Signing a document to secure the education of young people in the community is not a bad way to end a 27-year career.
About two hours before his retirement, Okotoks CAO Rick Quail signed an agreement on June 30 for the Town and the Foothills School Division to have joint access of approximately 5.4 acres of land in northeast Okotoks for a new K-9 school.
“I think this is the last thing I am going to sign and I’m very pleased,” Quail said. “I see this as the equivalent of the building of Wylie Park when the forefathers of this town 50 years ago decided to build a recreation complex next to the farmer’s field… Now we are moving on to the next evolution for the well-being of the community — education, recreation and culture, it’s a great day.”
The Town conditionally purchased 40 acres of land from the Wedderburn family for $4.8-million in August 2015 to build a proposed recreation, culture and education campus on 32 Street across from Holy Trinity Academy.
In October, the school division and the Town agreed to build the K-9 school on about a five-acre parcel of land on that property. The transfer of the five acres on June 30 was a giant step towards getting shovels in the ground.
The agreement, which was signed by Foothills chairwoman Christine Pretty and superintendent John Bailey, as well as Okotoks Coun. Matt Rockley and Quail, gives the division access to the 5.4 acres of land. The division will have ownership of the land once the Town has annexed the property from the MD of Foothills, expected to happen early in 2017. (Mayor Bill Robertson did not sign the agreement due to a conflict with his wife working for the school division).
The signing wasn’t ceremonial, it’s a necessary step for the building of the school scheduled to open in September of 2018.
“The Town and the school division have a legally binding obligation to facilitate servicing of the site,” Quail said. “What this mean is we can commence with confidence, both parties, with detailed professional engineering and design services to get this developed. It is an essential step in getting this forward.”
Division chairwoman Pretty was smiling like a high school student starting summer holidays as she signed the agreement.
“We will continue to work with our partners and get it moving forward — finalizing details with the architect and putting the RFP (request for proposal) out, but it allows us access to the land so we can move ahead in a timely fashion.”
The agreement has solidified a relationship between the Town and Okotoks in the past two years. They were not often on the same page after the division announced in April of 2014, a proposal to build an 1,800 student high school near the Crescent Point Field House and convert Foothills Composite High School to K-9 in the future, due to no land being available for schools in Okotoks.
The purchase of the 40 acres was to keep students in Okotoks, according to the mayor.
“We had no other land and we wanted to keep students in the town of Okotoks, this is the best solution going forward at this time,” Robertson said. “It certainly affects ratepayers but it’s the right thing to do.”
He said it’s an important day for the future of Okotoks.
“It’s huge in terms for new residence coming in,” Robertson said. “We are still waiting for two years for the school to open. If we waited (to build a new school) for the growth to happen, it will be two years after that and we would have worse overcrowding at schools.”
Pretty agreed the Town and the division have become a team in working together for students’ interests.
“Everyone has made an extremely progressive move to have a collaborative partnership and work together,” Pretty said. “To ensure there are school sites in Okotoks. We’re delighted to have this progressive relationship.”
