A funding announcement for an $18-million elementary school on Burke Mountain is expected this fall with the hopes that it will be built in three years or less to relieve enrolment pressures in the growing neighbourhood.
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA Douglas Horne made the prediction Tuesday at a special public meeting on land acquisition for five new schools on four properties on Burke Mountain.
"Were in a process that we are all very confident is going to get the results we need," said Horne.
The news should be a relief for parents of young children in the Coquitlam neighbourhood but many left the meeting disappointed Smiling Creek elementary won't be built sooner and a promised middle school is still eight or nine years away.
"Why not start earlier?" Nicole Jones, the mother of a pre-schooler and five-year-old, told The Tri-City News, "It's poor planning."
But the school district says it couldn't get approval to buy the land until students were living in the area. It finally got the go-ahead a year ago, which started an "exhaustive process" of negotiations.
"Detailed costing can't be done until you've got the site," Ivano Cecchini, School District 43's principal of facilities initiatives, told anxious parents, "you only have one chance to go to government."
SD43 now has land needed for five schools, down from eight originally projected for the fast-growing area, and with the deal comes a $5-million donation for an artificial turf field to be built at a joint middle/secondary school site that was negotiated by the city of Coquitlam with the developer Wesbild as the donor.
SD43 secretary treasurer Mark Ferrari said the land deals are good for taxpayers because 35 acres of land worth $50 million was acquired acquired at approximately10% of market value, a 90% savings.
The five schools are:
• Smiling Creek, on seven acres at Princeton and Queenston, paid for with $5 million from Eligible School Site Acquisition funds, with Coquitlam providing the equivalent, including land, in exchange for Victoria Park lots. Opening date: September 2018 or earlier depending on funding and the construction schedule.
• Partington Creek (on Sheffield Street), six acres, acquired by provincial crown grant. Completion: 2020, depending on enrolment.
• Marigold elementary, six acres, donated by Wesbild from land recently purchased from the province, located at Marigold Street and David Avenue. Completion: 2025.
• Middle school and secondary school, on about 19 acres, most of which is made up of land acquired through provincial Crown grant in 2007, with contributions from the city for a joint school/park. Completion: 2023 and 2024, depending on enrolment.
WHAT'S NEXT
• For a copy of a presentation released at Tuesday's public meeting and a letter to Education Minister Peter Fassbender, see www.sd43.bc.ca.
• Coquitlam is rolling out plans for housekeeping changes to the Official Community Plan for four properties no longer needed for schools. For more information, visit city planning and development at www.coquitlam.ca/burkemtn
