In the final meeting of the 2023/24 school year, the board of trustees with the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) approved the budget and construction of a new elementary school in Lakeshore.
The two-storey build comes at a cost of $22,908,249 will be built on a 5.7-acre site north of Girard Street and west of Rourke Line in Belle River.
The staff parking lot and student drop-off will be accessible via Girard Street and will include 43 parking spaces and 40 student drop-off spaces for the school’s needs.
Trustee Sarah Cipkar was concerned that student drop-off setup was not a traditional 'kiss and ride'.
"Are we at all concerned about that becoming clogged in the morning? I've seen different kiss and ride versions. I've seen a lot of variations and not having an out on the end there just said to me 'oh this is not going to be good'."
Giuliana Hinchliffe, manager of facility services with the board says they don't anticipate any traffic congestion and were required to demonstrate it to the municipality to ease their concerns.
"That's their biggest concern here is that if we just have the regular 20 cars, they're going to stack on the street and there's already a lot of concern the community about this school going here and other developments around it. So they want to make sure that we can manage cars on our property."
Hinchliffe says the enclosed drop-off is a new concept that started at Queen Elizabeth Public School in Leamington.
"It is working beautifully. Parents naturally started backing the cars into the spots and kids now can access both sides of the car without ever having to go into any traffic."
Pending Ministry of Education approval, tender and award of contract is expected this fall with construction expected to start in Jan. 2025 and the school ready for students Sept. 2026.