The mayor of an Ontario metropolis residence to certainly one of Canada’s most infamous prisons says changing it in the future into housing might eat at its economic system.
Bryan Paterson instructed Ontario Chronicle that whereas Kingston does have housing wants, reworking the positioning of Kingston Penitentiary – which Ottawa says will be appropriate for housing – can be a loss for the town’s funds.
“This particular property has huge benefits for tourism and film, and we want to make sure that isn’t impacted,” he stated.
“We’re always happy to have more discussions about opportunities for housing, but again, there are lots of other federal government properties that we think would be great candidates for.”
Paterson’s feedback come after the federal authorities publicly revealed Thursday that Kingston Pen – a former maximum-security jail that has held notorious criminals like Paul Bernardo – has the potential to turn into housing.
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Ottawa added the positioning, which operated as a jailhouse for 178 years, to the Canada Public Land Financial institution – a federal initiative that goals to show surplus and underused federal public lands into inexpensive housing.
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Situated on the town’s waterfront, Kingston Pen shut down in 2013 and was transformed right into a museum, providing members of the general public guided excursions all through the establishment.
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Paterson stated he doesn’t know the way Ottawa’s course of unfolded, however added it might be “complicated and difficult” to retrofit the jail into housing whereas maintaining tourism and movie operations operating.
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Mark Gerretsen, Liberal MP for Kingston and the Islands, stated Ottawa’s itemizing of the jailhouse is simply step one of what can be an extended course of.
“It needs to be turned over from Corrections to Canada Lands, and then we can start to really push the opportunities to create a long-term lease with the city,” he stated.
“I don’t think it’s a fait accompli that this will be torn down or anything like that. On the contrary, this is a good opportunity now for the city to put forward a good case to get a long-term lease for the property.”
Megan Knott, CEO of Tourism Kingston, echoed that sentiment, saying the jail’s cultural and financial worth can’t be ignored.
“Ever since Kingston Penitentiary was decommissioned as its normal use, the community has rallied around to be able to utilize it as an asset,” Knott stated.
“Certainly, tourism probably played the biggest role in being able to reimagine what that site looks like.”
— with information from Jesse Reynolds
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