CENTRE WELLINGTON – Township staff are looking to sell land to the Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) which would allow the board to add a Catholic high school in Fergus.
A press release from the township said staff are recommending council approve declaring Strathallan Park as surplus, intending this land to go to the WCDSB for school expansion. St. Joseph Catholic School is adjacent to the park.
The WCDSB has proposed adding space to St. Joseph Catholic School in north Fergus to make it kindergarten to Grade 12 school. This would accommodate 492 Grade 9 through 12 students in 11 classrooms, four technical/vocational rooms, three science labs, two music and art rooms and one special education resource room.
There is no Catholic high school in Fergus, Centre Wellington or Wellington County.
The board is also looking to expand the elementary school which is over capacity.
“The recommendation by township staff includes declaring Strathallan Park as surplus for the purpose of selling the property to the WCDSB strictly for institutional purposes,” the release stated.
“Prior to any secondary school’s development, the park will continue to operate and be maintained by the township.”
The sale of the land would be conditional on the approval of the Ministry of Education, making the surplus declaration a first step in this process.
By declaring this property surplus, the press release stated the following can proceed:
- The township can sell the property to WCDSB.
- Strengthen WCDSB’s application for expansion. For the WCDSB to support their application for the school addition with the Ministry of Education, they need to own the property where the school and school grounds would expand.
- WCDSB can proceed with rezoning the property to meet their institutional purposes while maintaining the existing Open Space Recreation zoning
