The City of Hamilton recently signed a land exchange agreement with the local French public and Catholic school boards that will help facilitate a new French high school in Ancaster.
The agreement, which was signed on Feb. 25, sees Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir and Conseil scolaire Viamonde secure 700 Garner Road East in Ward 12 (Ancaster–West Flamborough) for a joint secondary school.
The nearest intersection to the property is Garner Road East and Kitty Murray Lane.
The new school will be near Redeemer University and beside Eagle Classic Golf Centre and Mini Putt (separated by Smith Road) in what is a 14-acre site.
As part of the agreement, the City of Hamilton secures 16 Broughton Avenue, near Rymal Road East and Upper Ottawa, from the school boards.
The 9.5-acre site in Ward 6 (East Mountain), which was originally planned to be the site of the new French high school, will be “formally developed as City of Hamilton parkland.”
The new high school will replace Académie Catholique Mère-Teresa high school (near Mohawk Road East and Upper Kenilworth on the East Mountain) and Georges-P.-Vanier high school (near Coronation Arena in Westdale North).
The new facility on Garner Road will reportedly have two separate wings and will have space for 400 students per board.
There will also be shared spaces, which the city says may include an auditorium, cafeteria, and “vocational classrooms.”
It is unclear how much the project will cost and the school boards are still in the process of submitting their site plan application.
Ontario’s Ministry of Education under former premier Kathleen Wynne allocated $26 million for the project nearly 10 years ago in November 2016.
The project was stalled due to issues in finding an ideal site.
A city press release says that the city will “continue to work closely with the school boards and with the owner of the surrounding subdivision to execute the required obligations under the agreement, including finalizing the subdivision agreement, to allow for the completion of the exchange and development of the lands.”
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath commented that the land exchange “is the result of years of determined advocacy, partnership and hard work by local leaders, Francophone families, City Council and staff, and our French public and Catholic school boards.”
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