A school in west Inglewood is slowly becoming a reality for students in the Red Deer Public School District.
On Wednesday, the municipal planning commission gave the thumbs up to the development permit application.
Set to open in September 2017, the kindergarten-to-Grade-5 school on 99 Irving Drive will accommodate up to 600 students with a final build out of 24 classrooms, of which eight will be modulars.
Cody McClintock, the school district’s Business Services associate superintendent, said the district is pleased to see the application move forward.
“We are really eager to have a new school in the Inglewood area to meet our enrolment demands,” said McClintock. “It’s a great community centre ... and it should be great for the community and the city.”
Coun. Lawrence Lee, a former school board chairman for the public district, said he is pleased to see more than one drop off zone in the plans.
“The last (K-to-5) school site that was built in the City of Red Deer was Mattie McCullough, and it did not have enough drop off zones for buses, parents and visitors,” said Lee.
The district will explore with engineering services whether an additional crosswalk is required at the intersection of Inglewood Drive and Irving Crescent. The plan calls for one crosswalk at the entrance to the school at the intersection of Inglewood Drive and Ingersol Street.
Commission member Janice Kong asked for another crosswalk at Irving Crescent to improve pedestrian safety around the school.
Coun. Lawrence Lee said he was happy to see the site plan for the school, especially for the kindergarten-to-Grade-5 population.
But Lee said he would discourage any additional crosswalks for kindergarten-to-Grade-5 schools because of control and access. He said adding multiple sites may cause issues with supervision.
He said the front entrance is only one entry point for elementary schools and all other doors are locked.
Detailed planning of the school is underway.
The remaining site will be developed and landscaped to accommodate playfields, school bus loading zones, staff parking and walkways. There will be 54 parking stalls.
Once details are hammered out and other planning steps are completed, the project is expected to be out for tender in the fall.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com