Ecole St. Joseph School to get another Sportsfield while simultaneously addressing drainage on the south side of the school

During a yearly meeting with Living Waters School Division trustees and staff at the end of June, where Whitecourt Town Council members attended the board office for an in-person meeting, the topic of a field by Ecole St. Joseph’s School came up. “We are bringing forward an item that Council dealt with on their visit with Living Waters School Division. The board did ask Council to look at an outstanding issue (from) when the school was developed,” explained CAO Peter Smyl during a recent Regular Meeting of Council.

“There is a location to the south of the school that they requested fill be brought in and levelled to create a Sportsfield. They are limited for any amount of Sportsfield room they have with the placement of the school and how the lot is shaped. We just need a rough grade on the site when it was being constructed for the school and then wanted to know what was going to be left over.”

Smyl explained that the rough area in discussion had left “quite a hazard” as no drainage was happening. After a rainfall or snow melt, water collects in the area to the north side of the open lot. “There was actually water standing throughout the whole year, and it’s right next to their gym.” The area falls between the bus lane and the back parking lot, on the far side nearest the gymnasium and the bush at the end of the road. As it was, the ground was utterly unusable and sat empty. That will soon change.

“We’ve had a long relationship with Living Waters, even on the development of the site, and Council asked me (administration) to take a look at it,” said Smyl. He explained that the Infrastructure Department said they could either fill it and leave it better( than it is) or fill it and create another Sportsfield.

“In the future, if they want to expand the field, it could happen at a later time. It depends on what we do there with the campus, even the future schools with that site, but for now, we thought it was a good option to put the fill, black dirt, and seed it; hopefully, in twelve months, they will have grass there.”

Councillor Braden Lanctot asked if Living Waters would be responsible for cutting the grass once it was established. “In our joint use agreement with the schools, we do the major cuts. Living Waters is a little unique because right now, they actually use robots to cut the field, so we are actually not cutting their fields. But part of the school use agreement is that we do major cuts throughout the year, and they do more of the trimming and the rough cut.”

Councillor Lapointe asked if it were possible to add seating around the field one day, should it be wanted by the division later on. “We were thinking, with the second option, it would be top soiled and seeded in that area. If they wanted to create a larger space, then that’s something that they could pursue later. There are some funds that the school division is getting for playfields and sports fields, but I know they are moving some equipment around because of their new school, so I think those funds are going to the replacement of some of the playground equipment. So, yes, they could, in the future, expand in the area, but what we are proposing here is to finish off the site with black dirt and top dress it.”

Once the grass is established and ready to handle activities, the school and the community as a whole will have a new space to play. “That’s the benefit of the school sites. They are all open to the general public and are utilized throughout the community,” said Smyl. Council voted unanimously to expend $54,234 to develop the land beside Ecole St. Joseph School. The unbudgeted expense will come from the Special Projects Reserve and qualifies for cost-sharing. Work at the site has already begun.