On April 30, the Collingwood Collegiate Institute building celebrated its 67th birthday.
While the building is the second oldest secondary school building within the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB), work is currently underway to prepare a business case to send to the province addressing the aging infrastructure and population growth in Northwest Simcoe (Collingwood, Stayner and Wasaga Beach) that could see a replacement school built in Collingwood, as well as a secondary school built in Wasaga Beach.
According to Brian Jeffs, superintendent of business and facility services with the SCDSB, there are many options that could address the issues South Georgian Bay faces when it comes to schools and nothing is truly off the table yet.
“It’s unique, because we believe the solution is a regional solution,” Jeffs told CollingwoodToday.ca on Friday. “Often when we’re looking at secondary school plans, we’re not dealing with them regionally. Given the proximity of them to one another, we believe there’s an opportunity here.”
During the Apr. 28 school board meeting, trustees were presented with the ranked capital priorities list that will be presented to the province ahead of the May 21 deadline to submit as part of the 2021-2022 capital plan. Northwest Simcoe secondary schools were listed at Priority No. 10 on that list.
To read our story on that meeting and all the board’s capital priorities, click here.
“With Collingwood aging and the population in [Wasaga] Beach growing, our thinking is hopefully, at some point in time... in the next five years we can get a new [replacement] school for Collingwood, and a school to accommodate the growth in Wasaga Beach,” he said
“There are other options being floated out there right now,” said Jeffs.
One of those options could be the possibility of partnerships between different levels of government to create community hubs. Some examples of successful school board hub partnerships Jeffs points to are in Angus where Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School was built in conjunction with the Angus branch of the Essa Public Library, as well as the Nottawasaga OPP detachment on the same property.
In Oro-Medonte Township, physical groundwork is starting on Line 4 North on a new elementary school and municipal recreation space hub.
“The municipalities would need to come together on something like that,” said Jeffs. “Before we can get there, we need to have a conversation with the ministry.”
Jeffs said this is why it was important for school board staff approve adding the Northwest Simcoe schools item as capital priority No. 10 this time around.
“It’s about signalling to the ministry that we have this region and we need to find a way to get to a secondary school accommodation plan that is going to work for those three communities for the long-term,” said Jeffs. “We really need their input into the solution.”
The current capacity of Collingwood Collegiate Institute and Stayner Collegiate Institute (the two public high schools within the catchment area), is 1,722 students. CCI on its own currently has an approximate student enrolment of 1,400.
“The way the ministry’s policies (work), this would be an ideal situation where we would undertake a pupil accommodation review,” said Jeffs.
A pupil accommodation review is an analysis of the student population of a specific area. Jeffs estimates it’s been about 10 years since a significant formal review was completed for this area.
Jeffs says the projected replacement value of Collingwood Collegiate Institute is $35.4 million. While the board does smaller repairs to the school regularly, a recent facility condition report found many of the mechanical and electrical components in the school are listed in poor condition. The school has been listed in fair to poor structural condition.
“We work hard to keep them afloat,” he said. “From a facility-condition perspective, it has some time left, but not a lot of time.”
Collingwood Collegiate Institute was originally built in 1953, opening to students on April 30, 1954.
In regards to Wasaga Beach, Jeffs says the board is planning for a secondary school in the municipality.
“There’s no doubt. It’s just a matter of when,” he said, further clarifying that a timeline on a new school in that area is between five and six years out. “By 2026, there’s a viable case for a school in Wasaga Beach.”
During a deputation to trustees during Wednesday night’s meeting, a presentation was received urging trustees to consider adding a Wasaga Beach secondary school to the list on its own. As part of the question and answer portion of the presentation, Collingwood’s moratorium on new development that was passed on Monday was mentioned by the deputants as a reason why Collingwood should not be considered for a new school.
The moratorium, passed at council on Monday night, is an interim control bylaw in place for one year, with an option to extend for two years, or lift the ban early. It means the town will not issue new building permits during that time while it works on updating planning policies and while the town works to expand its water treatment plant capacity.
Mayor Brian Saunderson addressed the comments in an interview with CollingwoodToday.ca on Friday.
“The interim control bylaw has a life of one year, and it’s certainly our hope that we will lift the bylaw... hopefully within six to eight months, so development can continue,” said Saunderson. “In addition, through my discussion with our trustee Tanya Snell, it’s very unlikely that work would be commencing on a school in Collingwood prior to 2025, when our new water plant would come online.”
“There are exemptions. For a significant infrastructure project like that, or say, for the hospital, if there were a reduced time frame, these projects would be done with the understanding that when the new facility is activated, the old facility is closed. So the water capacity issues ... would be a different case,” he said.
