School District 43 is looking ahead at new schools and additions to accommodate growing numbers of students expected with development along the Evergreen Line and in northeast Coquitlam.
This week, the district embarked on the second phase of its a community consultation on the future of four school properties and approved a five-year capital plan that hints at some of the pressures it is facing in dealing with its aging buildings as well as the need to construct new buildings or build additions on existing schools in high-growth areas.
Frank Giampa, SD43's assistant secretary-treasurer, facilities and planning service, told trustees Tuesday that while the district is required to send its plan to Victoria, there is no certainty money will come for design and construction - and even if funding is approved, the district wouldn't see it for three years.
GROWTH IN COQUITLAM
But short of winning a lottery, the district has no large capital reserve to build schools. Instead, it's looking at better utilizing its properties - for example, possibly selling a small portion of land at Coquitlam's Parkland elementary for nine home lots - to start to generate some of the capital that may encourage the province to fund needed projects.
The capital plan, approved unanimously Tuesday, contains a wish list of 50 projects, including mechanical upgrades and seismic work on older buildings and additions on newer ones. The total price: $283 million.
Topping the list is the long-awaited Burke Mountain elementary for the burgeoning northeast, where the district hopes to build a $24-million two-storey school for 350 children. A second Burke Mountain elementary school is also on the list.
But the district also wants to build additions to Walton, Glen and Panorama elementary schools, which are over capacity and have portables on site. Glen was only built five years ago but it already has two portables and school officials confirmed that the implementation of all all-day kindergarten as well as the coming of the Evergreen LIne and expected population growth are creating a need for new classrooms.
The three elementary schools also host programs of choices: Glen and Panorama are dual-track schools with French immersion and Walton has the popular Mandarin program. As one of the smaller projects, the $1-million, two-classroom addition at Walton is expected to be approved first.
GROWTH IN PORT MOODY
Meanwhile, the district is also looking at what it can do in Port Moody, where the city's official community plan is looking at greater housing density to support the Evergreen Line.
Moody elementary school needs seismic repairs or replacement with a larger school but a new one wouldn't necessarily be on the current site (the corner of St. Johns and Moody streets). A possible location for a new Moody elementary is in front of a new Moody middle school. The latter school, another aging building, will be torn down after its replacement opens in the fall of 2015, situated at the rear of the current school property at (St. Johns and Buller streets).
Board chair Melissa Hyndes said the Moody elementary school property is too small to accommodate a new school of the size needed to accommodate kids in kindergarten to Grade 5, especially with more density expected in the area and the possible addition of French immersion.
She said nothing is written in stone and Wednesday's public consultation was designed to get ideas from the community but moving the school to create a "campus" at Moody middle is one idea being looked at.
"It's an option, one of the things that has been talked about," said the Port Moody trustee. "You could have a campus-style module on the Moody middle site with a progressive French immersion program. That's long term, and those are some of the options we're talking about."
Missing from the capital plan this year are improvements at Minnekhada and Montgomery middle, and Irvine elementary because the province has already approved seismic mitigation for them. But the district hopes the numbers work so that the case can be made to rebuild the schools, not just make seismic upgrades.
The next community workshop on school properties will be held Nov. 19 at Leigh elementary school to talk about the future of school property at nearby Victoria Park. The workshop runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.; more information can be found here.
