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The plan to build a new North Vancouver elementary school that was given tentative thumbs up two years ago is still being reviewed by the province, but with a higher price tag attached.
Back in the spring of 2020, a new Cloverley elementary school in North Vancouver was one of only seven in the province short-listed for more intensive evaluation by the Ministry of Education. Usually that means approval is on the way, said North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma at the time.
Most recently, the ministry asked school district planners to come up with new cost estimates, recognizing “there’s been some fairly large project escalation costs,” said Jim McKenzie, facilities managers for the North Vancouver School District, at a recent public school board meeting.
The ministry is now reviewing those.
Building costs have increased
Initial cost estimates to build the school five years ago were slightly less than $22 million. But new cost estimates could potentially double that. More recent estimates of costs to replace other elementary schools in North Vancouver have ranged from $43 million to $48 million.
The plan to build a new school at the site of the old Cloverley Elementary at the corner of Cloverley Street and Hendry Avenue has been on the school district’s wish list for the past four years.
The school district hopes a new school will take enrolment pressures off filled-to-bursting neighbouring elementary schools, as well as provide a school for new housing developments in areas like Moodyville.
One big advantage of the Cloverley plan is the land already belongs to the schools district, so the province wouldn’t have to find and pay for a site, or go through a redevelopment process.
Cloverley has been closed as a public school since 1982. At one point, the school district considered selling the property for residential development. However, no proposal was ever formally submitted to the City of North Vancouver.
Cloverley is just one of the new elementary schools on the North Vancouver school district’s wish list.
LoLo elementary still on wish list
The school district has also asked the Ministry of Education for approval to build another $43 million elementary school for 465 students in Lower Lonsdale. That school would require the province to buy land for the school. McKenzie said preliminary estimates of how much a school site would cost are in the range of $58 million.
McKenzie said once the school district has approval from the province, staff would start looking to see what land might be available.
The school district is also still awaiting final approvals on a plan to expand Lynn Valley Elementary.
Lynnmour expansion high priority
After that, the district’s top priority is to expand Lynnmour Elementary from its current capacity of 270 students up to 510 students at a cost of about $21.5 million. “We’ve been seeing a lot of pressure down at Lynnmour Elementary,” said McKenzie.
Other items on the wish include expanding Carson Graham Secondary from a capacity of 1,100 students to 1,400 students at an estimated cost of $22 million, an expansion of Queensbury Elementary from 270 students to 420 students at an estimated cost of $9 million, and an expansion of Westview Elementary from 245 students to 345 students at an estimated cost of $6.7 million. The district also wants to expand Larson Elementary from 440 students to 535 students at an estimated cost of $7.5 million.
Seymour Heights, Ross Road replacements also needed
Other major capital projects on the long-range wish list include two school replacements: a plan to replace both the existing Seymour Heights and Blueridge elementary schools with a larger combined 585-student Seymour Heights school at an estimated cost of $48 million, and a plan to replace Ross Road Elementary with a larger 535-student school at a cost of about $45.6 million.
Each year, school districts submit their wish lists for school capital projects to the Ministry of Education and the ministry usually announces approved projects in the spring.
