Catholic board step closer to site for new London school

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Printed Dec 03, 2024 • Final up to date 5 hours in the past • 3 minute learn

London metropolis council’s planning and atmosphere committee voted Tuesday to take away this home at 1927 Richmond St. from town’s heritage registry. The London District Catholic college board says it has entered into an settlement with the house’s proprietor to purchase the property for a brand new highschool. {Photograph} taken on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)

A plan to demolish an almost 150-year-old north London residence and construct a Catholic highschool on the positioning, a prime precedence for the fast-growing London-area Catholic board, cleared a key hurdle Tuesday.

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All 5 members of metropolis council’s planning and atmosphere committee – councillors Steve Lehman, Shawn Lewis, Peter Cuddy, Elizabeth Peloza and Steven Hillier – gave their assist, with out a phrase, to take away a house at 1927 Richmond St. from the heritage registry.

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The London District Catholic college board stated it has an settlement with the house’s proprietor to purchase the property to construct a highschool.

The 2-storey residence south of Sunningdale Street, in-built 1877 in response to a metropolis workers report, fell wanting assembly the minimal threshold of two of 9 standards for cultural, historic or architectural significance to qualify for heritage safety.

Metropolis workers advisable eradicating the house from the heritage registry, regardless of 18 of the 22 letters despatched to the committee calling for the constructing to be preserved.

“The workers report was fairly clear, the (planning) advisory committee was superb with taking it off the heritage record,” Lehman, the committee chair, stated of the committee’s resolution. “Regardless that right this moment we weren’t actually discussing zoning for a faculty, I believe that was behind lots of people’s heads.”

Throughout a gathering of the planning advisory committee in November, the manager superintendent of enterprise and company companies for London District Catholic board stated in a letter the board had entered into an settlement to buy the property and surrounding land for a brand new highschool.

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“The institution of a brand new Catholic highschool on this location is essential to offering sufficient academic companies to the world,” Debbie Jordan wrote. “Given the deliberate growth for low-, medium-, and high-density housing on this space, there can be a major scarcity of house for college students.”

In one other letter to the committee for Tuesday’s assembly, Jordan emphasised the scarcity of highschool house in north London, the dearth of different land, and the proximity of the CF Masonville Place transit hub.

A brand new north London highschool has been on the prime of the London District Catholic board’s wish-list for a while, with enrolment pressures forcing the board to spend $5 million on 57 transportable school rooms at its faculties.

The London-based Catholic board, the quickest rising Catholic board in Ontario, gained greater than 1,500 college students this yr for a complete of 27,500 college students at 54 faculties. The board has added almost 6,400 college students since 2020, sufficient to fill about 20 elementary faculties.

Whether or not a faculty is in the end constructed on the land will rely funding on from the province. The board already has submitted a proper request for a secondary college in northwest London to accommodate 2,000 college students.

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Lehman stated he’s seen college boards run into bother earlier than requesting and getting approval for a brand new college from the province, however not having the land or zoning out there.

“That is one alternative perhaps to get the horse in entrance of the cart, so to talk, in perhaps allocating some land for a faculty,” he stated. “Hopefully the varsity board can get the OK from the province to reap the benefits of this.”

Metropolis council nonetheless has to offer remaining approval to the committee suggestion to take away the house from the heritage registry.

The inhabitants of London and Middlesex County, already dealing with steep inhabitants progress lately, is anticipated to swell by greater than 50 per cent through the subsequent 25 years, placing stress on all the pieces from residence constructing, to well being care and faculties.

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