SOME North Vancouver school board trustees are questioning the wisdom off selling unused school properties on the eve of a pivotal school board vote.
The board is convening for a rare July meeting on Tuesday to decide whether it will go ahead with the $5.1 million-sale of Ridgeway Annex to developer Anthem Properties.
But with publicly owned land in scarce supply, trustee Barry Forward is warning it would be financially imprudent to sell the land to private interests.
"The message that I get, loud and clear, is 'Be very careful when you consider selling something such as a school, because you'll never get it back.'" Forward said. "We're asking the local communities to sell themselves short today for something that could be worth a lot and be a big community asset long term," Forward said.
Ridgeway Annex is one of several shuttered schools the board has selected through its Land Learning and Livability public process for potential sale or long-term lease. The district is negotiating to lease Plymouth elementary to the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation for an adult skills training centre, and the Lucas Centre and Cloverly School, Keith Lynn and Monterey sites are also on the block.
If the board could find tenants to lease the vacant schools or find a new use that serves the public interest, Forward said he would be more supportive.
"I think of this from a community point of view. If this was a straight transfer to the city, and they kept it as a park, I'd be happy with that because that's a community benefit," he said.
The money raised from a sale would most likely go toward paying down $7.2 million in debt the school district borrowed from the province to fund the Westview and Sutherland school builds, Forward said. But those schools will eventually depreciate and need replacing, so selling hard assets to fund them makes no financial sense, Forward said.
The board finds itself in this position because the province, with its own financial woes, has had less and less to offer up for school rebuilds and renovations.
"It seems to me the sale for market housing is the only answer to the financial nut we have for building new facilities, and I find that unfortunate," Forward said.
Forward is not alone on the board. Trustee Susan Skinner has also tried to steer the district away from selling the lands until every possible option for public use has been considered.
"I don't think we can in-fill Burrard Inlet and I don't think we can build up the mountain so I really want to be clear on what the needs are for our community - for all community members - before we let go of these assets. We won't be able to buy them back," she said.
With roughly 75 per cent of the public feedback she saw urging the board not to sell, the public process the board went through was nothing more than "window dressing" if the board is going to ignore the public's advice, Skinner added.
"I hate to waste the public's time. I know how busy family members are," she said.
Franci Stratton, chairwoman of the board of school trustees, doesn't agree the board has ignored public wishes.
"I feel we have been very open and transparent in terms of what it is we are trying to achieve," Stratton said.
Stratton said the Ridgeway community stands to be improved by replacing the tired Ridgeway Annex, which is no longer suitable for use as school.
"We have deemed these properties are surplus. We went out for a request for proposal. We chose the best proponent to move that forward and I fully support a broader consultation and public hearing process that will allow the community to weigh in, in terms of what that particular development site would look like."
Anthem will still have to submit an official community plan amendment and rezoning request to the City of North Vancouver, which will trigger a public process, before any redevelopment can happen, she added.
Neither Forward nor Skinner is prepared to say how they will vote on Tuesday night, but they expect a heavy debate.
"I haven't made a decision, however I will say I ran for trustee based on the fact that I wouldn't sell community assets - schools," Forward said.
"This is the first decision for the current board to sell a piece of property. It's a big decision."
