It appears the preferred location of a possible new Catholic high school in Fergus has changed.
The Township of Centre Wellington announced that the Wellington Catholic District School Board is no longer interested in purchasing surplus township land at Strathallan Park in north Fergus.
A township press release indicated this decision was a mutual agreement between WCDSB and the township.
Strathallan Park was declared surplus property by the Township of Centre Wellington in January. Although this was approved, the sale of the land was conditional on the approval from the Ministry of Education.
The long-term accommodation needs of WCDSB have changed since January and to accommodate increasing enrolment it “will be reassessing the accommodation requirements,” said the release from the township.
Preferred plans submitted to the province preferred a high school to be added to the current St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School site at the location.
Attempts to get comment from the WCDSB were not successful and they declined to provide any more details.
Since WCDSB won’t “be pursuing any rezoning of the property which would have been a necessary precondition of any sale,” township staff will bring a report to council soon to recommend the land be deemed non-surplus,” said the release.
The site at 150 Strathallan St., in Fergus is where St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School is located. The Kindergarten to Grade 8 school had an addition approved back in 2022 by the province. Construction for the eight classroom addition started in March and is supposed to open by December.
Capital priority requests were submitted to the ministry in the fall and this was the third time the request was made for a new high school in Fergus.
The board won’t know if any of its capital priority requests are approved by the ministry until winter or early spring, said Ali Lupal, WCDSB communications lead, via email.
Lupal pointed to the board’s update to the Long Term Accommodation Plan which shows enrolment projections “which can help to understand the decision to not move forward with this space.”
The projected enrolment in Centre Wellington has exceeded the board’s original forecast and the municipal projects for Centre Wellington show significant growth in a moderate and long term, she said.
At a public meeting in May community members heard about the proposal for the new high school to be at the site where the existing school and park is.
It was reported the school would be 68,000 sq. ft., two storeys, accommodate 492 students, have 21 classrooms, a large sports field and 105 parking spots.
