425 replies to this topic

[tiger11]

Are you kidding? As per the now familiar formula, your attitude will likely dominate without any serious contest, even (or maybe especially) among the supposed defenders of Victoria's heritage.

 

To clarify, by "here" I meant on Vibrant Victoria, the place where I was commenting. Not on the basis of Victoria or the community!

[tiger11]

When people say whatever it takes to save VIc High, I don't believe that to be the case IMO. Sure its cool to look at but i only drive by it a handful times a year... So is it worth saving it to me? Simple answer is no, but for others that opinion might differ depending on where u live and if it played a part in your upbringing among other factors. 

 

Selling off land does't sound like a good idea to me overall, however with Lansdowne school I would probably agree some should go. Lansdowne school used to be an airport if i recall correctly and i think its just remained since then. 

 

Selling land in order to fund a project will lead to a similar problem down the line, its only a temporary fix. What if the population demographic shifts to a younger population in the future. Then we will have the issue of not enough land to give children adequate outdoor time that is essential. Then when the building comes to need a new major reno there wont be any excess land to sell off to fund the project. 

 

Also many schools such as uplands where I live by are housing significant international programs. These are huge income producers as they usually pay in the 3-5 times the tuition range compared to what is subsidized per student in the province. 

 

There are heritage structures that are totally worth saving at almost any cost. But i have to say these are more in the ballpark of the parliament and the empress. 

[Midnightly]

do we know if the school district owns all the land that Vic high sits on?, i tried to look it up but could not seem to find the answer on the city website.. i know some schools all or partially on city owned land...for example central middle school this year had trouble installing portables because the city owns a good chunk of the land it's on.. the whole block that george Jay sits on is owned by the city (the school district owns the little bit of grass and playground area that is at the end of queens ave)

Edited by Midnightly, 25 March 2018 - 04:50 PM.

[tiger11]

do we know if the school district owns all the land that Vic high sits on?, i tried to look it up but could not seem to find the answer on the city website.. i know some schools all or partially on city owned land...for example central middle school this year had trouble installing portables because the city owns a good chunk of the land it's on.. the whole block that george Jay sits on is owned by the city (the school district owns the little bit of grass and playground area that is at the end of queens ave)

 

Did a spot check, from what i saw the entire land is owned by the city of Victoria

 

*update upon further looking it appears some of the lot is owned by the district

Edited by tiger11, 25 March 2018 - 05:59 PM.

[Dr.Strangelove]

do we know if the school district owns all the land that Vic high sits on?, i tried to look it up but could not seem to find the answer on the city website.. i know some schools all or partially on city owned land...for example central middle school this year had trouble installing portables because the city owns a good chunk of the land it's on.. the whole block that george Jay sits on is owned by the city (the school district owns the little bit of grass and playground area that is at the end of queens ave)

 

I also believe that while the school district owns S.J. Willis, that the city owns the land in which S.J. Willis sits on.  Some years ago S.J. Willis was actually shut down and remained vacant for I think 3-5 years where nothing happened in the building at all. The district from what I have been told actually wanted to tear down the school back then, but because they found out they didn't own the land in which it sat they couldn't make a profit off it. So they eventually re-opened S.J. and it has served as an alternative school ever since, and house various programs which have come and gone from the building.  It's also one of only 2 Steam Plant schools left in Victoria, Vic High being the other.  A Massive Oil tank sits under ground  at both schools and the cost to operate the steam boiler is insane....in the Winter it costs around $700 Dollars/Day to run...or roughly 5,000 dollars a week (so I've been told).

Edited by Dr.Strangelove, 25 March 2018 - 06:03 PM.

[tiger11]

Here is a map of what the school district owns. Didnt check every single parcel but i think its fairly accurate. 

 

 

Attached Images

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Edited by tiger11, 25 March 2018 - 06:15 PM.

[sdwright.vic]

Sell the high school to a developer and allow him to top it with a 20 story building and build the new high school

[LJ]

It looks like you could put the running track around the existing school and build a new multi level school on the track site. Might even build a couple of levels of apartments on top of the new school for teacher accommodation. 

[Cassidy]

...... Sure its cool to look at but i only drive by it a handful times a year... So is it worth saving it to me? Simple answer is no........

This is utterly brilliant in its sheer simplicity.

[G-Man]

They say it is cheaper now just like it was cheaper to build a new bridge. Not worth the risk to lose the building and pay more again. 

[Midnightly]

Did a spot check, from what i saw the entire land is owned by the city of Victoria

 

*update upon further looking it appears some of the lot is owned by the district

 

 

thanks for looking up that info, and it does make you wonder what other schools part on or completely on school land, and what land would the district have to sell off if they were to sell off to raise money for a project (be vic high or building another school)

[jonny]

It looks like you could put the running track around the existing school and build a new multi level school on the track site. Might even build a couple of levels of apartments on top of the new school for teacher accommodation. 

 

Uhhh, then you lose the entire field, which is pretty important for track & field. 

[aastra]

I didn't realize the city owned so much of the site. So that pretty much seals it, no heritage preservation is going to be happening with this one. Unless they actually start walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.

[Mike K.]

Here’s how this could work, but it would never happen.

You place the restoration in the hands of someone like Le Fevre or Stovell and provide a major uplift in density on a future development.

Fix the school, get approvals for 450-units wherever you can secure the land.

[aastra]

 

This is utterly brilliant in its sheer simplicity.

 

A very long time ago in the JSB thread I mentioned a WW2 documentary that I had seen in which a Canadian veteran admitted that he was fully prepared to fire on the Tower of Pisa because -- at the time -- he had no idea what it was. He had never heard of the thing and it sure didn't look special to him.

 

But, of course, as soon as I posted it some ***hole made the obligatory snide remark re: no comparisons allowed between special stuff in Victoria and special stuff in any other place. Special stuff in Victoria always sucks, don't ya know.

 

Seriously though, if you go back and review it you'll see how canned the pro-demolition position can be in these supposedly organic controversies. It's really no different than the canned anti-development position when we're talking about some new condo project. The canned position is generic, it pays no heed to specifics. The particulars of the site, the particulars of the building, the myriad potential alternatives... it all gets dismissed.

[aastra]

 

They say it is cheaper now just like it was cheaper to build a new bridge. Not worth the risk to lose the building and pay more again.

 

You're crazy. That wasn't the lesson of the JSB project. The lesson of the JSB project was that the cost of refurbishment would have gone up even more than the cost of replacement did (even though there were several precedents in other places that would have informed and guided refurbishment, whereas replacement was a one-off thing, with the city pretty much flying by the seat of its pants).

[jonny]

For the record, I think it's crazy they are considering demolishing the old Vic High. Throw a modern new wing off to the side (if more space is needed - I'm assuming so). There's plenty of space to do so and preserve the track.

 

Could you imagine Camosun College bulldozing the iconic Young Building? 

Edited by jonny, 26 March 2018 - 09:16 AM.

[lanforod]

^ It has to get seismic upgrades. So leaving the old building as is is not an option.

[jonny]

^ It has to get seismic upgrades. So leaving the old building as is is not an option.

 

What am I missing here? Are they not able to upgrade it seismically without tearing it down? 

[Nparker]

...Are they not able to upgrade it seismically without tearing it down? 

 

The school district has laid out three options with three price tags for seismic upgrades: 

• A new building: $50-60 million range.
• Seismic with upgraded building systems: $60-70 million range.
• Retain the exterior and rebuild interior: $100-110 million range.
  
  http://www.cbc.ca/ne...trict-1.4578496