School board to narrow down list of potential high school sites from six to three

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

After putting out a call for proposals for potential sites to locate a new Yarmouth high school, the school board has six sites to choose from – five in the town and one in the municipality.

The Tri-County Regional School Board will narrow the list down to the three possible locations, in order of their top three preferences. But ultimately it will be up to the education minister to decide which site to go with.

“My department is checking the sites and (I’ll) be presenting the board with the proposals (and recommendations) at their next meeting so they can prioritize the top three,” Steve Stoddart, the board’s director of operations said last Thursday.

The school board meets Tuesday evening.

Stoddart was both surprised and pleased with the number of submitted proposals.

“I was surprised to find six parcels that would meet the criteria, and five of them within the town with one outside of town,” he says.

On April 8, Education Minister Karen Casey announced a new $24.9-million high school for Yarmouth. The intention is to carry out the design work and site selection, with construction starting in 2009. The anticipated opening date is September 2011.

According to the site criteria outlined by the board in its call for proposals, the size of the site needed to be between 10 and 20 acres. A site with public sewer and water was preferred. The site must also meet minimum access and egress regulations. The selling price of the property was to be included.

The school board will submit its top three choices to the education department. From here the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure renewal will carry out a comprehensive assessment of the board’s choices.

“It includes environmental assessments, traffic studies, safety studies, real estate costs, engineering studies, geological,” says Dan Harrison, spokesperson for the education department.

The transportation department will rank the sites, identifying what it considers to be the best at the top of its list. That site may or may not be the school board’s first preference.

The department may also determine that none of the sites are suitable. Harrison says that has happened in the past and school boards have been directed to come up with three fresh sites.

Stoddart hopes that won’t happen.

“I don’t want to have to go back to the drawing board because that kills time,” he says.

And when it comes time for her decision, the education minister isn’t bound to go with the site listed as first choice. If she determines the purchase price is too high she can go with another site.

Meanwhile, the board is also required to set up school steering committee to explore the design of the school.

“We have not set up the school steering committee as of yet,” Stoddart said last week. “This should follow as soon as the departments of education and transportation become involved in the project.