City council rejects Royal St. George's expansion
James Cowan
National Post
Thursday, November 17, 2005
City councillors rejected a proposal to expand Royal St. George's
College yesterday after Jane Jacobs and other neighbours complained the
school has already outgrown its Annex location.
The private school occupies 9,200 square metres of land sandwiched
between Albany and Howland avenues. It wants to build a three-storey
addition to its junior school, along with a new gym, drama studio and
underground garage.
Toronto and East York community council voted against the project,
despite a report from city planners supporting it. The school intends to
appeal the decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Public consultations over the past year failed to yield enough
neighbourhood support for the expansion, said Olivia Chow, the area
councillor.
"We tried for a year, using a working group to come up with some kind
of compromise ... and unfortunately, the local residents remain very
opposed to it," Ms. Chow said.
Residents complain Howland Avenue becomes clogged twice a day with
idling cars while parents drop off and pick up students. In addition,
buses block the street and sometimes the sidewalk.
The site is "obsolete" for the school, Ms. Jacobs, the author/activist,
told the committee.
"If the site is too small, then nothing can hide that in the future,"
said Ms. Jacobs, who lives on Albany. "The decision to stay in the small
site is only the beginning of endless troubles, because a site that out
of scale with what is needed just manufactures more troubles with the
community and within itself."
Jim Bunting, a former student, said concerns about mass expansion were
"not attached to reality."
"St. George's is not looking to expand, it's looking to upgrade," Mr.
Bunting said. "This isn't about expansion. This is about improvement,
not only for the school, but for the surrounding neighbourhood."
Hal Hannaford, St. George's headmaster, said the school intends to
remain in its current location, where it was founded in 1963.
"We are proud to be an urban-centred, independent school and we will be
remaining there, we think, into the distant future," Mr. Hannaford
said.
School representatives argue their plans would relieve traffic
congestion by providing 44 spaces of new parking and adding a lay-by for
buses, delivery trucks and short-term visitors.
"One of the great thing of this plan is that it addresses that
problem," Mr. Bunting said.
Michael Walker, the only city councillor who supported the project,
argued traffic problems occur around most schools in the city. "To say a
school runs down a community, I don't accept that principle. I think it
enhances a neighbourhood," he said.
But residents worry existing problems would become worse if the number
of students grew because of the expansion. Mr. Hannaford said the school
has agreed to cap enrolment at 426 students, just 14 more children than
currently attend the college. "It is the one competitive advantage that
we have, that we are small," the headmaster said. "We have no plans, nor
do we have space, nor are we building space, to increase our student
body at all."
There are also no plans to expand the facility beyond its current
grounds by buying neighbouring houses, Mr. Hannaford said. He said the
school did consider growing beyond its borders several years ago, but
abandoned the plan.
The proposal presented to city councillors represents the college's
final growth spurt, said school representative Jennifer Keesmat. "A key
objective for the master planning of this site is to meet all existing
and future facility needs."
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