The future site of the new Harry Balfour, located next to Five Mile Hall (Photo: Shaun Penner)

By Liam Verster

New School

County Council to send a letter to School Division, granting access to new school site

Nov 28, 2019 | 5:00 AM

The Peace Wapiti Public School Division will soon have access to the future site of a new school to replace Harry Balfour.

On Monday, County of Grande Prairie Council voted in favour of writing a letter to grant the school division access to the property next to Five Mile Hall.

Superintendent of the Peace Wapiti Public School Division Bob Stewart says once they get the letter permitting them access to the land, they can complete a geotechnical report, and a phase one environmental assessment.

“The geotechnical report basically reports on the soil conditions. So, it checks for soil conditions to determine the best type of construction, based on depth of the bedrock and the type of soil that’s there on that land. And the phase one environmental assessment helps determine if there’s any foreign matters in the soil such as residue from, say, an abandoned well site, or maybe a gas station that was situated on or near the land in the past.”

Stewart adds that they will also have to perform a one-to-500 year flood plane study, to show it isn’t an area known to flood.

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Depending on the outcome of the studies, extra work may have to be done.

“So, for the phase one of the environmental assessment, if we found foreign matter, we would need to perform a site remediation and clean it up, which would add to the total cost of the project.”

Once council’s letter is written, signed, and delivered to the school division, work can commence right away. Stewart says he’s already spoken with the Director of Maintenance and Facilities, and has been assured that the work can be done any time of the year.

After the work is completed, the school division will approach the Province for funding to build the school. Earlier this month, the province announced it would pay to design the school.

County Council has not yet written the letter to the school division, but Stewart says he hopes it will be ready and delivered sometime in the coming weeks, so work on the future site of a new K-8 school can begin right away.