Open house offers chance to view future south elementary school
Local residents had an opportunity on Wednesday to take a look at some of the ideas going into a new southeast Lethbridge elementary school as well as the plans for development in the area it will be located.
Lethbridge School District No. 51 has received funding from Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education to start the process of designing a new southeast Lethbridge elementary school.
The site of the school will be east of Fairmont between 43 Street South and the future 47 Street South. Fairmont Gate South will eventually be extended east of 43 Street and will border the north edge of the school site.
LSD51 is working with the City of Lethbridge as well as private developers and consultants as part of preparation of the site for the new school.
Don Lussier, associate superintendent for Business Affairs with LSD 51, said the 600-student school could be state-ofthe-art in terms of how it uses renewable energy, which could also be used as a training facility for children as their education relates to renewable energy.
‘We’re going to have an open concept, internally,” he said.
“We’ll be using, in large part, solar. We’ll be looking at other aspects as well, because renewable energy is changing by the moment. We are looking at battery storage, but we may simply transfer it back to the grid. We’re expecting this facility to be pretty much sustainable on its own.”
Lussier said all south Lethbridge schools are currently at full capacity. In response, the district has been adding modular classrooms to increase available space.
“But we can’t put any more modules on some of the schools that need them,” he said. “It’s been 55 years since we had a new school in south Lethbridge.”
The school is expected to take pressure off Lakeview Elementary and École Agnes Davidson, and could itself be very close to capacity by the time it opens.
Lussier said the event was held in the hopes residents can get a look at the future of the neighbourhood, and to keep in mind the addition of an elementary school could attract young families to the area.
Ram Venkata lives in the area and came to the event to see how development would affect his neighbourhood. He said he was relieved to see greenspace planned for the area near his home.
“We bought our place last year in part because of the open space in the back,” he said. “I just wanted to see what was planned.”
He noted while his daughter would be too old to be affected by a new elementary school, his son could be the right age to attend the school when it is opened.
Dennis and Lynn Orsten live near Venkata in the Sixmile Ridge area and were similarly relieved to see planned greenspace.
“I’m happy to see that space behind us instead of houses,” he said, noting as a senior, and with potentially decades of development happening before the area around his home is completed, he might not have to worry too much.
It is hoped the design for the school will be complete by November, while construction could start as early as spring 2018, continuing through to the summer of 2020.
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