This is the last instalment of a five-part series
The Richmond School District owns a range of properties, some residential, others parks, and still others vacant lots, but just one, at Dover Park, is earmarked for a new school.
Some properties contain a piece of Richmond history, like the one-storey building on the northwest corner of the McNair secondary school site. It was built in 1932 and is known as the Radio Canada Building. From 1938 to 1976, all CBC broadcasts were transmitted across the province from the facility, which then also had a large tower.
It currently houses the school district’s Technical and Information Services department, but is too small and is at a high risk for damage during an earthquake. Also, its temperature can’t be properly controlled, and it’s not appropriate for a datacentre, according to the school district’s draft Long-Range Facilities Plan (LRFP).
The school district faces other facility challenges as well, as outlined in the draft LRFP.
The 35-year-old main school board office building on Minoru Boulevard is described as having insufficient space, Continuing Education is spread out over seven sites, the Welcome Centre is in the lobby of the board office and international education is split between two sites.
The school district also has some “potential surplus” sites, with a total value of $88 million, that have either been acquired for future schools or stayed in school board ownership for historical reasons. This includes two lots in the Agricultural Land Reserve: the former No. 8 Road School at River Road and former Trites School sites.
The draft LRFP has assessments of the long-term education need of each of the potentially surplus properties. Except for the house beside Anderson elementary, assessed as “not likely” needed, and Dover Park, all other “potential surplus land holdings,” including seven lots, three vacant and four with rental homes just south ofPaulik Park, are identified as not needed for educational purposes.
