Editor's note: This story originally ran Dec. 3 with the address for a new school listed as 742 Simcoe Rd. While the Simcoe County District School Board is planning on building a future school there, the new school that is currently approved by the Ministry of Education will be at Crossland Boulevard and Rogers Trail. We apologize for the error and have corrected the article.
Plans for a new elementary school in Bradford West Gwillimbury just got a little bit easier.
The Simcoe County District School Board repealed a notice Nov. 28 to apply for land expropriation in a new subdivision on the north side of Crossland Boulevard at Rogers Trail, on which a new elementary school is expected to be built.
Expropriation of land can sometimes be done against the property owner’s wishes, but the board “got to a deal to actually purchase the property rather than expropriate the property. The owner was content to sell us that property,” said Brian Jeffs, the board’s superintendent of business and facility services.
“It expedites things a little bit but not a lot.”
The board originally planned to expropriate a different property in the Line 8 and Professor Day Drive area, but it made a deal with the developer to build on the Crossland Boulevard property instead, which meant expropriation was unnecessary, said Andrew Keuken, the board's manager of planning.
The new property is about 200 to 300 metres west of the original one, he said.
The board has also hired an architect for the project, and it is currently in the early stages of getting a team together to help design the school, which is on a 2.8-hectare piece of land, Jeffs said.
The school is expected to hold 501 students, have two child-care rooms run by a third-party operator, and open as early as 2021, he said.
While the Ministry of Education previously earmarked $12.1 million for the project earlier this year, the board does not know when it could receive that money.
There are also plans for another new elementary school and an additional high school in BWG. The board is in the process of expropriating 2.2 hectares of land at 742 Simcoe Rd., just north of Canal Road, for a future school, Keuken said.
The board has yet to receive ministry approval for a school at the Simcoe Road location, he said.
