Camp Picton barracks/Loch Sloy (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
A prominent piece of Prince Edward County’s history could be put on the Heritage Inventory Listing.
Camp Picton/Loch Sloy is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, but is considered by Prince Edward County Heritage Committee to be recognized to have cultural heritage value. Camp Picton began in 1939 with the announcement that 700 acres would be developed as a Commonwealth Air Training facility to quickly train pilots from across the British Empire for the war effort.
On Thursday, Loch Sloy property manager Jacqui Burley addressed the committee of the whole stating she is concerned that Camp Picton’s 433 buildings are under scrutiny. With the property being for sale she asked the horseshoe to downsize the list by six as some of the war time barracks aren’t salvageable.
Presently, the business park, aerodrome and development land sits on 688 acres of land and are listed for sale at $14,995,000. The tourist attraction for history buffs features 400,000 square feet of buildings, three runways, six hangers, four separate land parcels and single family residential homes plus the Flying Club. The business industry park also has more than 50 tenants.
Committee member Councillor Steve Ferguson said he agrees with Loch Sloy’s request to downsize the listing adding the company has gone to great lengths to refurbish many of the buildings.
Built at an announced cost of $1,161,000, the camp was one of more than 100 Royal Air Force bases constructed across the country to counter Germany’s dramatic military buildup and significant advances in developing fighter planes and bombers.
The matter will come back to council on September 26 along with the bulk of Thursday’s agenda.
Before council could get into the committee reports section of the agenda, councillor Jamie Forrester had to leave for an urgent private matter and was unable to return.
The committee needs nine members to have a quorum and without Forrester the meeting couldn’t proceed.
The next meeting is at Shire Hall at 7 p.m.
