Developers show sites province won't build
Winnipeg Free Press
Monday November 1 2004
By Nick Martin
DEVELOPERS' plans are currently showing at least 14 sites for new schools in Winnipeg's booming suburbs -- schools the Doer government has said it has no plans to build.
Parents who buy a new home expecting their kids to go to a neighbourhood school may see a school site on a subdivision plan, but the provincial government says children in the suburbs first have to fill empty desks in older neighbourhoods.
Trustees and superintendents say builders, developers and real estate agents are leading prospective homebuyers to believe that new schools will be built. Developers counter that they're required to set aside land and mark it as school reserve on their subdivision plans.
Nine of the proposed school sites are in Louis Riel School Division, where the provincial government has refused to build new schools in Island Lakes, Royalwood and River Park South, because there are empty seats in older schools throughout the division.
"This issue has been a bone of contention for trustees for many years," said Carolyn Duhamel, executive director of the Manitoba Association of School Trustees. "They either suggest, or make direct commitments to potential buyers, about schools on those sites.
"School boards have been frustrated by this -- it sets up communities with expectations that the school divisions cannot meet," said Duhamel. Louis Riel School Division board chairwoman Louise Johnston said she recently met with Education Minister Peter Bjornson and the Public Schools Finance Board (PSFB), and got the familiar message -- no new schools as long as there are empty desks in older schools.
Qualico land development manager Eric Vogan emphasized that "we're always very careful in our literature to say they're proposed sites. We refer (potential buyers) to the school division to get the real skinny."
Vogan said the PSFB should be taking heat for not approving schools where families need them.
"If there's a bunch of kids in Island Lakes, where do you take them? Do you send them to Marion School?" several kilometres to the north, Vogan asked. "Eventually, the PSFB has to get its head out of the sand and realize it has to accommodate new growth. The PSFB is going to have to shape up."
Island Lakes parent activist Anne Thomson and her family have recently moved into a new home directly across from the crammed Island Lakes Community School, to ensure her kids could enrol. But they earlier lived on Smuggler's Cove in Island Lakes, where Thomson says a builder that has since gone out of business assured them a school was soon to be built.
"It even had a sign that said 'future school.' That's why we bought on Smuggler's Cove," which is now the site of soccer fields, said Thomson. "There was also a sign on Waterfront Drive that said 'future school,'" a property which is now a park -- but both still appearing on Qualico subdivision maps as 'school reserve.' The Qualico website for River Park South shows that land has been set aside in five sites for "proposed schools."
Qualico's website says that in Riverbend in Seven Oaks School Division, "the future school facilities will be close at hand -- so close, in fact, that your kids can come home for lunch!"
In Richmond West, say both the Qualico and Ladco websites, "an elementary school already exists in the area, and there is a proposal for a second one in the future."
Genstar's website shows a school site in Linden Woods next to the Victoria Community Centre, and a school site on Leila Avenue in the Amber Trails development. The company has a school site set aside in Canterbury Park in Transcona.
Ladco says, "Royalwood is expected to include three parks and two schools."
Developers argue that they're caught in the middle -- they're required to make land available for schools that may never be built, and show those sites on their plans.
"(School divisions) have the opportunity to determine where they think their school needs are," said Jerry Klein, Genstar's general manager.
Klein said it is a mistake that his company's website still shows a school site in Linden Woods. Pembina Trails School Division has already decided the property is too small and in the wrong location to meet its needs, said superintendent Paul Moreau.
Genstar now hopes to build multi-family housing on that site, Klein said: "It's not the greatest situation -- you have to go back after the fact and hope it's compatible." A developer who did not want to be identified said the criticism is unfair. Developers are required by the city to set aside lots for schools and to post signs so potential buyers know what the land is designated for.
"We're directed to do so."
But the developers have no control over whether the school division actually develops a school on the site, he said.
Ladco referred inquiries to the provincial branch of housing and renewal. Garth Steek, president of the Manitoba Home Builders Association, has not returned a series of calls over the past week.
"We have a lot of infrastructure challenges," Bjornson said in an interview. "For them to be advertising there will be new schools, that's completely irresponsible -- unless the developers are prepared to build the schools themselves."
"We're never clear what developers are telling homebuyers about future schools," said Moreau.
Another school in Richmond West "is certainly not near the top of our list," said Moreau. "It's safe to say, that's not going to happen."
Seven Oaks School Division superintendent Brian O'Leary said the division does not need the Genstar property in Amber Trails, because it has empty desks elsewhere.
"It was acquired 15 years ago, but as development has occurred in the Maples area, we are unlikely to see it, as we are able to accommodate students from the Amber Trails area into our current schools," he said. Seven Oaks has asked for an elementary school in Riverbend in its five-year capital forecast. "In the Riverbend area, we're anticipating probably about 500 additional homes, and have acquired a site," O'Leary said.
When she was a St. Boniface trustee, MAST's Duhamel heard from homeowners in Island Lakes. "Year after year, people would come forward angry, 'you promised us a school.' The school board did not promise a school, the developer did," she said.
The Winnipeg Real Estate Board cautions agents to advise potential homebuyers to contact the local school division for the most accurate information on schools, said a spokesman.