Need for new school in London's northwest gets spotlight in land debate

The pressing need for a new elementary school in the fast-growing northwest corner of London is the latest wrinkle in an ongoing standoff between a developer and city planning officials. 

At issue is a 20-hectare plot — currently a farm field — at the northeast corner of Sunningdale Road West and Hyde Park Road.

The land is located just inside the city's urban growth boundary and is owned by Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which has entered into a sale agreement with Auburn Developments. The current owner has abandoned plans to develop the site as a cemetery.

The owner has applied for amendments to the city's official plans. The proposed amendment would change the existing "open space" designation to "low density residential" in the 1989 Official Plan and the "green space" place type to a "neighbourhood" place type in The London Plan.

Those moves would essentially be the first step toward allowing the land to develop as a subdivision of single-family homes, although a development plan application has not been filed with the city. 

City staff recommended against those proposed amendments at the May 10 meeting of the planning committee. Staff's position is that the entire area needs a secondary plan, which is an overriding planning document that gives guidance to how the entire area will develop as a whole. Secondary plans take a wider view of development in a specific area, considering everything from infrastructure needs to transit. 

Without a secondary plan in place, the amendments would be "premature" and amount to a  "short-term solution which may lead to an inefficient development pattern" staff wrote in a presentation to council.

17 school portables

Included in Auburn Developments plans for the site is an offer to set aside some land for a new elementary school. 

A letter from Thames Valley District School Board's associate director Jeff Pratt to Mayor Ed Holder says a site for a new school is "desperately needed" in the city's northwest corner. 

Pratt's letter says the school board has provincial approval and funding to build a new elementary school in the area.  He writes that the new school will have space for 802 Kindergarten to Grade 8 students and take the strain off Sir Arthur Currie school, which was built for 533 students but is currently serving 950. There are 12 portables at Sir Arthur Currie now. In his letter, Pratt says that's expected to swell to 17 portables based on next year's enrolment.

"Available land in this part of London is extremely limited," writes Pratt. "There are no available school blocks within existing developments in this part of the city. To date, this is the only property that has been offered to us for a school site through the course of our discussions with developers in the area." 

At last night's council meeting, Coun. Steven Lehman put forward a motion to have the official plan amendments referred back to staff, so they can confer with the TVDSB about their needs and report back to the planning committee. 

'A very serious issue'

Coun. Josh Morgan, whose Ward 7 includes the site, said the need for a new school is "a very serious issue.  

"To me, it seems like the school board has this opportunity, or expropriation," he said.

Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy said locating a subdivision near the edge of the city is the kind of bad planning that leads to "true sprawl." 

"We have continued in the past to encourage that kind of development ... which contributes to the emptying out of our core and then you have schools closing down. 

The motion to refer the official plan amendments back to staff passed 10-4 with councillors Jesse Helmer, Stephen Turner and Arielle Kayabaga opposed.