Sunday, April 29, 2012

What to do with surplus property

It is perhaps fitting that so many suggestions at this past weeks School District open house concerned turning vacant schools into housing and recreation options for seniors as so many North Van schools were built to meet the needs of the baby boomers in the first place.

School Board - Surplus Land Planning & Consultations

School Board - Surplus Land Strategy

Next Meeting: May 29th @ Lucas Centre. Time TBD.

The School District held an open house this past week to gather ideas from the public on what to do with the 12 surplus properties it currently has spread across North Vancouver. As demographics and land use have changed the needs of the school district have followed but what to do with these properties raises many issues.

Of these issues, the most important one not really discussed at the open house is what the current needs of the district are and are anticipated to be. Why does something need to be done with these properties?

The answer is that the School District has a lot of surplus property but it also needs to operate numerous schools across North Vancouver and most importantly, needs to provide a quality education in a welcoming environment for its current and future students. The school district needs more funds than it has, both operating and capital funds to keep its operating (and aging) schools running properly. At the same time it is costing the school district various amounts to keep all of its surplus properties in their current state.

The public comments reflected what we would all like to see, the maintenance of the North Vancouver we all know and love. People want the property to stay as it is, to provide recreation facilities, playing fields and to not have it taken over with traffic generating high-density development. People listed many things they don't want the land to become. The potential of future need was raised repeatedly. And these are all true.

But the other side of the equation was not discussed. What options are there for using land. What does the School District need to continue to deliver quality education in the schools we have and what potential good could come from using these lands.

If we must do something with these properties it is best to understand what we need to achieve through them and use that to help us understand the choices and options in front of us. At the next public meeting on this issue, coming up Tuesday May 29th, it would be good to ask these questions and get a better understanding of this critical side of the issue.



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