A plan for a new French-language school on a portion of the grounds at Lansdowne Middle School’s north campus has taken a step forward with the District of Saanich’s conditional approval of the subdivision.
The 7.3-acre parcel, located on the western border of the grounds closest to Shelbourne, was sold by the Greater Victoria School District for $15 million in 2021 to B.C.’s French-language school board — the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, or CSF.
Funding for the purchase was provided by the provincial government.
Carving off that chunk of land leaves the middle school with 17.7 acres.
The conditional approval from Saanich requires the school board to approve a bylaw for the disposal of the land, including road dedications, statutory rights-of-way and easements, said school district secretary-treasurer Katrina Stride. Those measures will be considered at a special board meeting Oct. 10.
The CSF said it won’t comment on the project until after the meeting.
The subdivision plans include a road dedication on Lansdowne that would add to the existing pedestrian right of way, and another on Richmond that would provide space for a landscaped boulevard, a bike lane and a separate sidewalk — with the costs borne by the CSF.
There is also a call for a future right-turn lane at Lansdowne and Richmond that would require a piece of land five metres wide and 60 metres long.
As well, Saanich has requested a right-of-way from Taylor Avenue, at the southern edge of the grounds, to Richmond Road for a two-metre-wide asphalt walkway.
The CSF used to lease Sundance Elementary from the school district and named the facility École Beausoleil, but had to move after six years when the district needed the school back to deal with increasing enrolment. Sundance reopened as Sundance-Bank Elementary in 2021.
École Beausoleil relocated to a temporary 12-unit modular facility built on the grounds of Braefoot Elementary, where it’s expected to stay until the new building is completed.
The province contributed $9.9 million to build the modular facility and another $1.4 million to add a gym.
École Beausoleil, which had 109 students in the 2023-24 school year, is one of 47 French-language public schools with a total of more than 6,300 students overseen by the CSF in B.C.
Other CSF schools on Vancouver Island include Victoria’s École Victor-Brodeur, Duncan’s École des Cascades, Nanaimo’s École Océane, Campbell River’s École Mer-et-Montagne, Port Alberni’s Écoles des Grands Cèdres and Comox’s École Au-coeur-de-l’île.
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