The Protestant school board has extended the deadline for the sale of its surplus school site at 70 Arlington Dr. until Sept. 30.
The board has had an agreement since 2008 to sell the land to Habitat For Humanity – Edmonton, but the sale depends on a successful rezoning by the City of St. Albert. That process is still under way.
The board has extended the sale deadline several times while the city deals with Habitat’s proposed affordable housing project. Earlier this month, council directed Habitat to put together a complex with between 28 and 34 units. The issue is due back before council by Aug. 30.
“We’re still so supportive of Habitat For Humanity. We certainly hope that the city can work out the difficulties and go ahead with the project,” said Protestant board chair Morag Pansegrau.
The board will continue to extend the sale deadline as long as it appears a project will happen, she said.
“As long as it seems like a viable project, we would extend it because we want Habitat’s agreement with us to come to fruition,” Pansegrau said.
“We just hope that city manages to bring closure to it in a timely fashion because it’s stretching out way too long right now.”
The two sides have agreed on a price of $840,000 for the 1.2-hectare site.
Extensive changes to its nutrition program earned a $1,000 award for St. Albert’s Outreach High School.
The school was one of five in the province to recently win a Nutrition Innovation Award from Alberta Milk, which supplies milk for its province-wide Breakfast For Learning program.
The Outreach School is trying to teach good food habits to its 350 students by having a nutrition instructor come in every Thursday, said liaison secretary Janice Erdmann. The school has also renovated its kitchen to make it easier for students to prepare healthy meals and has put more healthy choices in its vending machine. The $1,000 boost will help keep the momentum going.
“It’s huge for this school. Absolutely huge. It’s going to help us sustain what we’ve achieved,” Erdmann said. “We’re feeding quite a few kids.”
