About 4.25 ha of valuable urban forest are at risk as the Province of NS has asked the HRM to turn over the Park West School Park land for a new school. This is not the optimal site for a new school to be built. There are other, better sites that will not rob Park West School students of their forest land.
HRM residents tired of losing park land due to the short sightedness of public officials must contact their councillors NOW. This goes to council on FEBRUARY 7, 2023. This petition must go in for February 2. Please sign, and then contact the HRM Council to express your wishes to save our park land!
HRM council declared a climate emergency. Forested land sequesters carbon, protects against urban heat island effects, shelters wildlife and promotes biodiversity.
If a second school is needed, why not build it closer to where students are travelling from, perhaps in areas that are building up like Washmill Lake or Wentworth Street or that are due to build up shortly, like the Seton Ridge development? Putting schools close to residential areas saves bussing and driving.
Otherwise, why not build the current school up?
One argument for the site is to share the school field. It is not fenced in as required, and is not sized nor tended as a sports field. If the current school is over-subscribed and that is part of the rationale for this site, how does it make sense to plan to share resources?
If other sites are not available because of developers holding rights to them, then now is a good time to begin considering requiring developers to consider future public amenity needs in their planning. If you plan to build a residential community of 7,000 people for instance, as Seton Ridge is planned for, why does the developer not have to confer with the province and municipality NOW for a plan for school service, just as they do for plumbing and roads?
The potential school site is located between the Mainland Trail and Raleigh Court, across the playing field from Park West School, a P-9 school, off Radcliffe Drive.
