Athabasca County is not against the designation of the Old Brick School, officials said last week.
The potential historical designation of the school has been a hot topic of late, and Athabasca County Reeve David Yurdiga felt it necessary to clarify the county’s position on the subject after their recent decision to not request designation.
“There has been a lot of talk which is unfairly categorizing the county as anti-designation (of the school) as a historic site, that isn’t quite true,” Yurdiga said.
“Athabasca County is not against the historical designation of the Old Brick School, but we have to talk to our partners first, which is the town, and we also want to hear from the board of the historical society to find out exactly what our parameters are.”
Yurdiga wanted to be clear that until the county fully understands the restrictions and pros of a provincial designation, they will not be making their decision.
“We did send a letter out saying not at this time because there are certain steps we have to follow to make a proper, educated decision,” he said. “Until we meet with the town, we’re not going to make a decision.”
The county has sent a letter to the Town of Athabasca and is waiting for a response on a joint meeting about the school.
“You don’t make a decision without knowing the facts, and we don't want to debate it on Facebook, because it’s not the place to debate it,” Yurdiga said regarding the Save the Old Brick School (SOBS) Facebook page.
“We want to speak with council directly and find out where we can go from here.”
Yurdiga also wanted to emphasize that the Old Brick School is being maintained.
"The way it sounds on Facebook is that the building is being torn down,” he said. “The building is being maintained.”
Yurdiga said the school is an important building, and a lot of county residents attended school there.
“It’s important to the county,” he said. “The county residents attended the school, and we want to preserve it as much as anyone else.”
Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is currently housed in the building.
“We just want to ensure that we can do what we need to the building to make sure it is habitable for our staff,” he said.
“The ventilation system is not up to code and the heating system is outdated and inefficient.”
Yurdiga said that until they know the parameters of the designation, they cannot make decisions on the upgrades that would be accepted.
“We have never said we are not in favor of going to the next level, but we have to follow procedure, get information, and have a conversation with our partners about the Old Brick School,” he explained.
“Without knowing what we can do as far as the historical designation, maybe we can’t put a ventilation system in there, maybe we can’t alter the boiler system.”
Yurdiga explained that the county is following protocol.
“We have to know these things because without these changes, the brick school is a very uncomfortable place to work out of,” he said. “We have a big pest control problem and I think that’s obvious to everyone, as far as the municipalities are concerned.”
Athabasca County wants an audit done on the building and wants to find out what it would take to designate it as a provincial designation.
“We have to upgrade the windows,” he said. “You can’t go to RONA, you can’t go to Home Hardware and pick up windows. You have to get them engineered, so it’s triple the cost.”
Yurdiga doesn't want to have the building be designated and then not be able to use it.
“You can't make a decision without knowing all the facts,” he said.
