It was announced last year that the new location for the North Hastings Public Library will also be a three-story building with 20 affordable housing units, but that project has been held up due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ground floor of the 6,000 square feet that will be located in the parking lot behind McCaskie TV & Stereo will be the new library, while the two floors above it will house the affordable housing units. The Town of Bancroft is working on the library, while Phil and Andy Spry of Springdale Developments control the affordable housing portion of the building.
Mayor of Bancroft Paul Jenkins says that council is working on getting funding for the library, but have not heard anything back. “We were expecting an announcement on this some time ago,” he explains. He believes the delay is due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jenkins says he’s hopeful they will know more by the fall about the grant. He adds they’re asking for around $1.8 million.
Bancroft’s Strategic Plan Coordinator Malcolm Hunt reached out to the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom to speak on behalf of Springdale Developments. He says the Sprys have been working with the federal government and the Canada Morgage and Housing Corporation’s Co-Investment fund, but haven’t gotten very far in the process. He says the Sprys are also wary of how the Town is fairing with getting funding for their portion of the development project.
“They’re working with a funding stream that they’ve had significant success with in the past,” Hunt says.
“In my experience, the government also likes to wait to make positive announcements at the right moment,” Hunt says. With the COVID-19 pandemic on-going, Hunt believes now isn’t the right time for a potential announcement.
When the project was originally announced in November 2019, Jenkins predicted it would get started by the fall of 2020, but due to neither side acquiring the necessary funding, Jenkins says that isn’t the case anymore. When funding is announced, he says work is likely to begin 18 months later.
