The roof of North Vancouver School District’s long-shuttered Lucas Centre has collapsed, raising safety concerns about the decaying building and questions about what should happen with the property.
Sometime on Tuesday, June 25, two sections of the gymnasium roof experienced “localized failures” and caved in, according to a statement from school district spokesperson Alex Yallouz.
“Out of an abundance of caution, construction fencing has been installed on site. After-hours security patrol has been implemented as an additional safety measure while we develop plans to partially demolish the impacted section of the Lucas Centre building,” she said, adding that the school district has hired architectural, structural and mechanical engineering consultants, as well as a demolition contractor to assess the building.
Yallouz said they do periodic safety checks of the 1955 building, and the roof’s collapse was unforeseen.
It did not come as a surprise to neighbours, however, said Pamela Pike, president of the Hamilton Heights Neighbourhood Association, which has long been lobbying the North Vancouver school district to “come up with a plan” for the rotting building and surrounding lands.
“It has deteriorated rapidly over the last five years, for sure, and it’s a huge risk to people,” she said, adding that the building is frequently used by squatters. “There is no care or concern for the building, for the property, for the neighbourhood and so we’re left… holding the bag.”
The last educational programs running out of the Lucas Centre moved out in 2012. The school district’s maintenance department does still use a portion of the rear of the building for its base of operations. Prior to being known as the Lucas Centre, the building was Hamilton Junior High School.
Yallouz said they are hoping to have the plans for the demolition finished by mid-July and the work could take upwards of three months, depending on the availability of crews.
The school district had already applied to the Ministry of Education and Child Care for funding to demolish the unused portions of the building prior to the collapse, but in March, the ministry rejected that request, Yallouz noted.
Because of the risks the building presents, including structural issues, asbestos and mould, North Vancouver City Fire Department members have been instructed not to enter if it were to catch fire, Fire Chief Greg Schalk confirmed. Instead, crews would only attack the flames from the outside and prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby homes, he said.
What to do with the lands?
In 2014, the school district floated plans to redevelop the site, presenting proposals ranging from 51 single-family homes, to towers of up to 14 storeys holding as many as 354 new apartments. But the school board backed off the plans and the building has been left mostly fallow since.
Pike says she doesn’t think there is any consensus among the residents on what should go on the property, but she said if it is residential redevelopment, the same transportation issues that arose a decade ago will come up again. There are only two roads in and out of the neighbourhood and the nearest bus stop on Marine Drive is about a 15-minute walk away from the property.
The entire five-hectare lot was last assessed at $92.4 million
The property has gravel and grass sports fields and access to trails along Mackay Creek to the west.
Yallouz said there are currently no future development plans for the site but discussions are ongoing.
The statement does note it is “a large and well-located property, suitable for many potential future uses” including a purpose-built maintenance facility for the school district and the accommodation of anticipated growth in student enrolment, as more development comes to the area – particularly the redevelopment of Capilano Mall about 700 metres due south.
A statement from City of North Vancouver staff said there are “no ongoing discussions with the school board on the future use or redevelopment of the Lucas Centre site.”
Whatever the future holds, Pike said the neighbours are stakeholders, though they haven’t had any direct communication about the Lucas Centre or future use of the site in years.
“We are supposed to be privy and part of the conversations and I think the neighbourhood feels like we have not been,” she said.
