Wilfrid Laurier gets $50M property for 'deep green' Milton campus

The Town of Milton has voted to give a 60-hectare land parcel worth $50 million to Wilfrid Laurier University to build a new campus.

The campus itself willbe built on 20hectares. Forty hectares will stay untouched aspart of theexisting environmental reserve also known as the Greenbelt,and the campus will have an environmental focus.

"We're calling it 'deep green,'" said spokesman Kevin Crowley. "More technical, more science-oriented than our two campuses [in Waterloo and Brantford]. We think there's an appetite for it and we think it would complement the more liberal arts and business programming that we have."

Milton campus couldhave 15,000 students

Laurier plans for about 2,500 students to enrol initially withplans for capacity will grow to 15,000 students over time.

Crowley says thatthe Milton campus, like the LaurierBrantfordcampus,will be fully self-sufficient.

"We don't see them as satellite campuses," said Crowley.

"Our Brantford campus is a fullscale, full service, university campus. It happens to be an hour away, but it has 3,000 students and has all the services those students need: classrooms, professors, labs, student services, lounges, residences the whole nine yards."

Campus contingent on provincial money

The official transfer of the land and building the new campus is contingent on funding from the Ontario government.

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has invited universities from across the province to submit proposals for satellite campuses, in hopes of increasing access to post-secondary education.

"Milton is Canadas fastest-growing community with a rising population of young families, a thriving economy, and a significant need for local access to post-secondary education to sustain its projected growth," said a university release.

The town and the university have been working together on a plan for the campus since 2008, and Crowley says Laurier will make its formal application to the province in September.