FERGUS – Centre Wellington council voted on Jan. 29 to declare Strathallan Park surplus property and sell it to the Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) to facilitate construction of a new school.
The school board reported last fall that a high school is needed in Centre Wellington.
Currently area Catholic students go to high schools in Guelph when they graduate from elementary school.
“The sale of land would be conditional on the approval of the Ministry of Education, and so the surplus declaration is only the first step in the process” of building a high school on the site, states a Jan. 24 township press release.
Land to be rezoned
According to township policy, council must declare the land surplus before negotiating an agreement of sale.
Once that happens, the board can proceed with rezoning the property as institutional.
Owning the property will strengthen WCDSB’s application for a new school with the Ministry of Education.
“As a community preparing for growth, the addition of schools is a necessity that in this case the township can support,” the release states.
According to a report that went to council on Jan. 29, WCDSB approached the township about buying the park in order to expand St. Joseph Catholic School and add a high school.
The park is located on Strathallan Street near Highway 6 in Fergus.
Two projects
The province announced in November it will fund $5.2 million for a planned expansion to St. Joe’s, adding eight more classrooms to accommodate 190 more elementary students.
“St. Joseph Catholic School in Fergus is currently operating at 143% capacity and to address this growth, WCDSB was approved to build an eight-classroom addition, with construction scheduled to begin next month,” school board communications and community engagement lead Ali Lupal stated in an email to the Advertiser.
The board also announced in November its plan to further expand St. Joe’s to include a high school component, adding another 21 classrooms to accommodate 249 students from Grades 9 to 12.
“We have not been approved for future projects at this point but would like the flexibility to respond to the growing student population within this community,” Lupal continued.
“The Ministry of Education’s consideration of future capital projects by the school board is a separate process and the timing and outcome is undetermined at this stage.”
Proposed school requires ministry approval
If the sale goes through, the park will continue to be maintained by the township before a school is built.
Once a school is constructed, the public can use the green space outside school hours.
Councillor Bronwynne Wilton listed several concerns with a high school possibly taking over the site, including the loss of existing green space for local residents, increased traffic with potentially two schools on Strathallan Street, and the impact of a big school building – noise, shadows and blocking – in an established neighbourhood.
She noted council recently approved an application to build a five-storey apartment building on the north side of Strathallan next to the Best Western hotel, which will also add to traffic at the already-busy intersection.
“We need to keep an eye on that,” Wilton said.
“And we need to make sure public space doesn’t get paved over” with growth and development.
Mayor Shawn Watters assured Wilton the application will go through council and the public engagement process if and when a zoning change commences.
But growth in Centre Wellington requires not just more homes but more infrastructure like schools, daycare centres and transportation, he said.
A Catholic high school “is part of the needs within our community,” Watters added, noting it’s fortunate there is space for a high school in an already-built-up part of Fergus.
Most large infrastructure projects have to be situated in new, undeveloped areas on the outskirts of town in order to have adequate space, he said.
Council agreed.
In a recorded vote, only Wilton voted against the proposal.
