Here is a question which I feel is relevant to discuss, both by parents affected by school closures and by the general public.
# - Under what circumstances would you consider the permanent sale of North Vancouver school district land and what would you want done with the resulting capital?
My opinion, the BinionOpinion:
There are twelve properties available to be sold and there may be a small number, due to overwhelming evidence that they do not need to be held for seventy-five years, that could eventually be reviewed for sale. In general I think it would be an exceptional circumstance to sell a property, as some of these can be retained by the Board of Education for lease periods of up to one hundred years and the properties can remain publicly owned and used to benefit the local communities in some other form. Decisions will need to be based on input, discussion and collaboration with various community partners, in particular the Ministry of Education and those communities affected by any proposed change.
Warmest Regards,
Norm Binion
6 comments:
Norm, I would be very reluctant to approve the sale and rezoning of any more school properties in the City. Lonsdale Elementary was for me the exception. I had to carefully weigh the loss of that heritage school and its playgrounds and a increased density against the provision of a new school admin building, a new and much more appropriate location for the Artists for Kids Collection, heritage preservation of Ridgeway and Queen Mary and land for HYAD (Housing for Young Adults with Disabilities.)
I want to see our surplus school properties used for day care, community education, arts and recreation or leased to other oganizations for similar purposes.
City school board candidates weigh in please!
Good to see that Pam Bookham is thinking of the whole community, the impact of the school board as well as the city council.
Way to go Pam.
The silence of the school trustee candidates on this topic concerns me.
Have any of the candidates taken a stance at the all candidates meetings for trustees.
Can anyone comment on last night's meeting?
There was a discussion with the publice about this last year held at the Lynn Valley Library hosted by Roger Bassam, Robin Hicks, Doug Mackay-Dunn and Mike Little. The majority of the people present felt that selling school property is short sighted and a knee jerk reaction by a school administration unwilling to challenge the Education Minister on inadequate student funding. Demographic analysis of population trends for the North Shore cannot adequately predict future needs even 10 years out so to sell property that may need to be used would result in increased capital costs because existing schools would need to be expanded or property purchased. All coucillors with the exception of Mike Little were NOT in favour of selling school property. I myself am extremely frustrated with the NVSD's lack of coordination with the Districts planning efforts and their adhoc approach to school planning. Shouldn't district planners be telling Superintendent John Lewis what to expect in school attendance based on demographics and densification planning first before property gets put on the chopping block? Mr Binion are you putting the cart before the horse?
What 'overwhelming evidence' do you have and what is it's source? If you're relying on the NVSD's data you had better get an independent assessment before making recommendations to sell. The data the NVSD provided during the school closure process was riddled with inaccuracies and exaggerations.
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