Former Trustee Questions City Skipping Public Consultation For Joint Use School Required Under Bylaw

By Robert Thomas

The City needs to have a full public consultation into the proposed location of the new joint use school proposed for Westheath a former Prairie South School Division trustee told Council on Monday afternoon.

Waving the need, despite being required under the Bylaw #5642 the Planning Public Notice Bylaw, is not in the public's interest former school division trustee Jan Radwanski told Council.

Radwanski brought his concerns to Council on Monday after they voted at their December 12, 2022 meeting to waive the need for a public consultation as required under Bylaw #5642.

“You as a Council last month were provided with an opinion from Administration we should forego public consultation on this issue. It’s been done. My belief is there has been no consultation done on this location,” Radwanski said.

Radwanski is a critic of the proposed joint use school - both as a trustee and a private citizen- and would like to see the money spent revitalizing the existing schools on South Hill.

He also went on to state there will not be consultation on how the proposed school meets the needs of the Official Community Plan (OCP).

Under the City's OCP new schools are to be built in centralized locations.

Bylaw #5642 sets out the procedures necessary for major developments to occur.

The procedures include notifying all property owners within 90 meters, (and not limited to) notifying the public by posting signage and running newspaper ads if a public consultation session is required.

At their December 12, 2022 meeting Council voted to forego further public consultation when it comes to rezoning of the land from Residential to Institutional.

The rezoning will allow the new concept plan as well as the construction of the actual joint use school itself.

“I ask you as a City Council to look at this with I think a little stronger lens. Talk to your Administration before we go to the rezoning plan,” Radwanski said, adding consulting property owners within 90 meters was not desirable because the proposed school impacts all of South Hill.

FORMER PRAIRIE SOUTH SCHOOL DIVISION TRUSTEE JAN RADWANSKI ADDRESSES COUNCIL ON MONDAY - MJ INDEPENDENT PHOTO

It needs to be noted the City did in fact use its discretion and sent notices to property owners in wider radius than 90 meters of the proposed school.

“This affects all of South Hill we are taking a business size envelope and putting a school in the corner.”

Radwanski's Concerns

Dispensing with public consultation is something Radwanski believes is not the right thing to do because of what Radwanski said are serious and unresolved issues.

Issues which include a wide range of concerns from traffic and safety concerns, selling the land to the school divisions (which is not suppose to happen), lack of green space, poor location at the very southwest edge of South Hill, not hearing from everyone impacted and the impact on the social, family and education life for all of South Hill.

“This is a major, major shift to go to one school on South Hill. One public education offering from pre-K to Grade Eight and we don't have public consultation as a city,” Radwanski said.

He pointed to the millions of dollars already spent on public infrastructure at the four South Hill schools set to close once the proposed joint use school is completed as another reason to hold a public consultation on the proposed location.

The size of the parking lot - Radwanski said it would need to have 125 parking spots under the City's rules - plus the loading and unloading areas for 21 busses was also a concern the former trustee had.

“There is going to be no room for kids to run around,” he said.

“Is that Get a Life? I think that’s a pretty docile life for kids, for people, for kids, for us to transport them to basically a Costco sized warehouse built two and a half stories up underneath a student flight path from 15 Wing with already major, major challenges.”

Traffic and safety around it regarding the proposed location is a worry for Radwanski.

He said the limited traffic studies done on the impact of the school on the neighbourhood expose safety concerns.

“It was noted in previous reports a full traffic assessment was not completed even though it was part of the Memorandum Of Understanding that we as a city and you as a Council took part to complete with the school boards,” Radwanski said.

He claimed since the data provided by the City “was over ten years old only a limited or partial impact assessment was done for this location it left a lot of real question marks on terms of the safety.”

December 12, 2022 Meeting Background

At the earlier December 12, 2022 Council meeting city manager Jim Puffalt said the City had issues to resolve with the proposed location, announced three years ago, in Westheath Five and Six location.

“There was lots of issues. And lots of creative ways to solve those issues to get this project before City Council,” Puffalt had stated at the December 12, 2022 meeting.

Although the proposed Westheath location was put forth at a public consultation held by the school divisions it was not a location suggested by the City or the general public.

“The Schools Divisions and Province chose this site as they believed it to be the prime location for the school,” the report to Council read.

THE PROPOSED WESTHEATH FIVE AND SIX DEVELOPMENT PLAN TO ALLOW FOR THE PROPOSED JOINT USE SCHOOL - SOURCE CITY OF MOOSE JAW

At the December 12, 2022 meeting Sanson said the City was not involved with selecting the site of the proposed joint use school “without consultation from the City.”

Puffalt said at that time the City was “unhappy” with how the site was located.

Despite the City being blindsided as to the location Puffalt to Council in December the proposed location “was set in stone.”

The initial concept plan for Westheath Five and Six did not include the proposed school.

Some of the issues included the servicing costs for the proposed school including the school divisions paying a portion of the servicing costs for Wellington Drive.

The streets and lanes in the existing Westheath Five and Six subdivision plan would need to be closed and new streets and lanes incorporated in the new subdivision plan registered.

The agreement between the City and the divisions would also see the present outdoor rink closed and then moved onto the proposed school site.

There was no announcement about public access during school hours since it will be on the proposed school site.

Radwanski said the rink was being moved to solve the problem of sufficient green space on the site.

Further Public Consultations Coming

“There is still public process and engagement to go on before that is adopted,” director of planning Michelle Sanson told Council at their December 12, 2022 meeting.

Plans call for the school divisions to issue the tenders for the school this month, award the tender in February, with actual construction starting in May.

Sanson said there “is still a little bit of risk to go through. But they (Prairie South School Division and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division) are under the understanding they wouldn't finish any of that unless we started our public process.”

Sanson said at that meeting the estimated time to get through the processes was four to six months.

City manager Pufflat said Administration supported the project but there were delays due to advertising and requirements of the Planning And Development Act.

He said the City would work to make the consultation process go forward as quickly as possible.

The December 12, 2022 motion to waive the rezoning public consultation was approved in a 6 - 1 vote at the time with Councillor Kim Robinson opposed.

Radwanski's Request Denied

He said the consultation already completed on the proposed location was incomplete and also not scientifically valid.

A Survey Monkey on-line survey had flaws in it due to the lack of controls over who could respond to it Radwanski said.

“I inquired about the 160 respondents who replied to Survey Monkey and (director of planning) Miss Michelle Sanson was kind enough to send an email to me and she indicated that there is no way of knowing in the 160 people that replied to the Survey Monkey where they lived. What part of the city they were from. Whether they we part of the 500 residents that was given the notice about this joint use school,” he said.

Radwanski also went on to question the sale of municipal reserve land to the school divisions as the government is not purchasing lands for schools.

At the December 12, 2022 meeting Council was told the land would be leased from the City.

When asked about the seeming discrepancy between a purchase and lease agreement by MJ Independent Radwanski responded with the City's documentation that shows a land payment of $15,000 an acre for 10.71 acres or $160,650 in total.

At the end of his presentation Council did not ask Radwanski any questions. Nor did they conduct any discussion other than unanimously voting 7 - 0 to Receive and File Radwanski's request meaning no further action will be taken on the request.