“The Lester B. Pearson School Board may have looked a gift horse in the mouth, as it just might gallop off into the hands of another school board.”

One school board’s reject another one’s treasure?

The Lester B. Pearson School Board may have looked a gift horse in the mouth, as it just might gallop off into the hands of another school board. “If they don’t want it, we’re going to offer it to the Commission Scolaire francophone (des Trois-Lacs),” said Vaudreuil- Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon of the latest property to be offered up for a new $8.4 million off-island English elementary school. “Imagine how they will look if the Commission Scolaire francophone accepts our offer and builds a school there?”
      While the LBPSB has considered about 25 offers of free land for the much needed school, it has rejected just about every one of them for an array of reasons. During a Tuesday morning exclusive interview with Your Local Journal, Board Chairman Marcus Tabachnick said the property is still being considered.    “We haven’t said no to it at the moment,” said Tabachnick of the land that is situated on Lotbinière, south of downtown Dorion. “Because of the proximity of the power lines, it’s not a first choice for us.”
       Pilon said the Town has gone to great lengths to acquire the land from the owner who now resides in Florida. “We put a lot of pressure on the land owner,” said Pilon who explained that the proprietor had intended on keeping his land with no intentions of building or selling in the near future. Pilon reminded him he would eventually have to give 10 per cent to the Town and strongly urged him to do so now rather than later. Two different properties on the same land were offered to the board. The section on the eastern part was considered doubtful due to overhead electrical lines that have been situated over 260 homes for some 40 years without any problems. “If it’s good enough for more than 200 houses, it should be good enough for a school,” said Pilon. Tabachnick confirmed his concerns relate to past experiences involving schools and electrical lines. “It hasn’t been a very popular choice by the people of the community,” he said. Pilon said the land on the western section of the property also has yet to be accepted or rejected. That piece of property would be given to the board with services in place. A new road will be constructed leading up to the property and 10,000 truckloads of earth will be brought in to ensure everything is level with the surrounding area, should the board accept the offer. All of the work would be done at the Town’s expense, said Pilon. “All we’ve asked of Mr. Tabachnick is ‘tell us which piece of land you want but tell us fast’ because we have to provide sewers and water and get the zoning changed,” said Pilon. “Every time we offer them land they seem to refuse it, so every time, we ask them for their specifications and they say they don’t have any specifications. This is very frustrating.” Pilon said he is getting tired of bending over backwards to  ccommodate the school board to apparently no avail. Since May he has been trying to find suitable land for the new school. “Maybe we won’t be able to accommodate them, but they should just tell us yes or no and why. If they finally say no, I will offer it to the other board. They (the LBPSB) are going to look really, really stupid if the commission scolaire francophone takes the land and builds a school there.” There is only one reason why the LBPSB seems to be putting up such resistance in committing to a location, said Pilon. “They are not ready to build the school,” he said, Pilon met with Tabachnick, vice chair Angela Nolet and director general Bob Mills on July 13 after the three had a chance to visit the property. “I really don’t think they’re the right people to lead this project,” said Pilon. “I know I would never go to check out such a project, never, without an architect or engineer. My city council doesn’t make technical decisions, we ask for advice from the engineers and other specialists.” Tabachnick said the board’s director of services, Bruno Côté, and assistant director of equipment services, Mario Cardin, have in fact looked into the property. “Bruno Côté is a professional engineer and Mario Cardin is an architect by profession,” said Tabachnick. “Both of them have checked the property.” The results of their inspection indicate the land can’t be ruled out completely. “From a construction point of view, it’s possible, but there are other concerns,” said Tabachnick. “It’s just off a road that is 90 kilometres an hour so safety of traffic flow is another consideration.” The board has always been upfront with Pilon, said Tabachnick, concerning their findings. “We had an hour long meeting in June or July and I think we were very frank about some of the properties offered to us,” he said. “The process we’ve always followed is to keep these discussions informal and for good reason. Once you put these things on paper, it puts a finality on it and doesn’t allow for discussion and compromise.”  The current offer is in administrations’ hands right now, said Tabachnick. “It’s not the only site we’re looking at,” he said. “There is at least one other offer we’re looking at but I’m not going to specify where it is right now because it’s owned by a private developer who’d rather we not.”  

Source:  Title, Photo and article by Sara E. Baxter - Your Local Journal August 27, 2009