City wants to buy Timothy Eaton school building, not track

City wants to buy Timothy Eaton school building, not track. This aerial image shows the site of Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute in the Warden and Finch avenues area. Supplied photo

If successful in its purchase, the city intends to use the 111,000-square-foot facility as a hub for community agencies, according to a report endorsed by Toronto Council in an unrecorded vote last Thursday.

However, the city's decision not to buy Timothy Eaton's track and field, which appears to take up just under half of the 12-acre site on Bridletowne Circle south of Finch Avenue, increases the possibility it will be sold to a private organization.

"That track and field is part of the greenspace in that area so it may very well be they (the city) buy the building and the track gets sold to private developers and you'll see some large condo buildings there," noted Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Mike Del Grande, who represents the Bridletowne Circle area north of Finch.

He said his constituents would be worried by that prospect because of their already existing concerns about traffic in the area, especially with the now approved rezoning of Bridlewood Mall. A proposed redevelopment of the mall will include eight residential buildings of seven to 25 storeys built on the property in future.

However, Del Grande's colleague Norm Kelly (Scarborough-Agincourt), who represents the area south of Finch including Timothy Eaton, said city planners have told him they expect a low-rise development on the property if developers end up acquiring the track and field. He said he and his constituents could accept that.

The area's Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Trustee Soo Wong, who opposed the sale of the school, said it was premature to speculate on the future of Timothy Eaton's track and field as the school board's land management arm, the Toronto Lands Corporation (TLC), only started circulating the offer to sell the property to other public educational institutions and governments last week. Those bodies have 90 days to respond.

Wong pointed out the TLC would seek further direction from the board if a potential buyer such as the city only wants to buy a portion of the site.

City can't afford all closed schools

Kelly, who sits on council's executive committee that recommended the purchase of Timothy Eaton, said he's been leading the push for the city to acquire the high school for use as a community hub. However, he estimates the entire property is worth $20-25 million and he said the city simply can't afford to buy the whole property. He said he hopes it has the money to even purchase the 39-year-old high school building itself.

Del Grande said he doesn't recall how he voted on the item, which came on Thursday during a marathon three-day council session, though he questioned how the city could afford to keep buying school properties. It has already acquired seven of the 24 properties sold by the TDSBover the last few years and is finalizing the purchase of one more.

"If we had all the money in the world, I would buy every single site," said Del Grande. "But the problem with the city, as you know, is we're always going cap in hand crying we don't have enough money for what we have."

The former Catholic school board trustee said the city shouldn't have to fork over millions to buy school properties - dozens of which have been put up for sale over the last few years - that have already been paid for by taxpayers, who see the properties as community assets and not simply educational institutions. It is a message he said he has been pushing to no avail with both the Tory and Liberal provincial governments over the past decade.

Council and city staff agree with Del Grande's opinion and Thursday voted to send a request to the province asking for a new process whereby school properties can be sold at "nominal" cost, rather than market value, to other public bodies.

However, the issue might be seen as a turf war over a de facto tax shift from the province to the city, with no overall impact to the taxpayer. Both of the city's public and Catholic school boards, facing declining enrollments, put the money generated by the sale of their excess properties toward other capital projects, ultimately saving their funder, the province's ministry of education, money.

The city, of course, has the option not to bother buying school properties at all, and it appears it will be more selective in the future.

Earlier this spring, the city, in an effort to be proactive rather than reactive in handling the sale of school properties, set up an "acquisition framework" for school properties. A School Lands Staff Working Group made up of representatives from various city divisions reviews what school properties are or are going to be available, identifies which ones would be useful, and then prioritizes them to determine what it can buy with the budget council has given them. Next year's budget is $7 million.

It was through that process that city staff deemed Timothy Eaton its one immediate "corporate acquisition priority" from a list of 10 public school sites around the city that will be closed and sold over the next couple of years.

Kelly didn't feel much sympathy for other councillors who didn't convince the city that closed or soon to be closed schools in their neighbourhoods should be a priority for acquisition.

"You snooze, you lose," Kelly said simply.

School's track and field not a park

The city has been working with community agencies to turn Timothy Eaton into a community hub that could include services for seniors, youth and children and a location for a Family Justice Centre.

"There is a tremendous need for the services and the location...is ideal for us," Lai Chu, a local resident for the past 40 years, said of the city's intent to purchase Timothy Eaton. Chu was one of a number of residents who were part of a working group that helped develop the city's Finch-Warden Revitalization Study, which was also endorsed by council last week.

Ironically, maps included in that study identified the Timothy Eaton track and field as part of an enhanced park system.

The staff report on the purchase of Timothy Eaton didn't spell out why the city wasn't interested in buying the track and field, but the surrounding neighbourhood is not considered "parks deficient", according to city measurements, and Kelly said "the area's blessed with a lot of parks."

"School buildings and playing fields are often incorrectly considered by local residents to be city parks," an appendix to the city's staff report stated, a comment not specifically referencing Timothy Eaton.

"The loss of any type of green space or recreation facilities can significantly impact a community. However, school lands are not city properties and the city does not have the resources to acquire all school lands that may become available."

The TDSB has three other high schools with tracks within 1.3 to 2.3 kilometres of Timothy Eaton.

"Given the current 90-day window for offers, we (the city) should be proactive on this and already be reaching out to other preferred organizations who may be in a position to make use of the track and green space," suggested Bryan Heal, who is running against Norm Kelly in the upcoming October election. "If we can seek out an interested partner, we can then put forth a collective offer for the entire property and ensure that it remains in public hands."

Developers need trustees' approval to bid

The board closed Timothy Eaton, notable for its woodworking program, in June, 2009 due to declining enrolment. This past spring, trustees voted to declare it surplus and sell the property, but with the caveat that the TLC must return to trustees for advice if the property couldn't be sold to a public sector organization.

Therefore, if the school and parking lot are sold to the city, trustees would then have to decide what they want to do with the track and field.

However, a standalone track would likely receive no interested lessees and the board has not identified it as a core asset to keep for a future school, Therefore, the TLC would possibly recommend it be sold on the private market, as the school board is desperate to generate cash from unused properties to help tackle a $2 billion-plus backlog in necessary school repairs.

There remains though the possibility neither the city nor developers will get the chance to buy the school.

According to provincial regulation, the French and Catholic school boards, York University, and the province of Ontario are all above the city in the pecking order to buy Timothy Eaton for "fair market value".

However, TDSB staff haven't indicated any informal interest from those bodies to buy Timothy Eaton. As they all sit together on a Public Assets Working Group, TDSB staff often known which school boards or governments are interested in acquiring a school property.

Sam Sotiropoulos, who is running against Wong in the upcoming election, criticized the board's decision to close Timothy Eaton in the first place.

"Timothy Eaton has two schools within walking distance that have a total of 18 outdoor portable classrooms between them, yet the TDSB is selling Timothy Eaton, a school with 22 readily available classrooms," he explained.

However, the TDSB said enrolment has been declining the in the area of Timothy Eaton for the past 10 years and is not expected to increase enough in future to warrant a high school. It also said the nearby elementary schools have adequate property to expand if necessary.