Dog park ‘best option’ for new school: Chairman

The Grande Yellowhead Public School Division (GYPSD) chair is reiterating a preference to build a proposed new school on the existing dog park, calling it the board’s first choice for the location of a new facility.

However, the town says it needs more details about the request and isn’t clear on the school board’s demands.

Both sides met last week to discuss the future of a new school that would house high school students as well as students from École Desrochers.

Following a series of meetings last year, it appeared the town and the school board had come to an agreement that a new school should be built on the existing site. The students would have been housed in portable classrooms and other open rooms within the community, such as the Jasper Activity Centre.

However when the two sides met recently, the school board said they were concerned portables could not be secured and pushed again for a school to be built on the bowling green – the land currently occupied by the dog park.

John Stizenberger, chairman of GYPSD,  said the school board has yet to receive a formal answer about the bowling green lands from the town, even though it originally asked for a decision in April 2009.

 He said no options have been removed from the discussion, including building on the current site or busing the students to Hinton while a new school is being constructed.

“All options are still on the table,” Stizenberger said.

Building on the existing site presents problems during the transition, the board said. The province has 200 portable classrooms available, and a Calgary school board has already put in an application for 198.

There is also an added cost when bringing in portables. The province covers the cost of the portables, but the school board has to pay for the cost of setting them up.

Stizenberger, said he’s been told a new high school is at ‘the top of the list’ and he’s waiting for the Feb. 9 provincial budget. He wants the school board to be ready to go if money for a new school is included in the budget.

Critics expect the provincial budget to be tight.

Mayor Richard Ireland said there is no guarantee the school could even be built on the dog park land due to lease agreements with Parks Canada. The community has expressed its displeasure with a potential land swap, which would have seen the town lose its only in-town dog park as well as a large portion of green space.

He wants to see the school board add more specifics to their request.

“We said ‘tell us exactly what you want’” Mayor Ireland said, who mentioned the town needs to weigh the repercussions of the decision.

Mayor Ireland said there have been extensive negotiations centred on building the new school on the existing site. But until the school board returns with more specific requests, council won’t make a decision about its preferred site.

There are several details Mayor Ireland said the town wants to see worked out.

That includes potential land transfer, including costs that would go along with potentially sub-dividing the lot. If a land swap occurs, the high school land would likely need to be separated from the public school land. Currently, its part of the same lot.

“They have to determine what they’re asking for. It’s still a concept discussion. There are other questions about the nature of the lease,” Mayor Ireland said.

Zoning questions must also be answered, Mayor Ireland said.

To date, Jasper National Park has remained on the sidelines in the debate. Spokesperson Marci Dewandel said JNP is aware of the the discussions, but haven’t been approached with a detailed proposal at this time.

“Once a decision is made, we’ll have a greater role,” Dewandel said.

JNP is ultimately responsible for the land use decisions, and there is no guarantee they would approve a land swap. For example, a proposal to build a structure in Centennial Park was rejected through the Parks Canada process due to opposition from within the community.