The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding Athabasca’s new secondary school has been signed by all members of the steering committee: the Town of Athabasca, Athabasca County, Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society (ARMS), Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) and Athabasca University (AU).
The MOU outlines the preliminary plans for the transfer of land between AU and AVPS for the new school (near or attached to the multiplex), the responsibilities of each of the members moving forward, and the next steps in the process.
Aspen View will receive 20 acres of land north of University Drive adjacent to the parcel of land already leased from AU to ARMS. In exchange, AU will receive the approximately 15.5 acres of land that is the current location of Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) School. EPC will be demolished before the land is transferred to AU.
“We’re off and running with an understanding now around the land and the land swap to make the land available for the project,” Brian LeMessurier, superintendent for AVPS, said. He confirmed that no money will be exchanged; only property.
“We can now get down to the next stages of planning the actual facility,” he added.
The MOU outlines the facilities that could be in the new space: “a physical activity space and/or fine arts space, and/or community lecture theatre space, and/or aquatic facility, and/or fitness and wellness centre.”
When asked if the possible inclusion of a fine arts space in the new school could affect a recent proposal to transform the old brick school into an arts academy, LeMessurier said it was unclear at this point.
“It is still too early to say where an arts academy, if it’s supported by the board, will be built,” LeMessurier said.
According to LeMessurier, the hope is to construct the new pool in conjunction with the school.
“We believe there will be efficiencies by running it as one project,” he said.
Shelly Gurba, councillor for the Town of Athabasca, is pleased that the first steps toward the new school have been taken.
“Everything is still just in the very basic format at this point. It was just the biggest thing to get the MOU signed and agreed upon. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Gurba said.
The next step will come in the form of a Joint Agreement between all parties on the steering committee. As the MOU states, “the parties will not be specifically bound by this agreement (the MOU), and will be subject to entering into a formal agreement by all parties.”
The MOU states the parties should “endeavour to negotiate and complete such a formal agreement within six months of the signing of the MOU, subject to agreement by the parties to extend that date.”
The Advocate sought an interview with an AU representative to learn what plans or use for the high school lands AU might have. However, AU spokesperson John O’Brien said the university had no comment.
1. The library/archives: Along with the library board, all steering committee members except AU will “jointly plan and operate the new space which ... may include a Municipal Library and Archives component consolidated with the school library.”
2. Other land in the swap: In addition to the 20 acres being transferred to Aspen View, AU is also transferring the title to land currently being leased to ARMS for the multiplex and ball diamonds. The title will go to a yet-to-be-determined combination of steering committee members. AU will transfer the title for 5 acres of additional land on which a new pool and library can be built. In total, AU will transfer approximately 35 acres of land.
Steering committee members will support AU in any bid to obtain the title to 3 acres of Crown land near Forfar on which it has an observatory.
3. Access: All steering committee members except AU will “collaborate on designing and sharing the site access routes, bus drop-off zones and/or parking facilities (including existing).” AU will allow access during the construction phase.
