By Louise Hayes
While the school board plans to close downtown schools, the City of Ottawa is fighting to revitalize the core. These goals top the agenda as Centretown residents prepare to vote Nov. 13.
Susan Glass, an Elgin Street Public School parent, was quick to point out the contradiction to the school board at their Sept. 26 public hearing.
“The city and region have waived development fees in the downtown core to encourage development and as a result, building permits are up 30 per cent. Communities need families and families need schools.”
“It is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to achieve and what we have been achieving at the city and the region, agrees City Coun. Elisabeth Arnold.”
To combat closures, Arnold presented a motion at the Sept. 26 school board meeting, stating city council’s objection to the closure of Devonshire, Mutchmor and Elgin Street schools, and requesting an alternative plan be developed.
“Growth is happening not only in the suburbs, but also in downtown,” says Arnold.
Real estate statistics from the first quarter of 2000 indicate she’s right. During that period, prices for properties downtown increased faster than equivalent homes in the suburbs.
In 1995, the average two-storey house in the Glebe sold for $172,000. The same style house sold for $220,000 in early 2000. In Kanata, a similar home sold for $156,000 in 1995 and $174,000 early this year.
Ray Otton, president of the Real Estate Board of Ottawa-Carleton, says more first-time buyers can now afford houses in downtown or the Golden Triangle — which is the area between Elgin Street and the canal.
“High tech is attracting bright and affluent young people into the more urban areas where prices are $200,000 and up.”
Otton says this means more children. But the school board argues declining birth rates mean more students are leaving the system than entering it.
“Therefore, you should feel confident in continuing to encourage more people to live downtown, including families with young children,” said James Grieve, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s director of education in a Sept. 21 letter to the City of Ottawa.
Meanwhile, Arnold says she will continue to approach the board.“There is no doubt that they need schools in the suburbs,” says Arnold. “But following the formula means taking away urban schools and that is inappropriate.”