Kanata School reduced to rubble as demolition process underway

All that remains of Prince Rupert's Kanata school are memories, 
that as demolition work continues on the east side school.

Crews have been making fairly quick work of the demolition work at the site of the old Kanata elementary school, with the east side structure now but a pile of rubble after a couple of weeks of work.

As we noted late last year, the School District put the project  out for bids in November, with the process finally reached the demolition stage this month, that following a few stops and towards moving the project forward over the last year or so.

The original timeline for the completion of the job is by the end of March.

The Kanata School Site is currently hosting a range of heavy equipment
as demolition work on the long closed school continues through to March.

The Kanata school lands has been a high profile piece of land that the School District had originally arranged for sale with a property developer back in 2015; however some differences of opinion between the developer and Prince Rupert City Council over amenities for the property appeared to have scuppered that plan by early 2018.

That disappointment served to temporarily sideline the School District's wider ambitions towards a new Board Office and development of the Closed Westview Elementary site, as well as to help fund a number of other infrastructure needs.

We examined some of those issues two years ago, that following some back and forth between the School District and City Council at the time.

Once the current demolition work is complete, the land may yet attract some new interest from potential developers, or perhaps make for some new plans for the School District.

Some of the history of the Kanata School lands can be explored below:

2018

March 9 -- In final year of their mandate, City Council's list of Feuds continues to grow
March 9 -- Kanata land issue, School calendar for 2018-19 make for dominant themes from March School District 52 meeting

2017

No items

2016

October 19 -- City looks to finalize lease with Quickload Terminals for east side land

January 18 -- Zoning delay on Kanata lands has School District seeking answers from City of Prince Rupert
March 7 -- Kanata School land question back in front of Council tonight
Mach 9 -- Kanata School land zoning question is deferred once again, set to return for March 21st session

2015

December 9 -- Kanata School land zoning review to be delayed until January

September 2 -- East side residents to get first look at Kanata school property housing proposals next week
August 20 -- Housing issues again dominate Council's attention, leading to some heated discussion

July 23 -- Kanata school lands rezoning sparks more discussion at Council
July 20 --  Council to move on Kanata School rezoning tonight

June 13 -- SD52 set to close deal for Kanata School Property

May 16 -- Location, Location, Location! SD52 puts Kanata School property on the market

April 17 -- Prince Rupert Council may have some fences to mend with the School District
April 16 -- Despite concerns from School District 52, Prince Rupert Council moves Quickload Terminals rezoning forward
April 13 -- Rezoning review for old Canadian Freightways Yard goes to Public Hearing tonight

March 31 -- Quickload shift to old Canadian Freightways yard heads for public hearing stage

For more items of interest on School District issues see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.