Re: Did St. Albert learn from the past?
Thank you for shining a light on the school site issue. But as a resident of Erin Ridge I have to disagree with your statement that we (as residents) were not aware that the Eldorado site was a school site. Most of us were fully aware. It was the city that, through poor choices over the years, didn't seem to recognize it as a school site. When we built our house in the (then) brand new Erin Ridge area 25 years ago, the city designated Eldorado as a 17-acre park with a seven-acre school site for a Protestant (now Public) elementary/junior high. That is a far cry from what it is now, and shows poor planning by city councils over the years.
If it was always meant to be a school, why whittle it down from a decent-sized seven acres to a paltry 2.99 acres? It was always meant to be a school, why allow for the construction of a hospital, large seniors complex and a busy commercial area nearby without doing some traffic mitigation measures ahead of time? We, as residents, saw all the changes and could not fathom how a school could still be shoe-horned onto that site. Then, of course, the school that we were promised initially – public, K-6/9 – morphed into a regional francophone 7-12 school. In other words, a school most of us couldn't send our kids to if we wanted, and one in which almost all the students would be bused, most from outside St. Albert.
The resulting controversy was entirely caused by the city, over the years, failing to adequately plan for these provincial school announcements. Now we see it again. The only "shovel-ready" site in Oakmont is itself barely over three acres in size. No wonder the Catholic board seems to have no interest in actually building a school there. They see they would have to, as the francophone board did in Erin Ridge, appropriate some of the surrounding parkland. And I won't even get into the school site that was “surplus” in Akinsdale and sold off to Habitat for Humanity. Maybe it wasn't so surplus. Or maybe that's the precedent for what could happen to the Oakmont site, hmm...
I asked Coun. Heron at one of the public meetings dealing with traffic problems around the Eldorado site why the francophone school couldn't be built in Riverside or Genstar. I was told they were “years” away from being ready and that the francophone school couldn't wait. Yet, I see show homes up and running in Riverside. Why isn't the city pushing developers to make the school sites in their developments shovel-ready as quickly as the house lots? And now nothing is happening with the two schools announced last year, and more are being awarded. Why has the city been caught so woefully unprepared yet again? The saying goes: “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Well, the city should be ashamed.
Kathy Van Hoof, St. Albert
From: Kathy Van Hoof <[email protected]>
Date: October 13, 2014 at 10:48:38 AM MDT
To: Katherine Van Hoof <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Did St. Albert Learn From the Past?
