ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Canadian Rockies Public Schools Superintendent Chris MacPhee, and former Superintendent now Vice Chair of the CRPS School Board Brian Callaghan. We’re here to talk about a proposed new development on the green space that’s essentially beside Lawrence Grassi Middle School behind the daycare in Canmore. Chris, why don’t you give us a brief rundown of what’s being proposed.

CHRIS MACPHEE: We don’t even refer to it as green space. It’s actually referred to as a ‘brown space’ because it is the former location of Lawrence Grassi’s old middle school. The miners of the day, Canmore Mining Ltd, had deeded this chunk of property to Canadian Rockies Public Schools and asked us to use that land to support the school division in moving forward into the future with some developments that could help us. We’re going for an ARP with the Town of Canmore and our next is a public hearing on March 1st. What we’re proposing presently is a development that is approximately 120 units right now, with 20 units of it being for staff accommodation as well as 20 units for Canmore Vital Housing.

RM: I think there’s maybe a misconception that this land is a public park or owned by the Town, but that’s not really the case at all. This is land that has been used in the past by Canadian Rockies Public Schools and still are under their purview.

BRIAN CALLAGHAN: Those with longer historical memories of Canmore will remember that a prestigious building was built on that site back in 1926. Many older Canmore people went there, including my own children when we first came here in 1989, its last year of operation. It was demolished – over the years it had been upgraded, and the use of asbestos and other things that were not suitable for school construction anymore suggested that we had to take the building down. That still left on the premises the old Canmore high school/middle school that had been developed along 4th & 7th  through the 60s, the 70s, and 80s, with numerous expansions, coming to that final life cycle back in the late 80s/early 90s with a number of portables which were expanding toward the school board’s office. Those were all then demolished with the approval of the Canmore Collegiate High School in ‘94. After that, of course, was the long-term plan to develop the brand new Lawrence Grassi school as you see it today. As the community grew, the older infrastructure was slowly demolished. The glulam beams were shared with the Fenlands. The mortar and bricks became crush for the Legacy Trail. All of the usable school supplies inside were packed up into sea cans and shared with a non-governmental group that was doing charity work down in Latin America, and it was used to install in schools down there.

RM: Obviously this has been Canadian Rockies Public School land for some time. Why now, Chris? Why is this something that you want to put forward now for development?

CM: One of the things everybody is feeling is a challenge with is housing, especially for staff. We are offering jobs to individuals to come in as teachers or educational assistants with pensions and benefits. They’re accepting the position, and within two days they’re calling us and turning us down for the job because they have nowhere to live. That’s one of the biggest pieces that’s driving this for us now.

RM: As part of the proposal, there’s 20 units of employee housing for CRPS staff, 10 to 20 units of Vital Homes under the portfolio of Canmore Community Housing. The majority, though, is market housing. How does that play into the grand vision?

CM: We have 80 market units on top of the other 40 that are affordable-type housing. We’re looking at configurations that’ll come in at a variety of different price points. We’re hopeful staff and people within our communities will be able to come in at a lower level, and offered first to Canmore people as opposed to outside. The funds that would be acquired from selling those markets units will be utilized to build our accommodations as well as the servicing of the land that’s required. Any additional funds after that will be put into an endowment fund for the school division.

RM: I want to touch on a couple of concerns I’ve heard from community chatter about this project ahead of the public hearing on March 1st. One of the ones I’ve heard a few times is density. We’re talking about 120 units in a relatively small space. Concerns about parking, how that will affect the rest of the neighbourhood, traffic congestion…can you speak to that?

CM: There may be a little bit of myth about how small the space is. It’s actually quite a few lots there, and we’re looking at removing the bus turnabout which is a big chunk of land. The density of an R4 development normally within the town is 60 to 89 units per hectare. Right now   our project only falls into the area of about 79 units per hectare. We have also done some major changes within the development to move setbacks further than normal to assist with the view sites and things like that with the neighbours

BC: Were trying to fit into that what we’ll call ‘landscape, skyscape, streetscape.’ We will have all of our parking onsite, pull our footprint in as much as we can and pull back away from existing residents.

RM: Another thing that I’ve heard commonly is that’s an area where elk like to go. It seems like we’re increasingly developing areas where elk have grazed in the past. From a wildlife perspective, though, and just from what I’ve learned from wildlife managers, I don’t know if having elk in town so close to a school and a daycare is really a good thing.

BC: I used to, at one point, literally go outside and chase the coyotes away from the school property itself when it was absolutely infested with rabbits. There have been elk on the grounds around the Banff school properties and these ones here. It is not the most desirable for those large ungulates to camp out. It is not a reserve for wildlife. I don’t think their immediate presence to the children is compatible.

CM: They are a danger to our students and our staff. Just this week we’ve had to chase them off twice. Once, last year, I even had a baby drop right at the front door of Lawrence Grassi school. These are things that we actually want to avoid as a safety issue for our kids.

RM: Before we wrap things up today, maybe I’ll ask you individually if you want to say any closing comments. Chris, do you have anything you’d like to add here?

CM: We are just going at the ARP at this point in time. It’s not the full development plans. This is been extremely important for our school division to move this forward because we see the impact of this project will have on the viability of the school division in moving forward into the future for generations.

BC: Long-time citizens of Canmore will know that Canadian Rockies Public Schools, in its earlier edition it was called Mount Rundle School Division, has always been a very collaborative player as the Town has expressed their needs to grow, and our needs. I speak to the land that is currently used for Canmore Collegiate High School. The school board of the day paid between $800,000 and $900,000 to take over a lease from what I’m going to refer to as the Canmore Bible Camp group. We then always allowed the air cadet squadron, young children, to have their centrepiece building on school board land. We also worked as a school board and administration very collaboratively to develop the land on which now daycare now sits. We have always worked collaboratively with the Town, sharing both their needs and our needs. That’s the way we have positioned ourselves, as one of the groups that helps families along the path of life. We’ve always listened to our neighbours on the adjacent properties, whether we were developing Elizabeth Rummel and/or the new Lawrence Grassi.

CM: We work really closely with our community. That daycare land is all donated to the Town for a dollar. Now it’s time where we want to stabilize the school division for funding and for staffing moving ahead for generations.

Filed under: Canadian Rockies Public Schools, Canmore