New Catholic high school for Brantford ‘watershed moment’

Construction of a new $45.7 million Catholic secondary school on Powerline Road is a “watershed moment” for the entire community, says a Brantford city councilor.

Coun. John Sless (Ward 2) said the school will be the first major development on lands the city acquired from Brant County in 2017. Plans call for the construction of the school to begin in June 2024 with the school opening in September 2026.

“Really, this is a watershed moment, this is the start of development in the expanding lands and what a great way to start it with, an educational institution,” Sless said at a Thursday City of Brantford planning committee meeting. “To me, this is very, very exciting.

“I think there are a number of components to this project – the daycare, the ability to study the trades in this community at a high level, more sporting facilities being added to city.”

The planning committee on Thursday recommended for approval an official plan amendment and a zoning bylaw change to allow the project to move forward. If approved by council, the property, previously designated residential as under the official plan, will be designated major institutional.

Plans call for the school to be built on a 6.87 hectare (17-acre) parcel of city-owned land on the north side of Powerline Road, east of Old Farm Road and west of Greenfield Road. The city is selling the property to the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.

“This is an impressive project for our community and our school system,” Rick Petrella, chair of the Catholic district school board, said. “We have not had a (new) Catholic high school or any high school (built) in the City of Brantford since 1992.

“This is a major investment for the province and it is going to bring 129 new daycare spaces into that area.”

Assumption College School on Shellard Lane, the last new school to be built in the city, opened in 1992.

Although the curriculum is still being decided, Petrella, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said the new school will be a regional trades center that includes instruction in masonry, and advanced welding among others.

Petrella said the 14,969-square-meters (161,125-square-feet) school will have a large technical wing, triple gym and sports field.

City and school board officials say the new secondary school is needed to take the pressure off St. John’s College and Assumption, which are already bursting at the seams with students.

The project will alleviate the pressures on those two high schools and, at the same time, bring a state of the art high school to the city, Petrella said.

The city and the school board are working to move the project forward as quickly as possible. The school board will consider a name for the new school at its Sept. 26 meeting.

Members of the planning committee also heard from nearby residents including Anneke Naves of Old Farm Road, which runs off of Powerline Road, who are concerned about increased traffic in the area when the school opens.

“My biggest concern is the traffic,” Naves, who has lived on Old Farm Road for the past five years, said. “In those five years, I can remember two accidents that have happened at this intersection including one where I had to call 911 because of someone turning left onto Old Farm Road and could not see the oncoming traffic.”

Naves is concerned about how busy the traffic will become if Powerline Road is widened and how dangerous it will become for those turning left off Powerline Road onto Old Farm Road.

There is also the issue of school buses dropping off and picking up students at the start and end of the school day.

Petrella said that school board staff, consultants and city staff have been looking at the impact of traffic on the area and have produced a traffic study.

“I know from the board’s perspective, we are taking all of those concerns into consideration and they will be addressed in some manner or another,” Petrella said. “I just want to calm the concerns that are there.

“We’re a definite partner here, a partner with the community and a partner with the city.”

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