Salt Spring’s largest elected body hopes to take on the lease at a former school owned by the Gulf Islands School District (SD64) and has directed staff to express its interest in the building and facilities at 163 Drake Road –– the shuttered Phoenix Elementary School property.
The Salt Spring Island Local Community Commission (LCC) rose from a closed meeting Thursday, Aug. 15 to report it would be responding to SD64’s request for proposals at the Phoenix site, which last saw students in 2023. Phoenix Elementary closed due to declining enrolment and had been operating at a budget deficit, according to district officials.
The LCC’s plan is to preserve the use of the building for various community groups without over-taxing their individual resources, commissioners said. Despite a large interest in the space, the ability for any of Salt Spring’s smaller organizations to handle consistent rent to the district for the entire property had been seen as a challenge. LCC chair Earl Rook told the Driftwood over the weekend that commissioners viewed the Phoenix property as being much like the Salt Spring Island Multi Space (SIMS) –– the former middle school now operated by the CRD as a community centre.
“It’s a valuable community asset that has become surplus to the needs of the school district,” said Rook, “and the CRD has the resources to manage it in a way that makes it available to the community for multiple uses.”
Rook said there would be extensive discussion on options to best use the space should the district agree to enter into a lease agreement with the CRD –– and noted commissioners were still in “very early stages” of development for the project.
“While a number of ideas have arisen, we will be seeking input from community groups before any final decisions on use are made,” he said, noting the Phoenix parcel’s extensive outdoor space and limited indoor area –– a contrast to the SIMS property. “Stay tuned.”