CITY of North Vancouver council is putting the North Vancouver school board on notice. It doesn't want to see the school district-owned lands and facilities of the Lucas Centre be sold off to developers without first considering the options of keeping them for public use.
The school board voted at its May board meeting to pay for a consultant with land management planning expertise to lead a public process ending with the likely sale of Cloverley school and the five-hectare Lucas Centre site at Hamilton and 21st Street.
Council passed a resolution on June 17 asking staff to prepare a report on methods of preserving the Lucas Centre as a community sports field/park complex.
The city resolution came at the request of Coun. Rod Clark.
"At some moment in time in the not-too-distant future, we are going to get an application with respect to redevelopment of those properties," said Clark, adding that the Lucas Centre and surrounding field and buildings have been in the public trust for many years, and remain important to community recreation.
"I think now is the moment in time to do it as opposed to waiting for an application to be on our doorstep."
The Lucas Centre contains one grass sports field next to two city-owned all-season fields. Clark suggested the location would be perfect for childcare space.
Clark's motion found support with the majority on council, though not by a lot.
Coun. Linda Buchanan argued the school board has been very open and consultative in the process of selling or leasing unused school property, and that the city has a place in the consultation already.
"I don't see the need to intercede in a process that they are working on, and they are taking steps to work with our staff. They are the landowners so they are going about the process like any other landowner does," Buchanan said. "They have a process in place and I think we need to respect that."
But Coun. Don Bell warned that the sale of any municipal asset should be deeply considered by the whole community first.
"Once they're gone, they're gone and it may be appropriate that they go, but there needs to be really good discussion," he said. "I think this is an appropriate early step to have that discussion, have a staff report now so we can at least have a consideration of what some of the options are from the city's point of view, not necessarily the school board's point of view."
Couns. Buchanan and Craig Keating and Mayor Darrell Mussatto voted against the motion.
While consulting firms will have to bid for the job, and the exact duties and timeline will still have to be defined. Superintendent John Lewis said the board expects the cost be more than $100,000 for 18 to 24 months of work.
But, Lewis added, that cost must be considered in context.
"The fees to assist that planning process would be a very small percentage of the total value of the land," he said
Lewis said he was aware of council's motion and not concerned by it, as the board's consultant will be tasked with working with the city to make sure whatever happens with the site is in step with the city's ongoing OCP review.
"I think that conforms with discussions that we've been having in relation to our properties and we want to look at the benefit that could be coming available to the community," said Lewis.
"We have to consider the broad context and we also have to look at what potential financial return there is for the school district to ensure that we're also receiving value for assets within the community."
