School District 43 continues to grapple with the need to seismically upgrade older schools, while parents clamour for new schools in growing neighbourhoods and on Tuesday a few wishes came true.
The board has approved $1.2 million to start planning a joint secondary/middle school for Burke Mountain that will include a visioning process this fall. Trustees also approved a joint access agreement so both Coquitlam and the school district can work on the site jointly owned by the two parties.
The new $73 million, 1,000 capacity school will have a neighbourhood learning centre as well as a turf field, a grass field and tennis courts. It is still slated for a 2023 opening date, according to the school district.
“It’s very rare to build a new secondary school,” Ivano Cecchini, assistant secretary treasurer of facilities and planning services, told the board of education, adding that the vision process will be an opportunity to “not create a box but the very best school we can.”
Parents will be included as “stakeholders” in the visioning process, he said.
QUAKE SAFETY
The Burke Mountain project is probably the most expensive on the school district’s five-year-capital plan but it’s not the only building that’s needed.
Quake proofing continues to be a major driver of school building, according to the capital plan approved Tuesday, which still must be approved — and funded — by the province.
The district wants to see a new school built for Moody elementary, likely on the current Moody middle school property, at a cost of $22 million, however it would need provincial approval to go ahead. Some early planning, including a traffic study, has already been conducted, the board was told.
And in Coquitlam, Montgomery middle school is also on the capital plan but it’s not known yet whether it will be a replacement or an upgrade.
Meanwhile, some schools that were never assessed for seismic risk drew concerns and a motion was approved to get the province to do a seismic study.
Millside elementary school, which was closed as a neighbourhood school because of declining enrolment and then re-opened to house alternative programs, needs a proper risk survey, according to Port Coquitlam trustee Michael Thomas.
“There are kids in that school every day,” he said.
The district will now call on the province to do a seismic assessment on any facility that has not yet been studied. Also driving the capital plan this year is changing demographics, due to new development in the area.
FRASER MILLS
The district is once again looking for land for an elementary school at the former Fraser Mills site in Coquitlam, after Beedie Development sought an increase in the number of homes.
The project for 400 students was taken off the list for a number of years but is back on, according to Cecchini, who said the district is working with the company to find a parcel of land around King Edward Boulevard.
“It’s a challenge because most of the project is planned,” however, he said the district is looking at examples of urban schools in high density areas of Vancouver to get ideas of how schools can be built on smaller lots.
A typical elementary school site is five acres, but that amount of land is not immediately available on the Beedie property.
“We’re looking to maximize areas for play for a smaller footprint,” he said.
Burke Mountain is continuing to grow and the district is looking for cash to build Sheffield school for 430 students. The estimated cost of the project is $43.8 million, according to the capital plan.
And despite the number of townhouses and rental homes being built in the Dominion Triangle in Port Coquitlam no school is planned.
Cecchini said there is already enough capacity in neighbouring schools to house students in the area and the number of children from the development is relatively low.
“There is a significant low yield rate, one of the lowest in the Tri-Cities,” he told trustees.
To see the complete list of capital projects, visit http://www.sd43.bc.ca/Board/MeetingsMinutes/Agendas/2018%2006%2005%20Public%20Board%20Meeting%20Agenda.pdf
