A decision regarding the former Queen Elizabeth elementary school property in Picton appears to be on the horizon with a joint proposal between Prince Edward Lennox and Addington Social Services and the County of Prince Edward in the driver’s seat for the shuttered facility.

At Monday’s Physical Planning, Finance and Building committee meeting at the Education Centre in Belleville, Hastings and Prince Edward District school Board trustees were presented with an update on the disposal of the surplus property by Superintendent of Business Services Nick Pfeiffer.

As part of HPEDSB’s 2020-2025 strategic planning process, Pfeiffer updated trustees on the status of the property via report.

According to Pfeiffer,  in early January a letter was sent by the Board to PELASS advising them they were the highest ranked expression of interest that was received.

The deadline for a formal offer is April 1, 2023.

“PELASS wishes to purchase this property in partnership with the County at fair market value,” Pfeiffer explained.  “HPEDSB is working with PELASS and the County to provide building access, drawings, and information on the surplus property. Should an offer of sale and purchase of the Queen Elizabeth School Picton surplus property be provided at an agreed fair market value, final approval by the Board will be required.”

The former school has sat vacant since June 2018 after the Board consolidated Picton and Hallowell area elementary teaching at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute and transitioned the school into a Kindergarten to Grade 12 facility. At the time the school was was declared surplus, a number of interested parties announced their interest in the pre Centennial-era school and the surrounding 4.5 acre parcel through the Ontario Government’s prescribed method of dispersing surplus lands.

Under Ontario Regulation 444/98, the Province of Ontario has an established method for disposing of an educational property declared surplus to the needs of the board and that process for disposal under Ontario Regulation 444/98 section 3. (1) requires that the board solicit expressions of interest from a designated list of organizations.

While the municipality resided in 12^th position on the list, PELASS was fourth, trailing only the French language public school board, the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and the French Catholic district school board.

Ultimately, the ALCDSB also expressed their interest in the property, leaving the Municipality and Social Services at the starting line, however, with recent plans to build a new elementary school adjacent to a sub division near the area where the Millennium Trail bisects Talbot street approved by the province, the Roman Catholic’s interest in the former public school property waned.

This new development at the HPEDSB board table will allow for the pieces to be put in place for an affordable housing initiative in the Barker/Centre St. area as was the municipality’s intention four years ago.

In January 2019, the County’s committee of the whole voted to approve a joint EOI submission that would see the County and PELASS potentially enter into a negotiating window with the board that would transform the Queen Elizabeth building and 4.5 acres of land at the corner of Barker and Centre streets into an affordable housing concept.

According to the report submitted at the Jan. 10, 2019 committee  meeting, Queen Elizabeth School is strategically located on full municipal services and in close proximity to essential community services and population centres.

“In our major settlement areas, opportunities to acquire parcels of land of the size of the Queen Elizabeth site are not often available to the municipality. This property could provide the municipality with a number of opportunities to address issues that would benefit the community including but not limited to the development of affordable and attainable housing,” said Neil Carbone, then the County’s director of community development and strategic initiatives.