the parcel of land that was created when material was dumped along the shore after the harbour was dredged in 2012.
“We don’t want to miss out on an opportunity that’s presented to us and I think we just have to put it out there, see what comes back and do the best for the municipality,” she said.
Even though council voted to end talks with SHIP in January, CEO Albert Barbusci recently told CBC Radio’s Information Morning Cape Breton that his company still has an agreement with the municipality and said it was working through a “dispute resolution clause.”
Dispute resolution not triggered: CBRM
Councillors say that’s not true and CBRM staff confirmed it in an email.
“CBRM ended discussions with SHIP in accordance with council’s direction,” spokesperson Jenna MacQueen wrote this week.
“Neither party has initiated dispute resolution in accordance with the dispute resolution clause under the previous agreement.”
Even though the municipality formally ended talks with SHIP, several CBRM councillors and officials met with company representatives earlier this month. Two councillors said they were told the company was welcome to bid on the greenfield site when a call for expressions of interest goes out.
MacNeil said staff are expected to provide a public update on the search for a consultant at the next council meeting July 30 and he hopes CBRM can quickly put out a call for bids on municipal port land.
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