Rezoning and official plan amendments for a new Catholic elementary school were unanimously approved by Sarnia Council at a virtual meeting Monday.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board wants to build a new French immersion school with a child-care centre on eight acres of vacant land, along the east side of The Rapids Parkway, opposite St. Francois Xavier Secondary School.
Engineering and Operations General Manager David Jackson said extending The Rapids Parkway, from Sandpiper Drive to Exmouth Street under Highway 402, should help with traffic concerns.
"We did do a traffic study for the entire area as part of the environmental assessment for The Rapids Parkway extension so that dealt with the majority of the full build of traffic," said Jackson. "Then, as part of the site plan process, once the school comes in, we would do a more detailed traffic study about the specific impacts and we've already had some initial discussion with them [the SCCDSB] about how we mitigate some of the school bus challenges, staggering bell times between the schools, and what that looks like."
Jackson said the extension will likely be done before construction of the school is complete.
"The current intent is for us to include a capital budget request for the extension of The Rapids Parkway to be built in 2021, and I believe the school would not be ready until at least 2022. So, if everything goes according to plan, the road would be in place first."
The new $17 million school will address overflow enrollment at Gregory A. Hogan school.
French immersion students will go to the new facility and Sacred Heart school will be closed with its students moving to a renovated Gregory Hogan.