By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - April 06, 2008
There’s strong interest in trying to keep the West Vernon school property in public hands. The City of Vernon and Greater Vernon Services Committee have the next 120 days to determine if they want to acquire the land and building from the school district. “The potential is there to accommodate needs identified by the city and GVSC such as sports fields,” said Coun. Buffy Baumbrough, who is also vice-chairman of GVSC. “There have also been discussions in the community about the facility and there’s already child care there.” The school was closed last year because of low enrolment and has been declared surplus by the Vernon School District. Under Ministry of Education rules, the provincial government had first right-of-refusal to acquire the site, but no interest was shown. That process now forces the district to approach local government, specifically GVSC and the city.“We knew going through the process, back as far as August, there was some interest,” said Randy Hoffman, the district’s secretary-treasurer.
If either agency wants the site, negotiations must occur by the end of July.“It’s a tight timeline but these government groups are well aware of it (school availability),” said Hoffman. If the city or GVSC don’t take action on the West Vernon property, the district’s next move would be to place it up for sale on the open market. Baumbrough believes other groups could be part of any process to preserve the site for community use, but isn’t sure if some of it could be set aside for affordable housing. “Given its location, that’s a possibility but that’s not been discussed at any length,” she said. If the matter is pursued, it’s likely the city and GVSC would have to purchase the land although other options are possible. “The position of the (school) board is to sell it but I suppose if someone like GVSC said they are interested in a long-term lease, it’s something our board could possibly look at,” said Hoffman.
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Don Quixote Note: Might be a possible location for some part of the local RCMP detachment.
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