“The community has been working for this for years,†York South-Weston MPP Laura Albanese said during the announcement outside the George Street school Friday, Sept. 21. “It has long needed redevelopment.â€
The Ministry of Education had previously pledged $5.6 million in funding to build an addition to the school, but another $6.5 million was needed to construct a new building.
With funding now in place, the school will be able to accommodate 600 students. There are currently 400 students enrolled in the Hwy. 401 and Weston Road school.
“Patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait,†Trustee Frank D’Amico said. “Today we are reaping the rewards for that patience. They say it takes a village to raise a child but I say it takes a village to build a new school.â€
St. John’s principal, Michael Femia, said funding for a new school is wonderful news for the community.
“I’m looking forward to the new school,†he said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about the kids.â€
The news was also welcomed by Dave Bennett, chair of St. John the Evangelist’s Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC).
“It’s a monumental day for St. John’s,†he said. “This allows us to replace our overcrowded and outdated building. Students will return to a building, not portables.â€
The property currently has a building and nine portables. But students began the school year at Brother Edmund Rice, eight kilometres away, due to the Metrolinx construction of the Weston tunnel for the Union Station-Pearson Airport connection, which is in close proximity to several of the portables. The tunnel is being built in advance of the 2015 Pan Am Games.
“If it wasn’t for the Metrolinx line, we probably wouldn’t have gotten a new school,†said York South-Weston Frances Nunziata. “It would make more sense to build the school now with the tunnel, instead of disrupting (students) down the road. I’m looking forward to putting the shovel in the ground.â€
St. John’s students will continue to be taught at Brother Edmund Rice until the new school opens. Nunziata expects plan approval to be in place by 2013 but couldn’t give a construction completion date, noting many steps still need to be taken, including community consultation.
It's in the 2009 Environmental Assessment - http://goweb02.gotransit.com/gts/en/resources/archive.aspxIs there any mapping showing where the rail link will run from the Kitchener Line to Pearson? I've only seen very rough maps.
It's in the 2009 Environmental Assessment - http://goweb02.gotransit.com/gts/en/resources/archive.aspx
There's a simple map in Figure 2.2-1 - http://goweb02.gotransit.com/gts/en/docs/finalEPR/2-2-1.pdf
And there's a detailed set of figures in Appendix I showing the exact location in detail. The approach to the airport are in the final figures - http://goweb02.gotransit.com/gts/en/docs/finalEPR/AppendixI_24-35.pdf - but be warned, the files is about 39 MB, the figures don't seem to be in the right order, and there isn't actually a Figure 35. But you can see the entire alignment if you put all the figures together.
Thanks for that, CDL.
It's okay in the interim, but I have two problems with the alignment. The first is that the station is obviousl meant to be a terminus with no provision for through-running, expansion, etc. The other is that the curve off the Kitchener line is incredibly tight. Ideally, I would have liked the line to branch off near Etobicoke North and follow an elevated guideway along the 409, approaching T1 from the east (admittedly, this is hard without doing expensive tunnel work) so that a western extension can be made in the future, roughly following the spur as it is being built today.
Where do you get this stuff? I've caught diesels at the London Gatwick Airport train station - the Gatwick to Reading Great Western train for example.... Toronto is, quite literally, the only city on the planet that runs a diesel train to it's airport which is made even worse when Toronto says this will be the greenist Pan Am games ever held.
Thanks for the answer. It's nice to know they are atleast trying to be forward thinking about switching to EMU which begs the question why aren't they doing it now. It's going to be very embarrassing for Toronto when the PanAm dignataries and athelits start arriving and find out that Toronto is, quite literally, the only city on the planet that runs a diesel train to it's airport which is made even worse when Toronto says this will be the greenist Pan Am games ever held.
What, it isn't 3rd rail? What kind of third-world city builds overhead catenary in this day and age! Quick, call the Toronto Sun ...This is before we even count the people who will think the overhead is an eyesore. Stay tuned for that fight...