Media Room

News Release

Halifax Regional Council Considers School Plans

(Friday, January 19/2001)-- Mayor Peter Kelly said today the proposed new replacement for the Halifax West High School on the Mainland Common, coupled with existing playing fields and the new Keshen Goodman Library now being built, will create a campus-like setting in that area.

Mayor Kelly said the Halifax Regional Library Service's newest facility will complement the new $26 million high school, scheduled to open in the fall of 2002, and provide an excellent resource for students and residents in that area.

Halifax Regional Council has agreed to provide the Nova Scotia Department of Education with a parcel of municipally-owned, serviced land on the Mainland Common, in the Lacewood Drive-Regency Drive area of Clayton Park, for construction of the new school. The value of the serviced land is in excess of $1 million.

Both District 15 Councillor Russell Walker ((Fairview- Clayton Park) and District 16 Councillor Diana Whalen (Rockingham-Clayton Park West) welcomed the announcement of the new high school.

Councillor Walker said he is pleased the Halifax West High School students will be getting a brand new facility, and that the new school will meet the projected future student population needs in the area.

Councillor Whalen said construction of the new school will move ahead plans for a new access road in the area, which will help ease potential traffic congestion at the new library, as well as open up new lands for residential development.

Both the Mayor and the Councillors said that HRM was pleased to assist the Department of Education and the Halifax Regional School Board find a solution to help alleviate the serious concerns in the community about plans to renovate the existing Halifax West High School building. Repair estimates run as high as $11.4 million.

There were also a number of other provisions in the agreement, and Halifax Regional Council has asked staff to continue to negotiate with the Department of Education and the Halifax Regional School Board on these issues.

They include:

• Students at the new high school would have access on a priority basis to the adjacent athletic fields maintained by HRM.
  
• The existing site of the Halifax West High School (as is) would be returned to HRM for its use or disposal.
• The current site of St. Patrick's High School on Quinpool Road would remain in the ownership of the Province of Nova Scotia for a new school to be constructed in the future.
• The current site of Queen Elizabeth High School on Robie Street would be transferred to the ownership of the Province of Nova Scotia once it is no longer used as a school site.
• The Nova Scotia Community College (Bell Road Campus) will be transferred (as is) to HRM once it is no longer utilized as a community college.

Regional Council wants assurances from the Province that both the current Halifax West High School and the Community College (Bell Road Campus) sites are free from any environmental complications before they are transferred over to HRM.

The Mayor and Council also want to ensure that the existing St. Patrick's High School site will revert to HRM in the event that it is NOT used as a school site in the future.

HRM will encourage the Department of Education to put in place a public consultation process which will provide citizens an opportunity to express their views on the proposed future plans for both St. Patrick's High School and Queen Elizabeth High School.

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Mayor Peter Kelly
(902) 490-4010

District 15 Councillor Russell Walker
(902) 443-8010

District 16 Councillor Diana Whalen
(902) 490-4766