A community group is backing a petition to B.C. Supreme Court this week to quash a land exchange along the western boundary of Victoria High School.
The goal of the court case is to allow a full-scale revitalization of the school’s Memorial Stadium to go ahead, something the Friends of Vic High say was sidelined when the Greater Victoria School District agreed to the land swap to allow an affordable-housing project to proceed.
The group noted that initial plans called for an eight-lane metric track, a turf field for multiple sports, lighting, a grandstand and a field house. That plan has been dialed back by the school district and now calls for a two-lane walking track and retention of the stadium’s north bleachers.
The school district reserved comment Thursday.
Vic High parent Brit Forsyth, who filed the B.C. Supreme Court petition, said a revitalization of Vic High’s athletic infrastructure was long overdue “after more than 50 years of neglect.”
The stadium dates back to 1949 and the track to 1951 — both were installed in memory of Vic High students who died in the Second World War.
“Over the past few years, I’ve been following and supporting the Friends of Vic High in their efforts to ensure equity rights for Vic High students, current and future,” Forsyth said in a statement. “The FOVH have implored the SD61 School Board, City of Victoria and the province to reinstate their commitment to the original Memorial Stadium Revitalization Project plans.”
Vic High, the oldest secondary school west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco, initially opened in 1876 as a log building at what is now Central Middle School. It’s currently undergoing a $79.7-million seismic improvement and expansion due for completion in January 2024.
In the meantime, students are attending the former S.J. Willis school on Topaz Avenue.
The Friends of Vic High said plans to fix up the stadium go back to 2007. A $7-million project was envisioned, with close to $600,000 raised by the Victoria High School Alumni Association, $100,000 committed by the Bays United Football Club and a $250,000 matching grant promised by the City of Victoria.
The stadium plan was followed by a proposed housing project involving the school district, the Capital Region Housing Corporation and B.C. Housing, to be made possible by the land exchange in an adjacent area.
The housing project got the green light in October 2021 from Victoria council, and will see 22 affordable-housing units replaced with 158.
While some have linked the housing project with the scaled-down stadium project, the school district has said the size of the stadium project was determined through consultation.
The district has previously said that decisions about the stadium were made before the housing project came into focus, and former secretary-treasurer Kim Morris said in 2020 that the track wasn’t a top priority during public engagement on school amenities.
She also said at the time that the track portion of the project put forward couldn’t go ahead “in terms of cost and scope.”
“I think given the scope of the project and the fundraising that had to be done, it wasn’t viable to continue to plan for it.”
Stephen Dorsey, a 1984 Vic High graduate who speaks on behalf of the Friends of Vic High, said members have found documents and correspondence that support their position that the land exchange wasn’t properly done.
“It’s been a long time coming for us to go this route,” he said. “We’re confident we’re on the right side of this.”
He expects action on the filing to proceed sometime in the summer.
The group fundraised to get the petition going and has maintained the services of Mulroney Siver Law.
Dorsey said in an interview that Vic High has been disadvantaged compared to other schools for more than 50 years due to government policy decisions.
“Aside from the seismic upgrades that were long overdue at Vic High, when you compare the resource investments in Vic High athletic facilities over the past 50 years with investments in other schools, the second-rate treatment Vic High receives is plain to see.”
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