The following letter was delivered to residents in the Cloverley neighbourhood on September 29, 2023.
Dear Cloverley Neighbourhood Residents,
In June 2023, the Province announced funding for a new elementary school in the Cloverley neighbourhood.
The North Vancouver School District is now planning for this new
elementary school. We are reaching out at this time to share information
about the project, including key dates and where you can find more
information.
The school
The new elementary school will provide facilities to meet the
modern-day and future needs of teaching and learning, student and staff
well-being, energy and efficiency standards, and community connections.
The school’s enrolment capacity will accommodate 60 Kindergarten
and 525 elementary students, for a total design capacity of 585
students. The project scope includes funding for a neighbourhood
learning centre space, Greenhouse Gas reduction measures, and
construction with mass timber. In addition, the City of North Vancouver
has committed $3.5 million towards the construction of a new child care
centre to be co-located on site.
Key dates and upcoming work
We anticipate
construction to start fall 2024, with the new school ready to welcome
students and staff in time for the 2026-27 school year. Key dates
include:
- Early 2024: Anticipated start of demolition of existing closed school.
- June 2024: Design completion of new school.
- August 2024: Anticipated start of construction.
- June 2026: Anticipated completion of construction.
- Summer 2026: Occupancy and furnishing of the new school.
- September 2026: Opening of the new school to students and staff.
Over
the summer, a number of consulting investigations required for project
delivery began (e.g., geotechnical investigation, surveying the property
for underground utilities, arborist inventory and assessment, etc.).
This work is ongoing and will continue while the school design work is
underway.
As a result of the arborist’s inventory and assessment
of the health and condition of all trees on the property, any trees
deemed by the arborist to be in poor health and in need of mitigation
will soon be identified by signage. Workers will be on site working on
the identified trees as early as October.
Also in early October,
contractors will be on site to complete a geotechnical investigation.
Drilling to determine existing underlying soil conditions could begin as
early as 7:30 a.m., in accordance with local municipal bylaws.
More information
There will be opportunities during the school design and
development process to learn about the project scope and design, and to
ask questions. Please look for continued communication in the fall when
we anticipate hosting a public information meeting. In the interim, we
encourage you to keep current on the project by visiting the
Capital Plan and Projects section of the school district website.
We
are excited that in a few short years, families in the Cloverley
neighbourhood will be able to send their children to a new, modern and
safe school, and we look forward to sharing updates with you.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to
fpadmin@sd44.ca.
Respectfully,
Dr. Pius Ryan
Superintendent of Schools
Kulvir Mann
Chair, Board of Education