Toronto school board to explore redevelopment of site
If it proceeds, could mean building new Davisville school
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier Jan. 27)
Trustee Shelley Laskin. Image courtesy of TDSB.
School officials aren’t ruling out the possibility of building a brand new school for Davisville PS as discussions of land redevelopment start up this spring.
The Toronto District School Board is exploring the possibility of a redevelopment with a community committee that will meet this March through fall.
Last June, the school board approved recommendations for the area that focused on enhancing a family of local schools rather than closing them.
While some feared Davisville school would be closed, instead the school board will spend $240,000 to renovate the facility.
Apart from the review, area officials are also looking at possibly building on the site where Davisville PS nows sits on Millwood Road.
No matter where the talks go, the agreement to keep a Davisville school on site is firm.“The commitment of the board is there’s a school on the site,” school trustee Shelley Laskin said Jan. 25.
But if a redevelopment of the land proceeds, it could mean replacing the current Davisville school with a new one.
“There will probably be a new school,” Laskin said. “With the current school and required green space it would leave no room for redevelopment.”
However, redevelopment is not a sure thing.
“The words in the capital plan approved in June 2010 call it a potential redevelopment opportunity at the Davisville site,” Laskin said.
“There’s been no conversations with developers at all that I am aware of.”
A Davisville redesign committee will form consisting of reps from the school, parents, community members and the trustee to consider whether a development makes sense for this site.
Options will be considered for what kind of development, whether it be commercial or residential, would be appropriate while maintaining a school presence.
The community will be invited to public meetings this year when there’s something to report.
Davisville includes about 210 students from JK to 8. It is twinned with The Metropolitan Toronto School for the Deaf, which has eight students. Originally a two-room school, it was built in 1860, but the current Davisville building was constructed in 1962.
Kris Scheuer 