Naoibh O’Connor
Van. Courier
The Vancouver School Board wants to cash in on the Olympics to build a new elementary school in Southeast False Creek.
A provision for the school is cited in the third year of the school board’s five-year capital plan, which was approved by the board Monday night. It will be submitted to the provincial government for consideration. The Ministry of Education announces what projects it will approve in districts across B.C. in the spring.
The city and private developers are developing industrial land between Cambie Bridge and Main Street, part of which will be used for an athletes’ village during the 2010 Olympics. A school site is included in the plans.
According to Les King, the school board’s director of facilities, the provincial government, the city and the Olympic committee could share the cost for constructing a building shell to be used during the games. Once the Olympics are over, the building could be turned into a school for relatively little money, he said. But the school board needs a financial commitment from the provincial government to contribute to the construction costs.
“We’re just identifying this as a good opportunity. The government doesn’t have to participate in this,” King said. “We’re just saying this is a good opportunity to get a building built as part of a partnership with other agencies.”
If approved by the provincial government and the other partners, planning for the school could begin in the fall of 2006, although construction wouldn’t start until 2008 with 2009 as a completion date.
King noted if plans for the Olympic village in Southeast False Creek unfold as expected, athletes housing will be turned into market housing after 2010, which would create the need for a school. “Because it’s ready housing, it ought to be filled relatively quickly,” he said. “[The development] is geared to families with kids, so it’s a family-oriented area and we will have pressure there for a school.”
The five-year capital plan also includes plans for several other new schools, including an elementary school in the plan’s third year for UBC where development continues to increase.
The plan also proposes a school in its fourth year near International Village. The school-aged population in that area is expected to increase as a result of new developments around International Village and North False Creek.
A new school for Fraserlands, meanwhile, is cited in the plan’s fifth year.
King said those three schools are the VSB’s top priorities but the Southeast False Creek one is being submitted now for consideration because of the opportunity to share costs. “It’s a timing issue, not a priority issue,” he said. “It saves everybody money. We’re just identifying the possibility for [the provincial government]. It’s not our highest priority and it’s not jumping the queue for the other priorities for schools.”