A new middle school in Langford could be opening its doors within the next few years.
Details of the purchase of a three-hectare property on Gateway Road, near Costco, for the middle school for $25 million were announced Monday, with the province providing about $21 million and the school district putting up close to $4 million.
Three to five years is the usual time it takes from buying land to completing a school project, said Sooke School Board chair Amanda Dowhy.
Work currently underway to complete a retaining wall and other measures is part of the purchase agreement, Dowhy said.
The site is directly across the road from a previously announced secondary-school project, to be located on a 4.8-hectare piece of land purchased four years ago for $20 million.
Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson said the newest land purchase is “fantastic news.”
A new middle school is “very much needed and it can’t come soon enough,” he said. “Our schools are absolutely filled, we’ve got portables.”
Amenities at the two schools could include all-weather playing fields or a track that would benefit the larger community as well, said Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar, former chair of the Sooke School Board.
Dowhy said that providing enough space for students in the fast-growing school district is an ongoing concern for the school board and district officials.
She said the district has seen growth throughout Langford and at all age levels. “We’re seeing it all across the board right now as new families continue to move into our communities.”
There will be some relief when SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ Elementary School is completed in 2025 — although it is expected to be at or near its 480-student capacity when it opens, Dowhy said. Modular additions at Ruth King and David Cameron elementaries should help, as well, she said.
PEXSISEN Elementary opened in 2022 is already full and Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School, also opened in 2022, is getting close to capacity, Dowhy said.
The other priorities in the school district's capital plan include an elementary school on Flint Avenue in north Langford, an elementary school in the Royal Bay area of Colwood, and an elementary school in the vicinity of Sooke’s Sunriver Estates.
Land has been secured for all of those projects.
The district’s student population has grown by 40 per cent in the past 15 years and is now up to 13,700. That is expected to jump to 16,000 by 2030.
