Zoning delay on Kanata lands has School District seeking answers from City of Prince Rupert

Slow progress by City Council on
rezoning the Kanata School
lands for housing have SD52
Board members concerned

As part of last week's School District 52 board meeting, members expressed a concern over the delay by the City of Prince Rupert to address zoning issues related to the Kanata School lands.

The School District is anxious to see the zoning issues move forward, so they can move ahead with using the funds to be received from the Property sale towards a number of capital projects.

The process of removing the land from the School District's ownership began back in 2014 when the School District first outlined it's plans for the proposed sale of the land.

Since that time, the land has since been sold to a developer and entered into what is turning into a lengthy review period by City Council when it comes to rezoning the land for residential use.

The topic of zoning was once again up for discussion at the December 7th Council session the only Council meeting that was scheduled in December.

However at that time, with an apparent split on council when it comes to the concept of developing housing in the community,  it was then recommended that the issue be deferred until  2016, though it did not appear on the agenda of the January 11th Council session and has yet to be discussed in public this month.

Some of the background on the Kanata School land zoning issues can be found from our notes from Council from 2015.

December 9 -- Kanata School land zoning review to be delayed until January
September 2 -- East Side Residents to get first look at Kanata school property housing proposals next week
August 20 -- Housing issues again dominate Council's attention, leading to some heated discussion
July 23 -- Kanata School lands rezoning sparks more discussion at Council
July 20 -- Council to move on Kanata School rezoning tonight
June 13 -- SD52 set to close deal for Kanata School Property
May 16 -- Location, Location, Location!  SD52 puts Kanata School property on the market
April 17 -- Prince Rupert Council may have some fences to mend with the School District
April 16 -- Despite concerns from School District 52, Prince Rupert Council moves Quickload Terminals rezoning forward

The School District's concerns were outlined as part of the Highlights of the January 12th School Board meeting, the thoughts related to the Kanata Property issue can be reviewed below:

In June 2015 the Board of Education approved the sale of the Kanata property, subject to the rezoning of the property by the City of Prince Rupert. The Board expressed its concern with delays in the rezoning process by directing the Chair to write a letter to the City of Prince Rupert expressing its concerns. Sale of the property will provide funds which the district can apply to capital projects.

More notes on the January 12th School Board meeting can be found here.

Further background on City Council Discussions related to housing can be found here, while notes on items of interest from School District 52 developments can be found on our Education Archive page.