New high schools due in 2018 - 3 years behind initial prediction

It will be at least 2018 before Hamilton sees new high schools in the north and south end of the city three years later than the original target date of 2015.

But the chair of the local public school board says that date wasn't very realistic.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) hopes to have shovels in the ground in 2016 for two new schools one on King Street in the central lower city, andone at Rymal Road East and Miles Road. The latter is called Nora Frances HendersonSecondary School.

If all goes according to plan, the likely opening dates for them are September 2018 or January 2019, assuming the board clears the bureaucratic hurdles in time.

That's three years later than the board announced in 2012, when it voted to consolidate six local high schools into two. But the board likely shouldn't have said that, said Todd White, HWDSB chair. Because it wasn't possible.

"It was completely premature to announce that opening date," he said. "It was an overly ambitious timeline."

The 2015 date would have been realistic, White said, if the board didn't have to buy property for both schools. But it did.

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"We had to identify property, then that property had to be rezoned and severed," he said. "That means negotiations with land owners, then any rezoning and site plan approvals that might have to occur after that. Those timelines did not factor that in."

Political issues between the board and the city also held up the north school project.

The board only owned 0.6hectares of land at the former Scott Park Secondary site, which wasn't big enough for a 160,000-square-foot school. It asked the city to partner on a joint high school and recreation centre complex. But council voted thatdownin 2013.

That left the board with two options: building a five-storey high school on the tiny parcel, or demolishing King George and Parkview for a new three-storey high school on 1.5hectares. But the city threw a wrench in the second plantoo by placingthe King George building on a heritage list, which made it harder to demolish.

Last year, former mayor Bob Morrow brought the two parties together again, and they reached an agreement.

"While it was rather frustrating for everyone on that process, in the end, the result was worth it," Whitesaid.

Here are the next steps for the north school:

• City council will vote to rezone the land in February.
• The board expropriated the Scott Park land.That's still before the courts, but it's onlymoney matters, White said. "We own the land. We have the land. There are no difficulties there."
• The board will apply to the city for site plan approval, which can take a few months to a year. It's also dealing with the Ministry of Environment onstormwater management issues.
• Once the site plan is approved, it will take about two years to finalize plans and build the school, he said.
• The board expects to name the school sometime in 2017.
• In the meantime, students are going to Delta Secondary. The new school replaces Delta, Parkview and Sir John A. Macdonald.

Here are the next steps for the Henderson school:

• The city has approved the rezoning of the land at Upper Sherman and Rymal.
• The board will apply forsite plan approval in early 2016.
• Once that's approved, it will take about two years to finalize plans and build the school.
• In the meantime, students are at Barton Secondary. The new school replaces Barton, Hill Park and Mountain.

Both schools will be for 1,250 students.