Dear Editor:
Re: District Nixes Braemar development (Jan. 20 news story District Nixes School Land Sale, Muddling Argyle's Rebuild)
I’d like to throw a few facts and opinions into the controversy swirling around the District of North Vancouver’s recent decision to halt the proposed sale of land attached to Braemar elementary.
North Vancouver School District 44 has followed the provincial government’s expectation that school properties should be sold to help finance replacement of schools.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of school-aged children in the City and District of North Vancouver in 2011 is virtually the same as it was in 1996, while District 44 data shows a 40 per cent decline in enrolment in 2011 as compared to 1996.
If the thinking of the school board is that by building new schools they will attract more students to the public system, then the above facts would suggest otherwise.
In fact, the present board of education is severely limiting the ability of the public system to attend to the needs of future enrolment through their divestment of public properties entrusted to them.
The North Shore population is only going to increase. Look at the development around the designated town centres. People will have children whether they live in single detached homes, townhouses or condominiums.
Somewhere the DNV had to say stop: stop selling public lands to promote private interests and stop the school board’s policy which was going counter to the good of the community.
And Braemar was that place, regardless whether it was “innocuous” or not.
Councillors do not make their decisions in a vacuum. Many people have made their views known to these elected officials. The decision to nix the sale of some of Braemar’s lands hopefully sends a message that public lands are not to be disposed of for short term gains.
Rick Burns
North Vancouver
What are your thoughts? Send us a letter via email by clicking here or post a comment below.
