ARC PRESENTATION

Accommodation Review Committee 2010:02 Barrie Secondary Schools

October 26, 2010

Hello, my name is Cindy Giller and I have been a resident in the Downtown core for over 25 years. I live in an historical home with in walking distance of the downtown core. A home I have lovingly restored so I am aware of the issues of restoration of historical buildings.  Although not to the degree we are talking out when it comes to Central. As well I am a member of the Barrie Downtown Neighbourhood Association and I sit on the Steering Committee as well as co-chair for Long Term Planning and Property Standards. The Barrie Downtown Neighbourhood Association is working with the city, the BIA, the Historical Strategies committee and the Barrie Police Force, to promote a safe, healthy, accessible city centre. Our goal is to make the downtown core the Heart and Soul of our community: inclusive and culturally diverse. It’s a big task and one our committee takes very seriously.  I am here representing the Association since many of our members have expressed a concern over Central Collegiate closing.

NEED

CENTRAL-----Founded in 1843 it is the only high school in downtown Barrie. There is a lot of human and emotional attachment to the school and it represents a part of the city’s heritage and history. With the W. A. Fisher Auditorium it is rich in culture, it is diversified as well, offering exceptional services to area students and servicing those in need of support with the Young Parent Program.

There is no denying that we need educational institutions in the downtown core. As the School Board has expressed they are well aware of the PLACES TO GROW ACT (2005) and THE SIMCOE AREA: A STRATEGIC VISION FOR GROWTH (2009) “designed specifically to manage the funding to rebuild and renew Ontario’s public infrastructure, which includes schools. It states that the population target for the City of Barrie to be 180,000 to 210,000 people by 2031. Thus, the city centre will be designated as an URBAN GROWTH CENTRE (pg 26 Historical Neighbourhood Strategy) it is a focal area for investment in institutional and region wide services. It is expected to service a high employment centre and to accommodate a significant share of population growth.

Now the School Board states that there is a declining rate of enrolment at Central but with such a strategic Growth Plan in place we all know that enrolment at the school will increase in the future or at least remain constant. With the expansion of Hillcrest they are already aiming to meet the projection at the elementary level. So why close the school at the secondary level during a period of time which enrolment is decreasing for only a short period of time instead of making adjustments to ride this time frame out.

 REMEMBER that the city center is slated for population growth and EMPLOYMENT!!!!  EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IS A KEY FACTOR IN THIS EQUATION!!! It is not the elderly or marginal people who will fill this task. It is going to be the youth and young professional people who will be meeting the EMPLOYMENT CRITEREA. And there is no data which supports that these hard working individuals will be childless. On the contrary, these professionals will have young families with growing children and will expect that exceptional schools, both elementary and secondary will be available in the city centre. Professionals will want to live downtown. WHO wouldn’t? ….. Why? …. because it has so much to offer. Barrie needs these young families to support the area and the first thing they are going to scout for is exceptional schools for their children. Downtown Barrie already has this. It is also a misconception that young people will want to live in the sprawling suburbs. Many will want a diversified, cultural area steeped in history where they can walk to work along side of their children going to school. A romantic idea perhaps but within the city of Barrie we have the framework for an exceptional living area for new families if we work together on this vision. A vision which is supported by the both the provincial and federal government. A secondary school in the city centre will be a necessity.

                                                FUNDING

Let’s talk funding since the Simcoe County School District Board has clearly indicated that it did submit a business case to rebuild Barrie Central Collegiate but that the Ministry has indicated that funding to replace Barrie Central will not be approved because increasing enrolment in the NEW south end.  Now who represents the Ministry since this is the person representing the people in the area? The Board would not submit a plan unless it felt that the plan warranted the need. By submitting the plan it in itself indicated they want Central to remain open but that it is the Ministry who is not supportive. How did this happen…..Rumour has it that behind closed doors negotiations were held indicating that the Board was no longer supportive of keeping Central open. On paper looking supportive, but in reality acting otherwise. This concern was brought up at one of our meetings. How can the Board write one thing and then support another notion. Where is the transparency of honest attempts to keep Central open?… Also, the school Broad closed King Edward stating it to be too expensive to operate as a school. It was closed which was a great upset to local residents and students just reopen again as a school. It had to be financially viable otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.

                                                        SAFETY

On the Board website dated January 15, 2010 the Simcoe County School Board states that  “Any major renewal work will necessitate the removal of contained asbestos and result in significant renewal project costs``. Then several paragraphs latter it states ``In the event that a school building is deemed unsafe for occupancy```   DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT THE ASBESTOS IS SAFELY CONTAINED. I find this very interesting because for years the school board has indicated otherwise ensuring both its students and employee’s that their learning and working environment was safe. I believe there are still many schools in the old Barrie area with asbestos.  Hillcrest which is going to be receiving considerable dollars to expand to meet the needs of a growing population in downtown Barrie was one of them. Has the board made an attempt to remove it from Hillcrest ….If so then the funding for ASBESTOS removal must be attainable? Or are they just going to leave the ASBESTOS in Hillcrest-Codrington. The Board can’t wavier on such an important issue as the safety of the children. Either Asbestos is a problem or not. The Board can’t play it both ways.

 If the issue is the HEATING SYSTEM then I am surprised at why the Board waited so long to fix it. The government has offered financial support for changing to new improved heating systems and I am curious as to why the Board did not attempt to get financing for this. Better yet Central can be a leading example of new wind and solar energy. In the long term visions of keeping a piece of history schools all across Europe have maintained their historical buildings so I don’t understand why we are having difficulty with the process of updating the present building. Contact Laurentian University or Georgian College and challenge them to get their design and engineering students to take this on as a project for the school to under take. I am sure the youth are up to the challenge. They are educated and open minded.  I thought that the City of Barrie was going to be designated as part of a new GREEN incentive and that more funding was going to be made available to the city to reflect this. The School Board needs to think outside the box.

                                                            ZONING

In 2009, the City of Barrie approved a new comprehensive zoning by-law. The updated zoning by-law has created a new institutional zone for schools which means that school

 land is now zoned for no other purpose than a school. Any changes to this use will require a public process under the planning act which I believe the ARC committee is.

 Property in the city center will soon become scarce and expensive to buy. I am concerned that once the School Board gives up such an important Footprint it will never again have the opportunity to relocate in such a strategic area.

Fortunately there was a local election last night. The BDNA decided to do its own  pole with the running candidates; all intelligent,  business oriented people who would represent the taxpayers. The results were that all mayoral candidates support keeping Central open excluding one person who did not respond to the email. The two top running counsellors of Ward 2, Lynn and Rosie both supported Central staying open. It is pretty well unanimous that 7 out of 8 contacted support Central staying put. Although I don’t want to speak for our new  mayor, I do know he has always supported keeping functioning schools in the downtown core and feels strongly as we do that schools are a key factor in the new growth plan.

We need Central.  Change it, modify it to meet the growing expectation of the area but don’t close it.