The Qualicum School District has received plenty of community feedback since it publicly announced it was considering the closure of the Craig Street Commons and Qualicum Commons.
During the past three months, school district staff received more than 90 written comments from the community, according to Ron Amos, secretary-treasurer for the school district.
"In fact some of them are still coming in from various individuals and organizations," Amos said during the Board of Education's Oct. 22 meeting.
The majority of responses show support for “what would be eventually, a proposal from the 'Save the Commons' community group that’s seeking to run the operations and management of the facilities on behalf of the current tenants and the community at large,” he continued.
That group has engaged with current tenants and commons users, and conducted a public online survey with nearly 1,000 respondents, according to a news release by Save the Commons.
Based on the received feedback, the group developed a proposal that recommends a 30 year lease of both sites to the Oceanside Commons Society (OCS). This community-led non-profit would be responsible for managing operations, financial obligations, and necessary capital repairs, ensuring the long-term stability and protection of the properties, according to the release.
The proposal is intended to relieve the school district of financial responsibilities and preserve the spaces for community use.
Amos said the school district has received the proposal.
“That group has been very transparent in terms of their activity in terms of trying to solicit responses and solicit an approach to speak to the board," he added.
Other ideas put forward to the school district include to demolish and rebuild the sites, work with the Town of Qualicum Beach and the City of Parksville for recreational facilities and to sell the properties and use the funds for other needs.
“This is all recognizing that there are very few recreational facilities in this Oceanside area,” Amos said, and pointed to Ravensong Aquatic Centre in Qualicum Beach, Oceanside Place Arena in Parksville and various sports fields in the region.
“Ultimately most of the gym space is owned by the school district in terms of us running our own facilities and so there is a premium on our sites," he said. "We recognize it is a community asset and therefore the community does make use of our sites.”
The school district and the town are "actively engaged in conversation" to look at longer term solutions for the Qualicum Commons site, Amos added.
“Since I got on the board, about 10 years ago, I’ve always seen these areas as areas for the public," said Trustee Elaine Young. "So I’m very hopeful that the parties can kind of get together and come up with something that will keep these important buildings in our community."
The district announced in May it planned to close the commons buildings since there is approximately $4 million to $5 million in capital costs that need to be addressed between the two.
The school district shut down four elementary schools back in 2014 due to low enrolment, including Parksville Elementary and Qualicum Beach Elementary, now known as Craig Street Commons and Qualicum Commons, respectively.
Since then, organizations such as independent schools, daycares, community support agencies, dance studios and local businesses have all used the facilities to run their operations
School district staff will reach out to the proponents to further discuss their proposals.
The board will reconsider a motion, deferred in June, to close the facilities, during its November meeting.
