Land deal to relieve overcrowded school in northwest London divides councillors

Sir Arthur Currie Public School on Buroak Drive in London, Ont., Sept 22, 201. (Daryl Newcombe / CTV News)

Just five years after opening, Sir Arthur Currie Public School accommodates half of its students in 22 portables that crowd its playground.

However, an agreement to expedite construction of a second public school in northwest London is dividing council along ideological lines.

Auburn Developments has offered to sell a property on the south side of Sunningdale Road to the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) if city hall permits housing to instead be constructed in a property on the north side of the road, abutting the city’s Urban Growth Boundary.

The TVDSB believes avoiding expropriation could accelerate construction of a new school in northwest London.

In 2017, Sir Arthur Currie P.S. opened for 530 students, but now has an enrolment of about 1,000.

On Tuesday, the Planning and Environment Committee debated zoning changes required by the proposed land deal.

Coun. Stephen Turner suggested that the land deal circumvents the municipality’s established planning process.

“We talk about the community benefit, but that’s almost Machiavellian by framing it that the ends justify the means,” he told his committee colleagues.

“I’m concerned about this and I think it sets a really inappropriate precedent,” Turner added.

Coun. Jesse Helmer said TVDSB has the option to expropriate the necessary land, warning the proposed land deal will only fuel more housing construction and demand for even more schools.

“We are really accelerating the residential [construction] at a time when we really need to be accelerating the school building,” Helmer explained.

Councillors who support the land deal pushed back against claims it would contribute to urban sprawl into farmland.

“This is not sprawl. This is within the Urban Growth Boundary,” argued Coun. Shawn Lewis.

The committee voted 4-1 to support the rezoning.

Deputy Mayor Josh Morgan says the land deal will see a new school built sooner and at a lower cost to taxpayers by avoiding expropriation.

“What we have are two willing partners in the school board and the developer to find a negotiated path forward,” says Morgan. “Free of expropriation.”

City council will make its final decision May 3.