Parks attached to schools in Burlington are one step closer to being protected thanks to years of efforts by local residents Amy Schnurr, Ken Woodruff and Kurt Koster. Those efforts culminated in a unanimous vote by city council in June to send a resolution to the Ministry of Education asking for changes in the rules surrounding sale of school lands when a school closes.
Provincial regulation 444/98 requires schools to sell land attached to schools that have been closed at “fair market value.” The proceeds then fund new schools in growing areas.
However, that requirement makes school land too expensive for municipalities. The land is usually snapped up by developers and paved over with housing. Burlington alone has lost 10 schools and 86% of associated land to development. This scenario is being repeated across Ontario.
Currently on the chopping block in Burlington is a 26 acre parcel of land attached to the old General Brock High School. The building is currently used as an adult education centre. The surrounding parks are used by residents across the city, and include three soccer fields, two baseball diamonds and a running track. The land is worth $10 million – too expensive for anyone but developers – and could fit up to 110 homes.
Amy Schnurr and other residents formed the Save General Brock Committee six years ago to protect the property. More recently, Amy enlisted the help of BurlingtonGreen Environmental Association, which she serves as executive director, to protect General Brock greenspace.
They turned to Mayor Cam Jackson to sponsor a resolution to Burlington’s Corporate and Community Services Committee. The resolution asks the province to introduce flexibility into resolution 444/98 to allow schools boards and municipalities to come up with community-driven solutions, and to further direct school boards to give cities a “right of first refusal” in land disposal.
Among the creative ideas being floated are to sever school lands, allow development only on the portion where a school building sits and rezone the property to allow higher-density development. That makes the parcel more valuable to developers thereby allowing school boards to recoup costs and the city to preserve attached parks. Win-win.
From here, the resolution goes to all GTA mayors, the Halton public and Catholic school boards, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to seek their endorsement.
Amy Schnurr says she is “pleased” with Burlington’s support for the resolution. “We hope other municipalities will agree to support the resolution so a clear and strong message can be sent to the province – school disposition regulations must change if Burlington and beyond are to truly realize a sustainable future.”
What you can do: Call or write your city and regional councillors to ask them to support the resolution. Watch for updates in this space. Visit BurlingtonGreen’s website and Save General Brock Park’s website to learn more.
