When four Parksville-Qualicum Beach area schools were closed in 2014 as a result of dwindling enrolment and funding, it kick-started a debate on what should be done with the buildings.
Two of the more popular opinions of the day were to a) sell them to private developers and recoup their monetary value; or b) to transfer them for the public’s use.
The School District 69 board of directors are sticking with their original answer: c) both of the above.
Last week’s board vote to rename Parksville Elementary School to Craig Street Commons may seem cosmetic at this point. But it signals a commitment by the district to stay the course with its plans to populate the buildings with paying tenants.
At the time of the closures, the school district had some space needs of its own, and Winchelsea Elementary was given over to the PASS-Woodwinds alternative school and to the district’s International Studies program. It also provides a convenient team room to the Ballenas Whalers’ football club adjacent to the field.
That still left Qualicum Beach, Parksville and French Creek elementary schools as excess inventory, facing continued maintenance costs and possible capital upgrades in the coming years.
So SD69 got into the landlord business.
The model was established with the structuring and naming of the former Qualicum Beach Elementary School as Qualicum Commons in 2015. The downtown building quickly became a destination for user groups ranging from the Society of Organized Services to a dance school and health-care professionals.
Last year Qualicum Commons hosted a meeting of the Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce at which school superintendent Rollie Koop announced the building was now bringing in enough income to cover its maintenance costs.
The school district seems intent on replicating that model in Parksville, where an early learning centre and day care has been in operation and where the Regional District of Nanaimo has rented out the gymnasium on an as-needed basis for community rec programs.
The argument that SD69 has set itself up in competition with private landlords still remains.
But should future enrolment gains warrant the need for additional classroom space in the coming years, converting existing facilities back to schools will be easier on taxpayers’ wallets than building new ones from scratch.
If the district can offset current costs in the meantime, that certainly merits a passing grade.
—Parsksville Qualicum Beach News